<p>I know a lot of you fly Southwest in and out of Birmingham, and I had a question about Southwest fares. If the fare for a flight you’ve already booked goes DOWN, can you get the benefit of the price drop? If so, how do you do that? I just changed our BamaBound flight into BHM because the price of the earlier flight I initially wanted dropped (it was too high at the time I booked so I had booked the cheaper, later flight), and I paid a small fare difference for the earlier flight. When I was doing that I noticed that my return flight fare has also dropped - can I somehow get the benefit of that?</p>
<p>i think you can just go in there and change it. i think it will keep the difference for you in credit, not refund you any money.</p>
<p>As far as I know, it goes into your travel funds account. I believe you have to use them within a year. I am embarrassed to admit that I forgot about some travel funds and lost them due to expiration. They used to let you use them for anyone…now you can only use them for the ticketed passenger. I know have a tickler/reminder on my calendar to make sure I don’t forget about any more of them!</p>
<p>I changed two flights recently when the price I originally paid for, went down. You will need your confirmation (reservation) number to swtich your ticket to the lower fare and receive the difference as a credit.</p>
<p>On the Southwest page, go to the right hand side, under "Quick air links, " click on “change flight.” Type in confirmation number and passenger’s first and last names. The rest is fairly self-explanatory.</p>
<p>Southwest will bank the difference in fare as a credit with SW. You will not be refunded the money. The other catch is that the credit, which can be used towards a future ticket, is non-transferrable; it can only be used by the same person for a future flight. I usually record the confirmation numbers of both the higher-priced flight and the lower fare so I have the info. when I retrieve the credit. </p>
<p>Lattelady is right, there is an expiration date for the credits, so be aware of that.</p>
<p>Ok, I just changed my fare to a lower one today, so let me walk you through it. Go on the Southwest website, and in the upper right corner area under “Quick Air Links” will be 3 choices. You need to click on the “Change Flight” link. You need to have your confirmation #, and after you enter that + the passenger’s name, it will take you directly to your reservation. You can click on your outbound or inbound flight leg, and you choose a different (i.e., lower) fare. </p>
<p>If you have done this too many times (not sure how many, but I ran into this today, so this is a snag to be aware of…) it might come up w/ error message, like ‘we can’t price that fare for you…please call’. Even tho fare changes can only be done for flights booked online, a representative will be more than happy to assist you, as they did for me today. They think it was because I’ve gone in 3 different times to change my same flight (always a lower fare!).</p>
<p>The ‘refund’ gets stored, as previous posts have stated, in your name only - if 2 or more people are booked on the same reservation, no problem, just in future, the refund for each of you will be stored under each of your names, but under the same original reservation #. REMEMBER TO KEEP YOUR OLD RESERVATION # for booking future travel w/ credits!!! You will need that # to access your funds to apply them to a future ticket. As stated by others, you have a year from the ORIGINAL purchase, and is for travel for YOU only (can’t be applied to someone else’s ticket). The nicest lady told me today that if you ever run into problems, just call SW - they are always happy to help you over the phone…and, unlike so many other companies, all 3 of their call centers are US-based. If they experience long wait periods, they even have a call-back feature. Yes, that’s right! SW will CALL YOU BACK when your wait time is over - you do not lose your place in line - unbelievable, isn’t it?!</p>
<p>Now, full disclosure: I have never flown SW yet, but based on their helpful service so far with this first ticket purchase, I’m completely a happy camper. :)</p>
<p>sorry for the duplicate post…the person just ahead of me was typing obviously the same instructions at the same time :)</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! I just changed the flight and got the lower fare! I LOVE that Southwest doesn’t charge a change fee!!</p>
<p>If you use points for a trip and it goes lower, do you get points back?</p>
<p>Yes, you do get the points back. I initially paid for a one-way ticket with points but changed my mind when the fare fell enough to make it worthwhile to buy the ticket instead. I like to save my points for peak season travel when the cash fare is more expensive.</p>
<p>Southwest. Gotta love them. For me, it is the official airline of the college student set. </p>
<p>Points are returnable to the owner, purchased tickets are not. </p>
<p>You can check your unused ticket funds by clicking, top right of main page, ‘Travel Tools’, then select ‘Travel Fund Balance’. And yes you need to keep your confirmation #s handy until the fund is used up.</p>