How to Cancel a Southwest Flight Booking: All you need to know

Author: James Flying

If you are willing to cancel a booked flight ticket, then you must be proactive to go through the Southwest Airlines Cancellation Policy process to change and cancel a flight ticket in no time. It would be good in case you feel like obtaining the policy in order to cancel a flight ticket and want a complete refund as well.

At this, you need to be sure that you have purchased a refundable ticket or complete now with Southwest Airlines cancelation policy and this is why you are going to expect the cancelation process along with the refund at a certain time. As per the Southwest Airlines policy, you should have 24 hours to cancel a flight and it is also mandatory to contact its representative who will guide you to cancel it at the right time.

How to Cancel a Southwest Flight Booking

  1. After you have logged on to your account, click on My Account in the top right-hand corner.
  2. In the middle of the next screen, you will see all of your upcoming flights. Choose the flight you want to cancel and click on Cancel Flight.
  3. Then, you will be able to confirm the flight you are canceling and select how you want your refund. If your ticket is fully refundable, you will have the option of requesting a refund or holding it as a travel fund for future use. If the ticket is non-refundable (Wanna Get Away tickets), you will be able to request travel funds for future use.
    • The price listed to the right is the amount being refunded or converted to travel funds. The ticket in the screenshot below is a Companion Fare, so the only money paid was the $11.20 in taxes and fees ($5.60 each way). If you booked a flight with cash, your full ticket price will show here.
  1. Click the yellow Cancel Flight button at the bottom of the screen to complete the cancellation.

Southwest Airlines Cancellation Fee

There are no Cancellation Fees for Southwest Airlines, but you need to cancel your flight before 7 days or 24 hours from the scheduled departure of the flight time.

But if you cancel your flight ticket after 24 hours, you will have to pay the Southwest Airlines Cancellation Fee as per the below-presented list.

  • Domestic Flight Cancellation $200
  • International Flight Cancellation $200 to $400
  • Same-day cancellation & change $75

Southwest Airlines Cancellation Policy

  • Rapid Rewards points will be refunded to your loyalty account if you booked a flight with them. If you booked a flight with cash, the money will either be refunded back to the method of payment or converted into Southwest travel funds, depending on your type of fare.
  • Even if your reservation is nonrefundable, you can get a refund to the original form of payment or convert it into travel funds within 24 hours of booking.
  • As per Southwest Cancellation Policy If a passenger requests a refund for flight cancellation, the refund amount would be decided on the basis of the flight fare conditions that will not cover the service fees because it is not refundable.
  • For this case, you are willing to make the cancellation under 24 hours for a flight booking made within 7 days of the flight departure. Then, as per the Southwest cancellation policy, you will need to cancel the flight booking through an email request.
  • In addition, if the flight cancellation is made within 24 hours of the ticket purchase, then, you will not be obligated to pay any cancellation charges and the flight will be canceled without paying the fee.
  • Furthermore, the refund amount for flight cancellation will be credited to your account in the same manner in which the flight booking payment was made.
  • In this case, you need to cancel a flight booking consisting of more than 1 ticket, as per the Southwest Airlines cancellation policy, the flight cancellation and flight refund request will be applicable on all of the tickets.
  • On making a flight ticket cancellation online, it might be possible to pay the Southwest Airlines cancellation charge. In such cases, the passenger will be informed while the ticket purchased.
  • Besides, for all refundable flight bookings, if the flight ticket is being canceled within 24 hours, you may get a full refund once the flight cancellation is done, this is all about Southwest Cancellation Policy.

The Southwest change and cancellation policy

Earlier this summer, Southwest went so far as waiving any difference in airfare when changing flights — but that is no longer the case.

However, if the price of a new ticket is less than the old one, you’ll get credit for that. Any extra money left over from a lower airfare will become a travel credit if you purchased one of Southwest’s cheaper Wanna Get Away fares, or you can get the money back if you’re traveling on a higher-priced ticket.

How to change or rebook your Southwest Airlines flight

The Southwest Airlines flight change policy gives customers the ability to change their flight for free as long as they do so at least 24 hours before departure.

  • The Southwest Airlines flight change policy is simple: no charge if you need to modify your flight reservation. You can change your flight as many times as you want, but you’ll need to pay the difference if the new flight is more expensive than the original one.
  • To change your Southwest flight, call the reservations department, or look up your flight with the confirmation number and passenger information.

Southwest flights 24 hours Cancellation Policy

For non-refundable reservations canceled within 24 hours of booking – If you cancel online at Southwest.com, through the app, or call us within 24 hours of booking, you can receive a refund of any fare (including Wanna Get Away) back to the original form of payment or choose to convert the airfare into Travel Funds

You can change or cancel your flight up to 10 minutes before your scheduled departure time. For example, if you had a flight scheduled to depart at 8 a.m., you’d have until 7:50 a.m. to make changes or cancel the flight. If for some reason you forget to change or cancel, it may result in your travel funds for that flight being forfeited.

For example, if you paid $79 for a one-way Wanna Get Away® ticket and you didn’t make the flight or cancel it, you may forfeit the $79 you paid. If you cancel before the "10 minutes before departure" mark, you will receive $79 as a reusable travel fund for future use. When you make a change extremely close-in (for example, if you were supposed to fly at 8 a.m. but then changed your flight that morning to 10 a.m.), your boarding position will change based on your new time of check-in.

Southwest Airlines Cancellation Policy on Its Different Fares

Listed here are the fundamental guidelines within the cancellation policy based on Southwest Airlines on its different fares.

Wanna Escape Fares

When the passenger has purchased the Wanna Escape via cash and intending to cancel their plan the whole sum will most likely be credited for that Travel Fund account on Southwest Airlines. Additionally, passenger can book their Southwest booking with future credit.

Passengers could use Wanna Escape which enables you to definitely certainly ten mins prior to the scheduled departure within the flight.

In a situation, when the fund we’ve within the account has become a member of time i.e. 12 several days inside the purchase date within the ticket then keep these things through getting to cover a meager fee of $100.

Business Select, Anytime, & Senior Fares

When the passenger of financial select, Anytime or possibly the senior fare made cancellation provides you with one hundred Percent refund within the original type of payment. Whether you’ve acquired it via cash or bank card.

Additionally, when the passenger canceled within under ten minutes before take-off, then the sum you used will finish in the travel funds, you need to use for booking another flight within twelve several days inside the purchase date.

Southwest cancellation policy for flight cancellation due to weather

  • As mentioned in the policy, if the flight of the passenger is cancelled because of extreme weather conditions, then in such cases a refund will be provided to the passengers.
  • Further, in a few cases the passengers can also claim a refund for the same.
  • Also, the airline can also accommodate the passengers on the next available flights without charging any additional fee.

How to cancel your flight and check if you're eligible for a refund

You can still see your itinerary on official Southwest website or in the Southwest Mobile App.

  1. Go to Southwest.com/cancel or open the Southwest app and select "Look Up Reservation" in the menu. Or, if you booked your trip using your Rapid Rewards account and are logged in, you can look it up in your account.
  2. Enter your confirmation number and the Passenger's name on the reservation.
  3. You'll see any available Travel Funds or refundable balances attached to the confirmation number you entered. If you have a refundable value remaining, you can choose to receive a refund to the original form of payment or convert the fare into Travel Funds.
  4. Tap or click "Cancel Flight" to cancel the flight for all Passengers.
  5. Refunds to credit cards may take up to two billing cycles to appear on your statement.
  6. Travel Funds are available for use immediately. If you used your Rapid Rewards number when booking, your Travel Funds will be automatically added to your Southwest account.