I want to warn people about a costly and poorly disclosed policy I encountered with SWA

I recently purchased a flight for June 15th for $529.80 and applied $40 flight credits (expiring end of June) during checkout. Within four days of booking, I needed to modify my flight to July. As a SWA loyal customer for 14 years (and because it is a reasonable expectation as a consumer) I expected to receive a credit for the amount paid (489.80).

Instead, I was told that because I used $40 in expiring flight credits, the entire ticket INCLUDING the $489.80 paid with new money was now subject to the earliest expiration date and effectively unusable. At no point during the booking process was it clearly disclosed that applying a small amount of expiring credit would put the full value of the ticket at risk.

So, I strongly advise others:

• Do NOT apply expiring flight credits to a new booking unless you are 100% certain you will take the flight
• Be aware that doing so may cause your entire ticket value to inherit restrictive expiration terms

This policy is extremely misleading and disproportionately punitive. A $40 credit should not invalidate any amount of newly paid funds. Consumers should be clearly warned before completing a purchase that such a consequence exists.

I hope the company revises this policy so other customers are not put in this position.

flew on 4 different aircrafts over the trip. I paid to select my seat but purchased no upgrades.

The overhead space was adequate. They asked for checked bags but it wasn't a big deal. Seating process was smooth. only a few wheelchairs each time. The flight crew was polite and occasionally even funny. Other passengers were normally behaved and no horrible behaviors witnessed.

Deplaning wasn't a big deal, although it's always slow.

In general, a reasonable experience.

My last patient of the day had a seizure in the middle of our visit causing me to be extremely late to the airport. I’m flying cross country for a job interview and showed up to the airport 40 minutes before my flight. Southwest got my checked bag on the plane. They have earned me as a lifelong customer. Thank you for your compassion, efficiency, and willingness to hustle for customer service.

Is there a way to report someone who should have bought 2 seats? I had a no joke 400 pound man next to me that was smashing me into the aisle it was an awful flight

Hi! Need some insight here.. I was recently married, my sister booked my flight under my new married last name, but my maiden name is still on my license and passport. I called Southwest and said either rebook it or show up to the ticket gate with marriage license and certificate and they will change it at the gate. Has anyone experienced this? My flight is next week and terrified they will not actually be able to change it at the gate.

In the past, if your flight had a stop along the way to your final destination, you would remain on the plane. Is that still the case with the seating changes, or does everyone now disembark and reboard?

I recently received a $150 and 845 travel voucher for Alaska Airlines. Is there any way I can do anything with this other than use it towards a flight? I have no plans to fly Alaska in the next 12 month and would like to sell it somehow if possible. sell low price

I ditched SW last year for united but I had to burn my last miles so I took a flight from PVR to SNA today, the flight attendant was rude and stepped on my foot while it was sitting on an aisle seat, to be fair, my foot was in the aisle, but the flight attendant has no right to step on my foot and tell me that I was on his work place...for that and many reasons more, I hope I never fly SW again

That is all.

Anyone know of any ways to convert flight credits to cash? I had to cancel my flight but they only refunded me in flight credits that I don't plan on using anytime soon, so any help would be appreciated. Can I just use the credits to buy a cash refundable seat then refund them that way?

Hi,

i am traveling to see family soon. haven’t seen them in 10+ years and we all play guitar. i want to bring my personal one with me but im scared of damage cause i invested a lot of my money into it so i was thinking of carry on. is it possible to bring a syn gates custom guitar in a sgr-2a case as a carry on? thanks in advance

So here's my issue and could use some advice please. I booked a flight for me, my girlfriend and her son. I then canceled that flight to change things and accept the flight credit to rebook something else, not knowing for some reason the flight credit gets split and sent to her and her son as well(who is 4 years old). Customer service told me I needed to transfer the flight credits from her and her son to my account so I can rebook the flight. They told me I needed to create a Southwest account for a 4 year old because that's who's name my money was refunded to. So whatever, I did that and transferred all the funds back to my account where they were originally paid from. NOW when trying to book another flight with us 3 using those flight credits on my account they're telling me I can't use all those flight credits because they're all in my name and only MY initial flight credits can be used for my name. Since they don't have flight credits in their name anymore they can't use theirs. This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Customer service said there's no way for them to override it and that I need to file a complaint through corporate to maybe try and get a one time exception to use the flight credits I received from them. Had I known I need to leave $650 in a nonexistent account for a 4 year old under his name I would have, however who tf thinks that's the proper way to do it when customer service is telling me to transfer the money back to myself and all the money initially came from me and my card from my account. I don't understand how to go about this and it's insane I'm having to do this just to rebook a flight.