Southwest Airlines is by far one of the most flexible airlines out there. At any time up until 10 minutes prior to your flight, you can change or cancel your reservation at absolutely no fee. For those who purchase paid “Wanna Getaway” fares, this means you might end up with a a decent amount of Southwest vouchers, also known as Travel Funds. In the past, you’d have to keep track of all of your Southwest Travel Funds yourself. Southwest had no easy way to track them for you…. until now.
You might have noticed a new page in your Southwest Rapid Rewards Account. To simplify the process, Southwest added a “My Travel Funds” section to track all Southwest vouchers.
In your Travel Funds page, all funds earned on or after December 3, 2019 will be automatically tracked for you. No more having to keep track of all your canceled reservation numbers and credit amounts manually. For Travel Funds received prior to this date, you can still use the travel funds look up page.
Using Southwest Travel Funds
If you cancel a non-refundable Southwest flight, despite no fee to cancel, you’ll end up with a Travel Fund. They are pretty easy to use, but do have restrictions around them. For starters, they expire 12 months from the original purchase date, not from the canceled date. They also cannot be transferred to another passenger. You also must fly by the expiration date, not simply just book by this date. Southwest, however, will extend them for you after they expire, but they’ll deduct $100 from the Travel Fund. There is also no loophole to extend the funds without a fee.
When you are ready to redeem your Southwest Travel Fund, during the payment process there is a section to enter your Travel Funds information.
Just remember though, if you are combining Travel Funds with another form of payment, everything will inherit the earliest expiration date of the Travel Fund used. For example: You have a $200 flight you are booking and you are using $50 in Travel Funds and putting the rest on your credit card. If you then need to cancel the flight, the $150 put on your credit card will have an earlier expiration date that will match the same date as the Travel Fund.
Overall
This is a great enhancement to the Southwest site since keeping track of Travel Funds yourself can be a pain. This will now keep travelers more organized and help ensure members do not forget about their vouchers. For those who cancel many Southwest flights, this will serve as a great addition to your account. Just make sure to continue to keep track of vouchers received prior to Dec. 3, 2019. And remember, if you use Southwest points, you’ll never have to worry about receiving a voucher. Points automatically go back into your account when you cancel a flight. The taxes and fees are even reimbursed to the credit card used.
Related Southwest Rapid Reward posts:
- Ultimate Guide to Changing and Canceling a Southwest Flight
- Increase Your Southwest Balance with Southwest Credit Card Offers
- Changing a Southwest Flight Will Keep Your Fare Refundable!
- How Exactly Does Southwest’s EarlyBird Check-In Work?
- Southwest EarlyBird Check-In When Changing and Canceling a Flight
- Southwest’s Early BirdCheck-In: Reasons You Should or Should Not Purchase
- Can I Change a Southwest Flight if I Booked a Roundtrip?
- If a Southwest Flight Goes Down in Price…
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That’s great, I always thought that was one thing that didn’t match Transfarency, almost like they hoped you lost the info on those funds…
I just cancelled one this morning but did not see it show up in My Travel Funds page. May be it takes some time to propagate….