Southwest used to have one of the best Passenger of Size policies (for when you are too wide for a single seat)
Now to get a refund, among other requirements
The flight(s) must depart with at least one open seat (or with Passengers traveling on space available passes).
So if the flight is full, you’re out of luck.
Soooo who we thinking is going to buy the chapter 11’d southwest in ….2years time?
That long? 
That’s probably Elliot Investments strategy since they got significant stake in Southwest stock and got some board seats last year. Extract as much profit in the quickest timeframe and let the company die
Time now for Southwest to stop using the heart logo and Luv branding.
Wow. that USA Today article is vastly superior to the Washington Post article I read earlier today. WaPo’s was filled with speculation, misunderstandings, and bits of policy quoted out of context. I’m still not thrilled about the change, they need to at least figure out a way to let people know in advance that the flight is sold out and they won’t qualify for a refund, but it’s not quite as dire as WaPo made it sound.
I am trying to understand how SW’s new policies affect the use of travel credits. I currently have a lot of non-expiring travel credits. If I use them to book a flight, and then I need to cancel that flight, will the resulting travel credits now expire 1 year from the date of booking? Can someone point me to a thorough explanation of this?
(I am a person who in the past has frequently rebooked my flights as I see prices decreasing. I am not sure I will be able to do this now. 
)
It is my understanding that sadly, yes: any flight credit created after 5/28/2025 resulting from a voluntarily changed or cancelled SW flight will be an expiring one with the new rules.
The worst part of that is a Basic fare credit expires only 6 months out, so unless you have a planned use for them, likely worth booking a Choice or higher fare when using credits to get a full year before expiration.
About Flight Credits | Southwest Airlines
Edit: I should also add this info - might want to research and double check me on these, but I think they are correct from all that I’ve read.
I believe the expiration date is from the date it was BOOKED as opposed to the flight date, which really chaps my hide.
Even worse: If you mix cash with a flight credit and then cancel, the cash portion turns into a flight credit infected with the expiration date of the flight credit portion.
I just booked a flight that is in January….better hope it works out as I’ll have like a month to use the credit if it doesn’t!!
I have to think this wasn’t well thought out and will have to be modified. What if I booked my basic fare flight more than 6 months from the date I canceled. Does that make it already expired at the time of cancelation?
If that is the case I would try to modify the flight to anything else and see if that resets the clock before canceling. Then you would have the 12 months since you have to upgrade to a choice fare type. Thankfully points don’t expire.
I believe people are reporting modifications etc aren’t moving the expirations further out, but still have hope there may not be some sort of tactic that shows up at some point.
But I agree: If you book a flight way out with a flight credit then have to cancel at or near the credit expiration date, it essentially turned your booking into a non-refundable.
Which sounds to me to be kind of class action suit-y.
A hack that works for other airlines if you have to cancel - canel the flight, then rebook another flighr. Cancel that one and your booking date resets. I don’t know if it will work, but it might.
People have been reporting that does not work with the new Southwest system.
BTW: Another fun fact: Not only is there a short credit expiration now, any flight using that credit has to be COMPLETED before that expiration! 
Yep
WHAT?! They are really shooting themselves in the foot with this policy. It won’t be long until we start hearing all the complaints. SW doesn’t need any more bad PR. Many people are already unhappy about the changes.
I don’t think I will be booking any SW flights on cash any time soon…
I have definitely heard of policies where you need to have started the trip before the expiration. But six months from booking+completing is a really narrow window.
Yikes…it used to be so simple. I had it down to a science with the Wanna Get Away fares + Early Bird.
Now that they have seat assignments, I am guessing if you cancel and rebook for a lower fare, you will lose your seat assignment?
(I haven’t attempted to book anything with SW since all of these changes happened. We have always flown SW to Orlando though.)
Could it be that their goal is to have people purchase points??
I don’t think many people do that. They aren’t a great value unless you just need some to complete a purchase. SW doesn’t really gain anything as they are pretty close to equal in revenue vs the cash price. They aren’t really promoting that points purchases get refunded with no expiration. If they start doing that then their end game is definitely for people to use points as the currency.
While listening to the AwardTravel 101 podcast this morning talking about Companion Pass and other SW topics, I was wondering if the travel credit will drive people to purchase more points rather than just pay cash.
Unless I really was in a bind, I’d almost never buy any points since you can amass so many through the credit card bonuses, especially in a 2 player game. Or there’s the option of transferring points over from Chase, (which is definitely not maximizing your use of Chase Ultimate Rewards vs their potential value.)
Plus: the new non-standard points value is annoying and may mean you get less value for them.
But, if you factor out those - I think taking away all the stress of having to juggle flight credits and their expiration really makes buying points attractive in many circumstances.
Even with all of the unsavory changes this year, Southwest definitely is playing the credit card game to their advantage - holding a CC is almost a no-brainer if you ever want to check a bag or get a seat selection or “better” seat for free now and they know that will drive a lot of people their way and thus pay the higher annual fees.
I’m not sure they factored in all of this increasing points purchases, but it seems like that might happen, at least for the savvier travelers.
