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UPDATE #1: Great News! Effective July 28, 2022, Southwest Travel Funds no longer expire! See below. The following article was written when Southwest Travel Funds expire a year from the booking date.
UPDATE #2: The deadline for converting Southwest Travel Funds to Rapids Rewards is expired on December 15, 2020.
UPDATE #3: Unfortunately, this article’s trick to extend Southwest Travel Funds is no longer working because it already passed September 7, 2020. Contact Southwest, and they may be able to make an exception for you.
Southwest Airlines
is one of my favorite US airlines to use for airfare bookings because of their
flexible change policy. After 24 hours of booking, tickets can be changed or
even canceled without incurring a change/cancellation fee. Any canceled
tickets after 24 hours can be credited as Travel Funds (Flight Credits)that expire in a
year from the booking date. You can use the travel fund to book any future
travels subject to availability and fare differences.
is one of my favorite US airlines to use for airfare bookings because of their
flexible change policy. After 24 hours of booking, tickets can be changed or
even canceled without incurring a change/cancellation fee. Any canceled
tickets after 24 hours can be credited as Travel Funds (Flight Credits)
year from the booking date
travels subject to availability and fare differences.
I accidentally found an interesting way to extend expiring Southwest
travel funds beyond this year, 2020, and 2021 through September 7, 2022.
Additionally, Southwest is implementing a feature to convert expiring
Southwest travel funds into Rapids Rewards points.
travel funds beyond this year, 2020, and 2021 through September 7, 2022.
Additionally, Southwest is implementing a feature to convert expiring
Southwest travel funds into Rapids Rewards points.
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| Photo Credit: Southwest Airlines |
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Southwest Travel Funds or Flight Credits Do NOT Expire
Effective July 28, 2022, Southwest Airlines announced that all unexpired flight credits (a.k.a travel funds) created on or after July 28 will not expire. This is awesome news!
Here’s the official wording made by Southwest Airlines:
Flight credits unexpired on or created on or after July 28, 2022 will not expire. No action is required on your part! If you have unexpired flight credits as of July 28, they will not expire and are available for you to use.
It will take us some time to update our systems with this new policy. With that in mind, you may notice an expiration date on your unexpired flight credits. Please pardon our dust while we make this change!
Expiring Southwest Travel Funds
UPDATE: Great News! Effective July 28, 2022, Southwest Travel Funds no longer expire!
Because of COVID-19 situation, I haven’t been able to use some of my travel
funds earned through
Amex airline fee credits
that are supposed to expire October 20, 2020. So I decided to make a
speculative booking for a September trip to San Diego using my expiring
Southwest travel fund, and hope that the COVID-19 situation will be improved
then. Something came up last week so I had to cancel that ticket. This week
when I went to check my available Southwest travel funds, I noticed that the
expiration date of that particular travel fund that was resulted from the
cancellation has been extended to September 7, 2022 instead of my
previous October 20, 2020 date. Hallelujah, that means I don’t have to worry
about my travel funds for a much longer time while I am still monitoring the
coronavirus situation.
funds earned through
Amex airline fee credits
that are supposed to expire October 20, 2020. So I decided to make a
speculative booking for a September trip to San Diego using my expiring
Southwest travel fund, and hope that the COVID-19 situation will be improved
then. Something came up last week so I had to cancel that ticket. This week
when I went to check my available Southwest travel funds, I noticed that the
expiration date of that particular travel fund that was resulted from the
cancellation has been extended to September 7, 2022 instead of my
previous October 20, 2020 date. Hallelujah, that means I don’t have to worry
about my travel funds for a much longer time while I am still monitoring the
coronavirus situation.
Southwest Airlines Is Extending Travel Funds
UPDATE: Great News! Effective July 28, 2022, Southwest Travel Funds will no longer expire!
So what exactly happened? In the wake of the current travel environment, Southwest
Airlines is extending the expiration date of some travel funds with the
following conditions:
Airlines is extending the expiration date of some travel funds with the
following conditions:
- Customers’ funds that have expired or will expire between March 1, 2020, and September 7, 2020, will now expire on September 7, 2022.
-
Any travel funds created because you cancel a flight between March 1 –
September 7, 2020, will expire on September 7, 2022.
So my situation falls into the second condition because I used travel funds to
book a new reservation and then canceled that reservation between March 1 and
September 7, 2020. That explains why that particular travel fund’s expiration
date was automatically extended to September 2022.
book a new reservation and then canceled that reservation between March 1 and
September 7, 2020. That explains why that particular travel fund’s expiration
date was automatically extended to September 2022.
How To Extend Expiring Southwest Travel Funds To September 7, 2022
UPDATE: Great News! Effective July 28, 2022, Southwest Travel Funds no longer expire!
If you are interested in extending your expiring Southwest travel funds
through September 7, 2022, here’s what you’d do:
through September 7, 2022, here’s what you’d do:
-
Log in and make a new reservation on
Southwest Airlines website. - Use your expiring travel fund to pay for that reservation on the final payment page.
- Wait over 24 hours period, then cancel that reservation.
Your travel fund should now have a different confirmation code due to
cancellation, but its expiration date may still be the old one.
However, do not worry about that just yet because, according to Southwest, they
stated that:
cancellation, but its expiration date may still be the old one.
However, do not worry about that just yet because, according to Southwest, they
stated that:
It can take up to five business days for the new expiration date to
appear in your account. It will also take our Technology Team a few days
to make these changes.
The expiration date’s change apparently is not an instant process. Although
Southwest wants you to give them 5 business days, in my case, it was just over
1 day period. So after the cancellation, please wait at least another 24 hours
for the travel fund’s new expiration date to change.
Southwest wants you to give them 5 business days, in my case, it was just over
1 day period. So after the cancellation, please wait at least another 24 hours
for the travel fund’s new expiration date to change.
It is important to note that this method to extend Southwest travel funds only works when you use the expiring travel fund to book and cancel a flight
between March 1 – September 7, 2020, because of the waiver policy in
place. With that being said, I would not wait until the last minute to do this, though.
between March 1 – September 7, 2020, because of the waiver policy in
place. With that being said, I would not wait until the last minute to do this, though.
Converting Expiring Southwest Travel Funds Into Rapid Rewards Points
UPDATE: Great News! Effective July 28, 2022, Southwest Travel Funds no longer expire!
It’s worth mentioning that Southwest now allows members with travel funds that are set to expire or created between March 1, 2020, and September 7, 2020, to convert
those funds into Rapid Rewards points at the rate of ~1.28 cents per point. For example, you can covert $128 travel funds into 10,000 Rapid Rewards points. This is an awesome feature because:
those funds into Rapid Rewards points at the rate of ~1.28 cents per point. For example, you can covert $128 travel funds into 10,000 Rapid Rewards points. This is an awesome feature because:
-
Rapid Rewards points never expire, so once your travel
funds are converted into points, you do not have to worry about the
expiration date of the travel funds anymore. -
You can use Rapid Rewards points to book a Southwest ticket for anyone. Whereas travel funds can only be used to book a Southwest ticket for
yourself.
You have until December 15, 2020, to make the conversion, so there’s no need to rush if you dislike the conversion rate.
This feature is now live and available to all Southwest members. You can now convert travel
funds into Rapid Rewards points online in your account under View Travel Funds below.
funds into Rapid Rewards points online in your account under View Travel Funds below.
How To View Southwest Travel Funds
UPDATE: Great News! Effective July 28, 2022, Southwest Travel Funds no longer expire!
If you haven’t noticed, the Southwest website can view
available travel funds now under your Southwest account. However, for the travel funds to show on your account, you must log in to Southwest
when making a reservation. After that, once you cancel that reservation in
exchange for a travel fund, you will see that specific travel fund in your
Southwest account. Here’s how you check Southwest Travel Funds:
available travel funds now under your Southwest account. However, for the travel funds to show on your account, you must log in to Southwest
when making a reservation. After that, once you cancel that reservation in
exchange for a travel fund, you will see that specific travel fund in your
Southwest account. Here’s how you check Southwest Travel Funds:
- Log into your Southwest Airlines account online.
- Go to My Account.
- Click on View Travel Funds on the top (see screenshot below).
- You should see all your available travel funds there.
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| How To View Southwest Travel Funds |
I am a dedicated travel enthusiast with a deep passion for miles and points. Always willing to share my expertise, I possess a wealth of knowledge on miles and points, extensively researching and staying up-to-date with the latest strategies for maximizing travel rewards through credit cards and loyalty program promotions.
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Thank you SO much for this blog with your experience on the travel funds. I also had expiring funds that didn't "qualify" for conversion. I was able to get them extended with your suggestions@
I missed this opportunity as i didn't come across this article earlier. Any other way to extend my fund which is expiring in 20 days??
I am not aware of any new extension policy in place at the moment. My suggestion is to reach out to Southwest via twitter or call and ask them if they can extend your travel fund for you at this time since technically covid19 is still making people afraid to travel. Good luck and keep me posted.
i am in the same situation with funds expiring tomorrow Oct 6th. i reached out to southwest and they gave me a very disappointing NO to my request to extend. i am furious with them, didnt expect such an answer. i filed a case against them with the BBB , and apparently there are more than 1300+ cases filed against them. FILE A COMPLAINT AGAINST SOUTHWEST.
Same issue for me. Did filing a BBB complaint work?