Does your current schedule not match with your flight Departure on Southwest? If you wonder how to make sure you travel again with the current fare amount, you need to cancel your flights for a refund. The Southwest Airlines cancellation policy has some set rules which are generous enough to let you cancel the flights and retain your booking amount. Let’s get into the details through the coming subsections.
Southwest Flight Cancellation Policy
- Flight cancellation is possible for any Southwest Airlines ticket obtained via official booking channels.
- You can also use the Southwest Airlines Cancel flight option for your flights booked with Rapid reward points.
- The ticket cancellation of group tickets will be applicable to every individual person in that itinerary.
- Tickets that are non-refundable are only eligible for refunds in the form of travel credits.
- Passengers can get a full refund on tickets if they have refundable fares.
- The airline may or may not charge you a cancellation fee, depending on your fare type, time of cancellation, destination, and route.
- If you booked a flight with points, you get the points back to your frequent flyer account.
- For flights booking made with cash, you can choose between refunds to your account or travel funds. Sometimes, the fare type also decides which form of refund you will get.
- To obtain a full refund of your original ticket amount free of charges, check the 24-hour cancellation rule.
24 Hour Southwest Cancellation Policy
- Passengers who do not want to pay any cancellation charges and cancel flights for a full refund can do so in the 24-hour risk-free period.
- The Southwest 24-Hour Cancellation Policy means that passengers can cancel a booking within the first 24 hours for free if their travel is at least seven days apart.
- They even get the whole amount in the original form of payment.
- The reversal of this policy is also applied to mean that for cancellation of tickets within 24 hours of the departure, there will be a penalty charge.
- However, Southwest does allow passengers to cancel their flights up until 10 minutes before they depart.
How to Cancel Southwest Flight Tickets?
Southwest, being one of the world’s best carriers, allows customers to make ticket cancellations in a myriad of ways. You have options to cancel them online or make cancellations offline over the phone. Read below to understand each method carefully!
Type 1: Cancel Southwest flights Online
- Find the Southwest official site and log in to your account with the airline.
- Else, continue to the Southwest Manage Trips section directly.
- Provide the ticket confirmation number you got via email.
- Also, enter your first and last name as per the ticket in the relative fields.
- Click “Retrieve Reservation” to view the details of the flight you wish to cancel.
- Now, choose the ”Change/Cancel” option and next select the Southwest Airlines flight cancellation option.
- Confirm the terms and conditions by agreeing to them and complete the cancellation by clicking on “yes, I want to cancel my whole booking.”
- The airline will send you an email to your registered mail ID with the cancellation confirmation and a link to request refunds.
Type 2: Cancel southwest Flights offline
- If you do not have time to waste, or you want assurance that your flight cancellation process is complete, make offline cancellations.
- Choose the Southwest airlines customer service number from the website and call the agents for flight cancellation requests.
- The airline expert will require some minimal information about you and your flight in order to proceed with the ticket cancellations.
Once you explain to them a valid reason for the cancellation of flights, they will ensure your southwest airlines cancellations with an amount refund.
How Much does Southwest Charge for Cancelled Flight?
That depends on the time of cancellation. For instance, Southwest Airlines has made Air Travel even more convenient for its customers, making them eligible for free cancellations. So, in general, cancellation is free of charge for any fare type, whether be Business Select or Wanna Get Away.
Suppose that you fail to cancel your flight tickets and you are a no-show. Only in that case will you not get any refund or credit in case of Wanna get Away and Plus tickets. However, your Anytime or Business Select fares will still be refundable.
Cancellation Rules for Southwest Airlines Business Select and Wanna Get Away Fares. Passengers who do not wish to travel can cancel their tickets and get a refund as per their fare types. Here are the rules:
Southwest Anytime or Business Select Fares
These tickets are refundable fares. Passengers can select between a Travel Fund or Flight refund to the account. They can use this fund balance or travel credit to book a new flight with the airline.
Wanna Get Away and its Plus fare
Southwest Airlines Wanna Get Away tickets are not refundable at all. The ticket value is, however, obtainable as a flight credit for future flights. They can not get the money back in the original payment mode in this fare.
Does Southwest Airlines offer Compensation for Delays and Cancellations?
It’s not always your fault when your flight cancellation happens. Sometimes, Southwest Airlines Cancel Flights on their end due to an issue. Or the passenger has to cancel because of a long delay of flights. In that case, Southwest Airlines offers you flight delay compensation.
This amount can be up to 700 USD, and your flight cancellation should be less than 14 days from the flight’s scheduled departure. Refer to the details below for a better understanding of the involuntary cancellations and delays compensations.
Southwest Airlines Compensation for involuntary Cancellation
Southwest gives you 325 USD compensation for their end ticket cancellations for a flight distance less than 1500 Km.
Suppose a flight distance is about 1500-3500 Kms. You will be entitled to a 475 USD compensation amount.
For any flight distance over 3500 km, the cancellation compensation is 725 USD for passnegers.
Southwest Airlines Delay Compensation
- For any delay of over 3 hours and a distance up to 1500 km between the destinations, you will get 250 Euros as a compensation amount.
- If the delay is between 4 to 5 hours and the flight distance is around 1500 to 3500 Kms. the airline will compensate you with 400 Euros.
- For any delay over 5 hours and route more than 3500 kms, the 600 Euros compensation will be necessary.
Can I change or cancel a flight with the Southwest Companion Pass?
If you had a Southwest Companion pass and you are flying with your family member or any loved one, you can change or cancel it. However, at first, you must cancel the flight for your companion.
If you cancel your flight, your companion will also not be able to fly at all. So, it becomes necessary to cancel your companion’s flight at the first step, especially when changing the schedules.
The reason you have to cancel a companion flight first is that they have a different reservation number than your original booking. Therefore, when changing your flights first cancel his previous one and then add him back to the new one.
Gift Card/ Companion Pass Flights Southwest Cancellation Policy
The Southwest flight cancellation policy lets you cancel tickets you bought via companion passes or gift cards.
Companion Pass
- The pass allows flyers to choose a person to fly with without taxes and fees whenever they buy a ticket/ redeem their points.
- Southwest allows you to cancel companion pass fare tickets and returns any taxes you may have paid.
- Also, the airlines will process your refund to the original mode of payment.
Gift Card Bookings
- When a passenger has a Southwest giftcard, they receive a balance as a gift that they can use to book a flight on the airline’s direct sources.
- As per the Southwest Airlines cancellation policy, tickets bought with gift cards are non-refundable.
- Upon cancellation of your booking, the gift card balance will be converted to travel credits that the flyer can use in the future (expiry of 12 months).
- However, if the traveler cancels the flight as per Southwest 24-Hour Cancellation Policy, they must get in touch with customer service to resolve your refund query.
Southwest Airlines Refund Policy
The Southwest Airlines flight cancellation policy for refund has stated some guidelines regarding the amount to be transferred when the flyer cancels their ticket.
- Refundable tickets get full money back upon ticket cancellation in the original form of payment.
- However, non-refundable bookings at Southwest get only travel credits for future travel.
- Passengers cannot redeem them for cash, as these are meant for direct purchases with Southwest only. These credits will expire after one year from the date of issue.
- Except for Wanna Get Away fares, all other travel classes at Southwest are redeemable to the original mode of payment.
- When you cancel these non-refundable tickets, you get travel credits for future travel.
- It takes upto 10 days to process a refund request.
Also, the amount/ credits spent on travel-addons are non-refundable. Except for the Southwest 24-hour cancellation policy, all other cancellations don’t guarantee a refund in the original payment mode.
Southwest Airlines No Show Policy
Southwest.com defines a no-show as when a passenger neither cancels a ticket nor shows up for flight before its scheduled departure.
- As per the Southwest cancellation policy for no-shows, passengers must cancel their booking at least 10 minutes before departure time.
- Under this scenario, the airlines will cancel your booking.
- Also, if the individual has a Business Select/ Anytime ticket, their entire booking amount will convert to Flight Credit for future travel.
- However, for those who did not show up for their Wanna get away flights, their entire booking amount will be forfeited.
Kindly dial +1-860-374-7617 or 1-800-I-FLY-SWA to know your options when you think you may miss your Southwest Airlines flight. Avoid no-shows.
In Conclusion,
With all the above handy information, Southwest ticket cancellation becomes super smooth. If you still want information on Southwest’s cancellation policy, contact Southwest Airlines customer service for it.
Watch Southwest Airlines Flight Review
Frequently Asked Questions On Southwest Cancellation Policy
Can I cancel Southwest flight without penalty?
Southwest Cancellation Policy
The Southwest Airlines cancellation policy lets you cancel a booking anytime till 10 minutes before the scheduled take-off of your flight, without a cancellation fee. Also, if you’ve booked the flight using Rapid reward points, you will get them back into your account easily.
What is Southwest Airlines cancellation policy?
When you don’t cancel the booking till 10 minutes prior to the flight’s departure, your case will be a no-show, and the entire reservation value will stand canceled. Also, the entire amount will be forfeited, and no refund will be available.
How soon before a Southwest flight can I cancel?
You can cancel a non-refundable ticket, but the amount will get converted to a travel fund for future use. You can cancel your flight right at the time of booking till 10 minutes left for the flight’s departure to receive some value against your Southwest booking.
Can I change my Southwest flight for free?
Southwest Airlines lets you change or cancel your flight for free. No fee is charged till 10 minutes before the flight’s departure. However, you must pay the change in fare if the new ticket is priced more than the previous one. Other airlines charges upto $100 for the same service.
Can I cancel my Southwest flight due to Covid?
Passengers can change or cancel their flight without a fee if their booking is affected due to COVID-19. For a non-refundable ticket that follows the no-show policy, the fare amount will get converted to a flight credit that they can use for future flights with Southwest.
What Is Southwest Wanna Get Away Cancellation Policy?
Under the Southwest Airlines cancellation policy for wanna get away flights, you can cancel your ticket till 10 minutes before departure. Your entire booking amount will be returned as travel credits for future bookings with the airlines.
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