Airfare prices are sky high (see what I did there?). If you’re making travel plans for the spring or summer, expect to pay more for the same ticket than you did before the pandemic. That is, if the routing you took before still even exists.
When we were looking for flights to New Orleans, one of the few airlines with non-stop flights was Southwest and the less than 2-hour flight cost $172, the highest I’d ever seen.
It was the flight we needed to take due to scheduling restraints, so I booked it. The price was a little less painful because I had money from a previous Southwest flight that I canceled.
As the trip approached, I checked on our flights to make sure nothing had changed, like a cancellation or time change. When I looked, the prices were less expensive than when I booked. A quick check at our reservation showed the price had dropped by $50 per ticket.
I checked my post about how to change a Southwest ticket and logged into my account. While I didn’t change my flight, the process is the same, except you’re changing to the same flight.
A few minutes of my time and some mouse clicks and I have a $108 credit.
Here are some warnings about rebooking Southwest flights when the fare drops.
If you paid for Early Bird seating, do not change flights online.
If you change flights or even rebook the same flight online, you’ll lose your Early Bird money. The only way to rebook and keep Early Bird on a reservation is to call Southwest and have them make the changes. Under any circumstance, you will lose your Early Bird money if you change reservations within 25 hours of your new flight.
You won’t get a refund, instead, fare differences will go into a Travel Fund.
For this reservation, we each received $54 which will go into a travel fund linked to the PNR for the flight. These funds need to be used on a flight within 1 year of the original purchase date. If you used travel funds to pay for the ticket, the expiration date reverts to that of the originally paid booking. Travel funds need to be used by the same passenger and are not transferable.
If you paid with points, good for you.
If you paid with Rapid Rewards points, Southwest will deposit the point difference back into your account.
Final Thought
If you booked flights on Southwest, occasionally check your reservation, and if the price is lower, get a credit for the difference.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
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