Southwest Airlines Cancellation

Southwest Airlines

Cancellation of flight tickets is never fun. If you have decided not to travel due to any reason and now want to cancel your travel plans. No problem! Southwest Airlines cancellation gives you a freedom to make changes and cancel your reservations without paying any extra charges. Many other airlines charge heavy cancellation fees and also offer a little or no refunds for a canceled flight. Southwest Airlines doesn't charge any extra cancellation fees.

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How to Cancel Southwest Airlines Reservations?

Southwest airlines cancellation policy is considered unique and different from other airlines as it does not charge fees for flight cancellations.

Customers can cancel their Southwest Airlines flight Reservations easily and quickly in many ways. You can cancel your existing bookings through an official website, online without worrying about fees.

If you are a Southwest Airlines app user then you can cancel your bookings by just following some really easy steps:

  1. Go to the official website
  2. Click on “look up reservations”
  3. Enter confirmation number.
  4. Select “refundable fares”
  5. Tap on “cancel flights”

Customers can also contact the expert team of Southwest Airlines, who are available round the clock to assist you and solve your queries.

How to Cancel a Southwest flight over the phone?

You can cancel your flight ticket and request a refund over the phone easily. You need to follow these simple steps to cancel a Southwest ticket on call:

  • Dial Southwest Airlines customer service helpline (+1-800-435-9792).
  • Make yourself ready with your six-digit booking reference along with the passenger’s name to retrieve the booking.
  • Ask the helpdesk executive to cancel the booking. Receive details of the Travel Funds or refundable value associated with your Southwest booking.
  • Flight refund may take seven business days to reflect the refund in the account.

How to Cancel a Southwest flight at the airport counter?

You can request the Southwest Airlines flight cancellation at least 10 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time and can be requested at the airport counter with any Southwest customer service representatives.

Is Southwest Airlines Cancellation Refundable?

Southwest Airlines Cancellation policies are flexible and vary according to type of tickets purchased, destinations you are travelling and class in which you are travelling. In the case of Business select, anytime, or senior ticket cancellation, the exact value of your purchased ticket will be refunded to your original form of payment.

Customers can easily cancel the Southwest Airlines reservations without any penalty. If a customer cancels a flight with non-refundable fare, then he/she will receive travel funds. These funds can be used for future travel up to 1 year from the date of original purchase. Funds are reusable as long as they were cancelled according to the “no show policy”. In case you didn't cancel at least 10 minutes before take off, then the purchase price of your ticket will be converted into travel funds which can be used for future purchases.

Southwest Cancelation Policy for Business Select and Wanna Get Away Flight Tickets

Sometimes plans change, and you decide not to travel, Southwest's normal flight cancelation policy applies.

Business Select/Anytime tickets are refundable. You can choose to either a) receive a refund or b) hold the ticket value as a travel fund that can be used to buy a future flight.

Wanna Get Away tickets are non-refundable. The ticket value will be converted to a travel fund that can be used to buy a future flight.

For any other Southwest Airlines flight cancelation query or issue, you can get in touch with the Southwest Airlines flight reservations helpdesk by dialing this toll-free number: +1 833-750-9822.

Southwest Refund Policy for Wanna Get Away Tickets

Southwest's Wanna Get Away fares are not refundable, but they offer a flexible flight cancelation policy. When canceling a Wanna Get Away airfare, the ticket value will be changed to a travel fund which can be used to buy a future Southwest flight ticket.

There are some important points to keep in mind:

  • Flight must be booked and completed by the travel fund's expiration date.
  • If there are multiple people on the itinerary, each passenger will retain a travel fund. This means that travel funds will belong to the individual named on the ticket, regardless of who paid for the flight ticket.
  • Flight must be canceled at least 10 minutes before the scheduled departure. Otherwise, any Wanna Get Away funds can't be used.
  • Passengers must possess their six-digit flight confirmation number (sent on their registered confirmation email). They'll need it while using the travel fund to book a new flight.

Please note that Travel Funds are credits from a canceled flight that can be used to purchase a future Southwest flight. The funds are enclosed with the canceled flight's six-digit confirmation number.

Southwest Flight Cancellation Policy for Non-refundable tickets

For non-refundable tickets such as Wanna Get Away fares, you may get a full Southwest flight refund if initiated cancellation for the same within 24 hours of ticket booking. You will get

  • Either a 100% refund in the original form of payment
  • Or, you can choose to convert the airfare into Travel Funds to be used towards future travel.

Southwest Wanna Get Away fare is reusable but not refundable beyond 24 hours of the flight booking. Please consider the following points:

  • You have canceled your reservation in accordance with the Southwest No Show Policy at least 10 minutes prior to the scheduled departure.
  • You need to complete the travel within one year from the original date of booking.

Charges for a Southwest Airlines Flight Change

Southwest Airlines never charges any fees for flight changes (either intentionally or through the airline). Sometimes, Southwest may ask a customer to pay a difference in fare if the new flight they're choosing costs more than their original itinerary.

What's the good news, then? If a customer's new Southwest flight costs less, you'll be refunded with the difference to the original form of payment (if applicable), or the fare difference will be held for future use as a reusable travel fund for the originally ticketed Passenger(s), as long as travel is completed within the expiration date, which is one year from the date of the original flight booking.

Changes in Southwest Airlines Cancellation Policies Due to Covid-19

In response to COVID-19, many airlines have added several waivers to allow all the travelers to change and cancel their travel plans without any fees. Due to the current increase of coronavirus Southwest Airlines has made many flexible changes in their policies. The expiry dates of travel funds have been extended. Customers funds that have already expired or will expire between 1 March- 31 May, 2020 will now expire on 31 June, 2021.

How to Request a Refund from Southwest Airlines?

Here are some important points regarding Southwest Airlines flight cancellation and refund policy:

  • Not all Southwest's airfares are refundable. Customers can reuse a ticket booked on Wanna Get Away fares but won't be refunded whereas Business Select and Anytime fares are refundable as well as reusable.
  • Customers can reuse unused, refundable flight tickets that do not carry restrictions towards their future travel or those will be refunded within one year from the date of issue.
  • All eligible refunds will be credited to their original form of payment.
  • Eligible refund will take up to seven business days to be credited back to the original credit/debit card from the date Southwest receives the refund request. Then the card-issuing bank may take up to ten business days to post the credit to their payment account.

Refund Request through Southwest.com

  1. Visit the homepage of Southwest Airlines or search www.southwest.com in your device browser.
  2. Click on the 'Change/Cancel' tab on the homepage.
  3. Enter the confirmation number, first name, and the last name of the passenger in the designated fields and then click on the search button.
  4. View your existing travel itinerary in the list and select the one which you want to cancel.
  5. After canceling the flight, make a refund request on the flight you have canceled.
  6. You will receive a refund on the original account through which the payment was made.

Southwest Refund Request through Helpline Number

  1. Reach out to the Southwest booking helpdesk by dialing +1 (800) 435-9792.
  2. Enter the booking confirmation number to the airline's voice executive.
  3. Keep your flight details such as date, origin, and destination of travel handy.
  4. You will be connected to the airline's executive shortly.

If you have any issue related to the Southwest ticket cancellation or the refund, then you can dial the toll-free number of Southwest Airlines' helpdesk at +1 (800) 435-9792. The airline's customer service executive will help you any time of the day.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ's)

Southwest airlines offers various ways of easy refunds. If you book tickets under Wanna Get Away, Anytime and Business select, you can use your funds for future travel plans till on year from the date of reservations. Also, Under Anytime and Business select option of southwest fares are refunded if you cancel your flights tickets more than 10 minutes before flight departure. If you are not going to book flight to travel on any portion you can cancel your tickets using southwest official site, official app or by contacting southwest customer support with 24 hours of ticket booking. And you will receive in the form in which you have paid at time of reservation.

If you cancel a flight ticket which you booked using points, then points will refund to your account which was used for booking. Also, taxes and other fees if applied will be charges for a refund.

Southwest never charge for making changes or on cancelling you flight tickets. Although you if you choose a flight with a higher fare then you have to pay only the difference.

There is no limit on making changes on your southwest flight. You can make changes as many times you want but you have to price difference if applicable.

You can cancel your southwest flight tickets in many ways. Tickets can be cancelled using southwest airlines official site, official app or by calling southwest customer care number.

If your plans have changed and you decided not to travel, in that case

  • Southwest Business Select tickets are refundable. You can choose to receive an original payment method refund or hold the ticket value as a travel fund that you can use to buy a future Southwest flight.
  • Southwest Wanna Get Away tickets are non-refundable. The ticket value will be converted to a travel fund that you can use to buy a future Southwest flight.

Yes. You can change or cancel your Southwest flight booking up until 10 minutes before your flight's scheduled departure. For example, suppose you have a flight scheduled to depart at 8 a.m., you have time until 7:50 a.m. to make changes or cancel the flight. If you forget to change or cancel your flight for some reason, your travel funds for that flight will be forfeited.

Yes. Sometimes there can be operational instances where Southwest flights will have over available seating capacity resulting in an oversale of flight tickets. Operational instances may create an oversale of tickets because of weight restrictions and aircraft changes.

You will not receive a refund for EarlyBird Check-In as it is non-refundable. If you are canceling your flight means you are forfeiting the EarlyBird Check-In purchase.

But if Southwest cancels your flight voluntarily, EarlyBird Check-In will be refunded to your registered account. If you don't receive a refund, please dial Southwest Airlines helpline number 1-800-I-FLY-SWA (+1 800-435-9792).

If you are having an issue or facing any trouble related to your flight reservations or other concerns and need some help from Southwest, you can talk to a live person at Southwest Airlines helpdesk. The Southwest customer support executives are always ready to help you. Dial Southwest Airlines helpline number +1 800-435-9792. You may inquire about general booking queries, like flight reservations, cancel a booking, reservation upgradation, or seat selection as per preferences.

There are two basic methods to cancel Southwest ticket explained here-

Cancel ticket through online mode-

  • Visiting Southwest.com
  • Go to the upper right corner and click the Change/Cancel tab.
  • To access your flight reservation, you have to mention your confirmation
    • number in the box, identifying information, final name, etc.
  • Now, choose the option to cancel your flight.
  • Go through the search option.
  • Determine the flight you wish to cancel.
  • Once you've chosen your flight, then make the cancellation official.
  • If you cancel your booked ticket, you will be offered with two options. One you can have your refund in your original payment source. Second option is that you can get the amount as a vacation fund and use it in your future bookings.
  • You can ask for a travel fund for future usage if your ticket is nonrefundable.

Through mobile app

If you are facing trouble in the online cancellation procedure then you can move to Southwest Airline application to cancel your flight. Here are the steps-

  • First install the mobile application in your respective devices, so that you can easily cancel your online reservation.
  • Now, fill in the required information. The information you need to fill-in are email ID, phone number, dates, etc.
  • After completing the valid process, you can cancel your reservation, and a confirmation mail will be sent to your email ID.

The majority of flights can be readily cancelled without making a phone call. Instead of calling you can use the airline's app or website. Go through the airline website or app. Now, search for the Manage Reservations button. Select or tap the Cancel option after that.

Southwest provides the easiest cancellation step. You can cancel your reservation up to 10 minutes before the flight departure schedule. Moreover, there is no need to pay any cancellation charges and can cancel your booking any time. Your Rapid Rewards miles will be deposited in your original account from which you have booked your flight.

In the event that a cancellation initiated by Southwest results in your decision not to travel, you have the following options-

  1. Get a refund of your payment method.
  2. Alternatively, save the ticket's value as a flight credit that you can apply to the purchase of a subsequent trip.

You may void your Southwest Airways ticket without paying the cost if you quit at least ten minutes prior to departure. Go to Southwest.com, click on the Change/Cancel page, choose the Cancel flight option, and then recover your flight by providing your travel information. Select and cancel your flight when you've located it.

In the event of certain unforeseen circumstances, Southwest could have to cancel flights. Some of the most frequent causes of Southwest flight cancellations are as follows-

  • Mechanical problems.
  • Security issue
  • Bad weather
  • Lack of staffing

If a cancellation initiated by Southwest has affected you, you are entitled to make two free changes to the original reservation, for any combination of impacted and non-impacted flight dates and times, up to 14 days after the original travel date.

Travel coverage can reimburse you for the changeable portion of your airline tickets if you need to postpone the journey for any reason that is specifically addressed by your policy, such as a serious sickness, the passing of someone in your closest relatives, an unforeseen disaster, or another reason. Under the terms of your trip insurance policy, the protection will help pay for expenses up to the moment and date of your departure from the destination.

As per the type of insurance the cost of airline insurance differs. But usually, it might be 4 to 12% of your entire journey.

At a time, no more than eight people can be accommodated on one-way or travelling flights through Southwest.com.

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