How long are southwest travel funds good for

For an explanation of our Advertising Policy, visit this page. The most flexible airline in the business has gotten even more generous. As Southwest fans know, the airline allows unlimited changes and fee-free cancellations on all itineraries, even non-refundable flights; travelers just have to pay the difference. For canceled flights, the value of the ticket gets rolled into future flight credit, which Southwest calls travel funds.

Travel funds expiring between March 1 and May 31, will now have a new expiration date of June 30, , while new travel funds created between March 1, and September 7, , will also have an updated expiration date of September 7, Additionally, Southwest is launching a new program that will allow members who have expiring travel funds to convert travel funds to Rapid Rewards points.

Related: How to rebook your Southwest flight when the price changes. The airline also announced several updates for flights that are canceled due to COVID travel bans. The airline will either allow customers to reschedule their trips, or to cancel their tickets for future travel credit. Current destinations impacted by the mandatory cancellations include the Grand Cayman, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica, although the list will likely grow as time progresses.

Related: The U. State Department bans all international travel to control the coronavirus outbreak. For now, travelers impacted by domestic route cancellations can rebook, accept travel credit valid through September , or request a cash refund although this policy is subject to change.

Terms Apply. Disclaimer: The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. If you paid with points , the difference goes into your Rapids Rewards account. If you paid with dollars , your refund will depend on whether your fare is refundable or nonrefundable. Here's the only spot where things could get tricky: remembering to use your travel funds.

They're good for one year. Set a reminder in your phone or on your calendar so they don't expire. Click on "Travel Funds" and fill out the information, including the confirmation code from your original flight. Then click on "apply funds. Continue through the booking process to complete your purchase. After we published this story, we heard from a few readers who thought it would be helpful for us to further clarify what that one-year deadline to use your travel funds means.

Travel funds expire one year from the date you purchased your ticket. Rebooking for a later date doesn't reset the expiration date. You can connect with consumer travel reporter Melissa Yeager at melissa. You can also follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Facebook Twitter Email. We are now expanding the window of funds eligible for extended expiration dates and extending the expiration date of these funds.

Funds that are set to expire or funds that are created between March 1, and September 7, , will have an expiration date of September 7, If you have funds covered by this policy, you have until next September to complete your travel. However, passengers who booked tickets after September 7, , and received travel funds are set to see those funds expire. Remember you need to complete travel by the expiration date. I guess the first thing I want to stress is to keep close track of when your Southwest credits expire.

We were lucky to use one just under the wire and had to let the other one expire. Just remember that money has to be spent in six months. Want to comment on this post? Read this first to help ensure it gets approved. Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and get emailed notifications of when we post. This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary.

If credits are about to expire say September 1 , and you want to travel after say September 10 , can you book travel for a date like August 20th before the expiration date, and then CHANGE the flight to your desired travel date?

That will give you another six months and more flexibility on who can use the money. Still better than nothing, though…. This policy is so customer unfriendly.