Southwest Airlines Cancellation Policy

How to Cancel a Southwest Airlines Flight – The Southwest Airlines Cancellation Policy and Flight Refund Policy

No matter how well you plan your business trip, vacation or a getaway family reunion, chances of a flight Cancelation spoiling your plans can never be ruled out. It could be either you canceling the flight due to unavoidable circumstances at home or office, or it could be the airline itself canceling, delaying or rescheduling your flight due to various reasons. The fact is flight cancelations are an undesired reality that often causes tremendous inconveniences to passengers. And monetarily, passengers are often on the losing side due to their sheer lack of knowledge about the existing cancelation and refund rules of airlines. Therefore, awareness of an airline’s cancelation and refund policies is an absolute prerequisite for hassle-free air travel. Thankfully, Southwest Airlines has a passenger-friendly cancelation and refund policy in place that minimizes passenger inconveniences in the unfortunate events of flight cancelations. The Southwest Airlines Cancelation policy is a perfect blend of rules, guidelines, terms and conditions which has been elaborately discussed in this article.

The Southwest Airlines Cancellation Policy

Historically, Southwest Airlines have had the most flexible cancelation policy in the whole US aviation industry. Even before the pandemic, the airline provided passengers the freedom to choose between holding values of canceled tickets for future use and claiming full refunds. It also had a solid refund policy that actually reimbursed passengers for genuine claims after flight disruptions. Although many airlines have emulated Southwest Airlines’ customer-friendly cancelation policies post-COVID, it remains, by far, the most flexible airline in terms of cancelation and refund rules and guidelines.

The following sections discuss all of these and many more including the complete Southwest Airlines Cancelation policy terms and guidelines and the cancelation and refund request procedures.

But to begin with, it is important to know about the various Southwest Airlines fare classes, vouchers and ticket types and understand a few concepts related to their cancelations and refunds.Here’s what you need to know.

Southwest Airlines Fare Types and Tickets

Southwest Airlines offers four types of fares to passengers which are,

1. i. Wanna Get Away
2. ii. Wanna get Away Plus
3. iii. Anytime
4. iv. Business Select

Out of these four, the first two are non-refundable and the last two are refundable. Interestingly, Southwest Airlines has introduced a new concept here called ‘Reusable.’ The airline has defined the concept in the purview of its elaborately-laid cancelation policy and clearly distinguished it from the other very widely-used term, ‘refundable.’ Here is the difference as per the policy.

‘Reusable’ and ‘Refundable’ – the Difference

The fund value from both refundable and non-refundable tickets after cancelations can be used for flight bookings in the future as per the rules of the Southwest Airlines Cancelation policy. Since the funds can be reused for future travel, it is referred to as ‘Reusable’ in Southwest Airlines terminology. The reason why all Southwest Airlines tickets are reusable is that passengers with both refundable and non-refundable tickets are allowed here to hold the funds for future use in the form of Flight Credits after cancelations without worrying about an expiry date. In that sense, all the Southwest Airlines tickets such as the Wanna Get Away, Wanna get Away Plus, Anytime and Business Select are reusable, as passengers are allowed to reuse the funds held in the form of Flight Credits for future travel.

On the contrary, ‘Refundable’ refers to tickets where passengers are allowed to claim and obtain full refunds of their funds to the original modes of payment after flight cancelations. Here, Anytime and Business Select fares are refundable. But they are also reusable because passengers, who booked any of these two types of tickets, are also allowed to hold their funds in the form of Flight Credits and reuse them in the future for flight bookings after cancelations.

To summarize, Wanna Get Away and Wanna Get Away Plus tickets are reusable but not refundable because passengers can’t get their funds back to their accounts after the cancelation of these tickets, whereas Anytime and Business Select are both reusable and refundable.

Non-Refundable Tickets:

Southwest Airlines returns the value of canceled tickets to passengers in the form of Flight Credits for non-refundable tickets. Flight Credits are automatically issued for online cancelations and can be used for future travel. But passengers can also get full refunds for their non-refundable flight tickets to their original modes of payment if they cancel their reservations within 24 hours of booking. Full refunds can also be obtained on non-refundable fares in case of flight disruptions caused by factors within Southwest Airlines’ control.

Southwest Airlines Travel Vouchers

Southwest Airlines issues two types of travel vouchers upon cancelation of refundable and non-refundable tickets. These vouchers are primarily used to hold the funds from canceled tickets for future travel. None of them have any expiry date. Here they are.

Transferable Flight Credits: Transferable Flight Credits are those which can be used by the passengers in whose names they were issued to book flights for others in the future.These types of Flight Credits are issued after cancelations to passengers who originally booked Business Select, Anytime and Wanna Get Away Plus tickets.

Flight Credits: Flight Credits are those which can be only used for future travel by passengers in whose names they were originally issued. They cannot be used to book flights for someone else. Flight Credits are issued after cancelations to passengers who initially booked Wanna Get Away tickets.

Award Tickets

Southwest Airlines allows passengers to book tickets using reward points accumulated from frequent travel under its reward travel program. And as per the rules of the Southwest Airlines Cancelation policy, passengers can cancel these award tickets and get the redeemed Rapid Rewards® points back to their Rapid Rewards® accounts. Even the total value of points redeemed to pay for taxes and fees during flight booking is refunded, and passengers are given the option to choose between an actual refund to the original modes of payment and a Flight Credit for future use. What’s more! No redeposit fee is charged from passengers to reinstate the points. More on the award travel cancelation rules have been discussed later in this article in great detail.

The Southwest Airlines Cancelation Policy Rules and Guidelines

The standard norms, rules and terms and conditions for Southwest Airlines Cancelation policy are given here for a quick understanding.

1. i. Southwest Airlines allows passengers to cancel flights up to 10 minutes before scheduled departure and get refunds to the original forms of payment or in the form of Flight Credits issued in their names.
2. ii. Southwest Airlines offers four types of fares, out of which two are refundable and two are non-refundable.
3. iii. The rules of the Southwest Airlines Cancelation policy allow passengers to get full refunds to their original modes of payment for their refundable tickets, and also give them the option to choose Flight Credits instead of refunds. So, by these rules, passengers with refundable tickets are given the opportunity to choose between actual refunds and Flight Credits in the event of flight cancelations.
4. iv. For non-refundable tickets, however, no such choice is given to passengers.Passengers are only issued Flight Credits after cancelation. The issued Flight Credits can be used to book flights in the future.
5. v. But Southwest Airlines also has a 24-Hour Cancelation policy which gives all passengers,irrespective of the fare type they have purchased, the option to choose between method-of-payment refunds and Flight Credits in the event of cancelations within 24 hours of purchase. This means that passengers, even those who cancel their non-refundable tickets within 24 hours of purchase, are allowed to either obtain a full refund or get a Flight Credit issued in their names depending on their choice.
6. vi. Passengers, irrespective of the fare type they originally purchased, can also obtain full refunds or may prefer to hold the values of the canceled tickets in the form of Flight Credits for future travel if their flights are canceled, rescheduled or delayed by more than 3 hours by Southwest Airlines due to reasons within their control.
7. vii. The flight disruptions clause under the Southwest Airlines Cancelation policy also allows passengers to claim reimbursements for additional expenses incurred on hotel bookings, meals and ground transportation due to cancelations, delays or rescheduling of flights without prior information.
8. viii. Southwest Airlines issues method-of-payment refunds to eligible passengers meaning that refunds are always made to the original forms of payments used during initialflight bookings. The timing of refunds may vary depending on the modes of payments originally used. More on how method-of-payment refunds actually work has been discussed elaborately later in this article.
9. ix. The maximum time taken for issuing a method-of-payment refund could be 7 business days for a credit or a debit card and 20 business days for cash or a cheque. This refund issuance time is counted from the day of receiving complete refund requests with full documentation. The time could extend if a passenger sends his refund request via postal mail.
10. x. As per the Southwest Airlines reward travel cancelation policy, passengers can get back their redeemed Rapid Rewards® points to their Rapid Rewards® accounts upon cancelation of their award tickets. They can also get back the points redeemed to pay for taxes and fees in the form of method-of-payment refunds or Flight Credits as per the policy terms.
11. xi. Southwest Airlines doesn’t charge any cancelation fee or redeposit fee from passengers.
12. xii. As per the Southwest Airlines No-show policy , the entire booking amount paid by passengers is forfeited if they don’t cancel their flights at least 10 minutes before scheduled departure and fail to board their flights. However, if they have the Anytime or Business Select tickets, they can still get their funds back in the form of Transferable Flight Credits.
13. xiii. Southwest Airlines issues Transferable Flight Credits to passengers canceling their Anytime, Business Select or Wanna Get Away Plus tickets. Transferable Flight Credits can be used by passengers to book flights for others in future.
14. xiv. Simple non-transferable Flight Credits are issued after cancelingWanna Get Away tickets.
15. xv. Southwest Airlines has removed the expiry dates of all Flight Credits issued after flight cancelations. So, passengers don’t need to worry about losing their funds.

How to Cancel Southwest Airlines Flight?

Knowledge of the cancelation policy rules and guidelines is important, but a crystal clear understanding of the cancelation processes is practically even more important. Without knowing how to cancel flights as per the rules and terms, it is impossible to utilize the full benefits offered under an airline’scancelation policy. Southwest Airlines flights can be canceled in many ways. It can be conveniently done online through the mobile app or the official website. Cancelations can also be made via phone call. All these different processes of flight cancelations have been discussed in detail here.

If you are tech-savvy and you have access to a computer or tablet, then canceling your flight through the official Southwest Airlines website is the easiest process you can follow. The entire process has been described step-by-step below.

1. i. First, visit the homepage of the official Southwest Airlines website, www.southwest.com. In the header section of the home page click on the first menu, ‘Flight.’
2. ii. A pop-up box would appear with a lot of sub-menus grouped under four columns. Check on the first column, which is ‘Flight’ and find the second option from the top called ‘Manage Reservations.’ Click on that option.
3. iii. This would redirect you to the “Retrieve Air Reservation” page.Enter your first and last names and the booking confirmation number in the designated boxes on the same page and click on the yellow ‘Search’ button below.
4. iv. All your trip details would be retrieved and displayed on a new page called the “Your Reservation Details” page. Here you’ll have the change and cancel options for your selected flights.
5. v. Click on the ‘Cancel’ tab and you will be redirected to the “Cancel Flight Reservation” page.Here, you’ll find a “Travel Funds” section at the bottom of the page which shows the refund amount you are eligible for.
6. vi. If your flight ticket is non-refundable, the “Travel Funds” section would only display the “Hold for future use” option which is another name for Flight Credits.
7. vii. If your flight ticket is refundable, the “Travel Funds” section of the page would display ‘Refundable’ on the left side and there would be a dropdown option box adjacent to it in the middle of this section.
8. viii. Click on the dropdown and you’ll find two options to choose from, “Hold for future use” and “Request a refund.” Select whatever optionyou may like.
9. ix. Now, click on the yellow “Cancel Flight” button on the bottom right of the page. Once you click on it, a cancelation confirmation page would open up. Keep the reference number for your record.

Online Flight Cancelation through Mobile App

In this current date and time, smartphones and mobile apps reign supreme. All major companies have mobile apps which allow people to finish important tasks on the go. Likewise, Southwest Airlines also has its mobile app which is comprehensive, easily navigable and very much user-friendly. Right from flight bookings to canceling reservations and requesting refunds, the Southwest mobile app can be a genuine time-saver for passengers. Here’s how you can cancel your flight online step-by-step through the mobile app.

1. i. Open the Southwest mobile app or the mobile version of the Southwest Airlines official website, mobile.southwest.com, on your smartphone.
2. ii. Find the three horizontal lines or the sandwich menu on the upper left hand side of the mobile screen. Tap on these three lines and find the ‘Flight’ menu on the top.
3. iii. Now, check out “Look Up Reservations,” which is the fourth option from the top under the ‘Flight’ menu. Tap on that option.
4. iv. This would redirect you to the “View Flight Reservations” page. Here, you can view all your upcoming trips by entering your first and last names and the booking confirmation number in the designated boxes and tapping on the yellow “Retrieve Reservation” button.
5. v. This would retrieve your reservation details. On this reservation details page, you’ll find the ‘Change’ and ‘Cancel’ buttons side by side on top of your mobile screen. Tap on the ‘Cancel’ button and the ‘Cancel Flight’ page would open.
6. vi. The page would contain details of the flight you are about to cancel and at the bottom of the screen, there would be the credit section which displays the total amount refundable.
7. vii. If you have a non-refundable ticket, the Credit section would show “Hold for future use” under ‘Refund Method.’ This means that the only option you have, in this case, to get back your money is in the form of Flight Credits.
8. viii. On the other hand, if you have a refundable ticket, you’ll find two options, “Refund to Credit Card” and “Hold for future use” under ‘Refund Method.’
9. ix. Once the refund method is decided, tap on the big yellow ‘Cancel Flight’ button at the extreme bottom of your mobile screen.
10. x. Now, a cancelation confirmation page would open up with all details of cancelation and refund. Take a screenshot of the page and keep it for future reference.

Offline Flight Cancelation by Phone Call

Passengers can also contact Southwest Airlines at its toll-free helpdesk number +1- 800-435-9792 or +1-888-261-0054 and request cancelations and refunds offline by talking to a Southwest Airlines representative. But before calling Southwest Airlines, passengers should keep their booking confirmation numbers, ticket numbers and all information related to the booked flights handy so that they can be promptly provided when asked during the phone call.

Southwest Airlines Reward Travel Cancelation Policy

Southwest Airlines allows its committed passengers to accumulate Rapid Reward points from regular travel and redeem those points for future flight bookings under its reward travel program. As per the rules of the Southwest Airlines Reward Travel Cancelation Policy, passengers can cancel these reward tickets and get refunds just like normal flight reservations. The rules that apply to reward ticket cancelations are given below.

1. i. Rapid Rewards® Points redeemed to book flights are sent back to the passengers’ Rapid Rewards® accounts if they cancel their reward tickets as per the guidelines of the Southwest Airlines Cancelation policy.
2. ii. Passengers are not charged any redeposit fee for getting back their Rapid Rewards® Points in their accounts.
3. iii. Refunds can be obtained for points redeemed to pay for taxes and fees during reward ticket booking. Passengers may choose to accept the value of taxes and fees as refunds issued to the original forms of payments or as Flight Credits for future use.
4. iv. However, in case of no-shows, passengers, who bought Wanna Get Away or Wanna Get Away Plus tickets using Rapid Rewards® Points, have to forfeit their points. Even the points redeemed for paying taxes and fees are forfeited.
5. v. But passengers, who purchased Anytime or Business Select tickets, get back their redeemed points to their Rapid Rewards® accounts even if they fail to board their flights. The points used for paying taxes and fees in such cases are returned to the passengers in the form of Transferable Flight Credits.

The Southwest Airlines 24-Hour Cancellation Policy

As per the terms of the Southwest Airlines Cancelation policy, passengers are eligible to cancel their flight tickets and receive full refunds within 24 hours of booking irrespective of the fare types they purchased.The key points and the terms and conditions of the Southwest Airlines 24-Hour Cancelation policy are given below.

1. i. As per the rules of this policy, passengers are allowed to claim and obtain full refunds to their original forms of payment if they cancel their Southwest flight tickets anytime within 24 hours of booking.
2. ii. The 24-Hour Cancelation policy rules apply to all fares, both refundable and non-refundable.
3. iii. Passengers are also given the choice to opt for Flight Credits that have no expiry date and can be used anytime in the future.
4. iv. As a condition, the tickets must be canceled either online through the official website or the mobile app of Southwest Airlines or by calling the Southwest Airlines Customer Service Department contact number. No other process of cancelation would be accepted.
5. v. For same-day booking and travel, the no-show policy rules should not be violated.
6. vi. For cancelations of flight tickets that were purchased either in full or in parts using the Southwest Gift Cards or the Southwest LUV Vouchers within 24 hours of booking, passengers must contact the Customer Service Department at the contact number provided in the previous sections to get their refunds.

Southwest Airlines No-Show Policy

The reservations of passengers, who don’t cancel their flights at least 10 minutes prior to their original scheduled departure, and who miss or fail to board their flights, are automatically canceled by Southwest Airlines as part of its no-show policy. The following fare rules apply to bookings in case of no-shows.

• i. If the missed flight tickets belong to the Anytime or Business Select fare types, passengers would get the value of their tickets back in the form of Transferable Flight Credits which can be used for future purchases.
• ii. For other fare types such as the Wanna Get Away and Wanna Get Away Plus, the entire booking amounts are forfeited in case of no-shows.
• iii. In cases where passengers booked Wanna Get Away or Wanna Get Away Plus tickets with their reward points, a no-show would forfeit all reward points that were redeemed including the taxes and fees paid as part of reward travel bookings.
• iv. For Anytime or Business Select bookings with reward points, passengers would get their redeemed reward points back to their Rapid Rewards® accounts despite no-shows, and points used for paying taxes and fees would be converted into Transferable Flight Credits before being issued to passengers.

Southwest Airlines Cancellation Fees

Southwest Airlines has removed cancelation fees for all types of flight cancelations. So, it doesn’t matter whether a passenger is canceling a refundable or a non-refundable ticket, the Southwest Airlines cancelation Fee is zero for all fare types including reward tickets as per the Southwest Airlines Cancelation policy. The only point to remember here is cancelations must be done keeping in mind the cancelation cut-off time which is, at least, 10 minutes before the scheduled departure, otherwise, all booking money would be forfeited.

The Southwest Airlines Refund Policy

The Southwest Airlines Refund policy is quite different from that of other airlines in terms of features and characteristics. The policy has introduced some unique concepts that redefine the age-old principles and practices associated with flight ticket cancelations and refunds. The newness in its refund policy is evident in its rules and guidelines as well as in the process of claiming refunds. The different aspects of the refund policy are discussed below.

1. i. Southwest Airlines has a 24-hour flight cancelation policy which allows passengers to receive full refunds for canceling reservations within 24 hours of booking irrespective of fare type. It doesn’t matter whether they purchased a refundable or non-refundable fare. Passengers are eligible for full refunds as long as they cancel their reservations within 24 hours of booking.
2. ii. The Southwest Airlines 24-hour cancelation policy also allows passengers to choose between full refunds to the original forms of payment and Flight Credits that can be used for future flight bookings. This flexibility is offered to all passengers who cancel their refundable or non-refundable tickets within 24 hours of purchase.
3. iii. After 24 hours, passengers with refundable tickets such as the Anytime and Business Select can obtain full refunds upon flight cancelations. The refunds including the taxes and fees are paid to the original forms of payments that were used during ticket purchases.
4. iv. Passengers with refundable tickets are also given the option to choose between full refunds to the original forms of payment and Transferable Flight Credits that can be used for future purchases. The concept of Reusable has been discussed at the beginning of this article. Southwest Airlines Refundable tickets are both refundable as well as reusable. This is the uniqueness of the Southwest Airlines Refund policy.
5. v. Passengers with non-refundable tickets such as the Wanna Get Away and Wanna Get Away Plus are issued simple Flight Credits or Transferable Flight Credits if they cancel their flights. The Wanna Get Away Plus ticket holders receive Transferable Flight Credits, whereas, the Wanna Get Away ticket owners are issued simple Flight Credits that are non-transferable.
6. vi. All the above refund-related terms and conditions are valid only if the terms of the Southwest Airlines No-Show policy are adhered to during flight cancelation.If the 10 minutes cut-off time rule for flight cancelation is not followed and passengers fail to board their flights, all privileges and entitlements bestowed upon passengers become void.
7. vii. The refund clauses under the no-show policy are different from the normal terms and conditions of the Southwest Airlines Refund policy. Those have been discussed elaborately in the previous sections of this article.
8. viii. If tickets booked with Rapid Rewards® Points are canceled, passengers receive the redeemed reward points back to their Rapid Rewards® accounts.
9. ix. The points that were redeemed to pay for taxes and fees during reward ticket bookings are also returned to passengers, but not in the form of points. Here also, passengers are given the option to choose between an actual refund to the original form of payment and Flight Credit for future use.
10. x. The refund policy for reward travel cancelation is quite different for no-shows which have been discussed in detail in the previous sections of this article.
11. xi. Southwest Airlines refund rules vary according to the modes of payment used during flight booking. That’s why Southwest Airlines calls their refunds method-of-payment refunds. The terms for a refund for each mode of payment are given below.

    (a) Credit Card: If a credit card or a debit card was used to make payment during the original flight booking, then a refund would be made to the same account within 7 business days as per the Southwest Airlines Refund policy.

    (b) Cash: If cash or cheque was used to pay for the flight ticket, a refund would be issued in the form of a cheque within 20 business days from the day of receipt of the refund request with complete documentation. This 20-day time limit holds for domestic travel. The refund time could be much longer in case of international travel where currency exchange complications and relationships with local banks in a particular country come into play.

    (c) Points: If reward points were used to purchase flight tickets, they would be sent back to the Rapid Rewards® accounts of passengers in due time after refund requests are received. Points redeemed to pay taxes and fees during flight booking would be converted into value and a refund could be issued in the form of Flight Credits. The value could be also returned to passengers as a method-of-payment refund on passenger request.

    (d) Gift Card or LUV Vouchers: If Southwest Gift Cards or Southwest LUV Vouchers were used for flight bookings, passengers would need to contact Southwest Airlines for full refunds provided reservations were canceled within 24 hours. After 24 hours, they would be issued Flight Credits for future use.

    (e) Flight Credit: If Southwest Flight Credits received from previous refunds were used to purchase Anytime or Business Select tickets, and was subsequently canceled, refunds would be made in the form of Transferable Flight Credits.

12. xii. In cases of flight disruptions, where Southwest Airlines cancels flights without timely notice, delays flights significantly or reschedules them due to reasons that could be avoided with appropriate and timely actions on its part, passengers are eligible to claim and obtain full refunds irrespective of ticket type as per the rules of the Southwest Airlines Refund policy.
13. xiii. In the event of Southwest Airlines canceling reservations without prior warning, full refunds are made to the original forms of payments if passengers make immediate requests.
14. xiv. If no such requests are immediately made, Southwest Airlines automatically issues Flight Credits that do not expire within the next 72 hours. However, passengers are still entitled to request a refund for the unused Flight Credits in such cases.
15. xv. In cases of unwanted flight cancelations by Southwest Airlines, passengers are eligible to get refunds of all extra products and services purchased such as baggage fees, upgraded boarding or Early Bird Check-In® which are otherwise not allowed.
16. xvi. Southwest Airlines allows passengers to request refunds even after Flight Credits have been automatically issued against refundable tickets. Passengers may either call Southwest Airlines at their toll-free contact number in such cases or choose to write to them at the following address.

    Southwest Airlines

    Refunds Department

    P.O Box – 36649

    Dallas, Texas – 75235-1649

17. xvii. Passengers are also allowed as per the Southwest Airlines Refund policy rules to request refunds for non-refundable tickets in exceptional situations such as a death in the family or the death of the traveling partner, by following the two methods mentioned above.
18. xviii. Early Bird Check-In® is a non-refundable extra. Amounts paid towards buying EarlyBird Check-In® are forfeited if passengers cancel their Southwest flights. However, refunds can be obtained for the same product if Southwest Airlines cancels flights without prior notice.
19. xix. Passengers are eligible to claim reimbursements of expenses incurred on hotel accommodations, meals and ground transportation to and from hotels if their flights were canceled, significantly delayed or rescheduled without timely notice by Southwest Airlines. The disruptions must be due to reasons within Southwest’s control.
20. xx. Southwest Airlines reimburses passengers only with genuine and reasonable requests. Requests must be sent via email to Southwest Airlines with receipts to validate the claims. The email option is available on the Contact Us page of the official Southwest Airlines website.

How to get a ticket refund from Southwest Airlines?

Claiming a refund from Southwest Airlines is very easy. The airline allows passengers to claim and obtain refunds both online and offline, during cancelation and after cancelation without any hassle. The various methods of requesting a refund are discussed below.

Online Refund through the Website or Mobile App during Cancelation

Passengers can request a refund online either through the official website of Southwest Airlines or the mobile app during flight cancelations. There are options to choose between method-of-payment refunds and Flight Credits for refundable tickets before submission of the cancelation requests. For non-refundable tickets, the values of the canceled tickets are displayed on the screen and Flight Credits are automatically issued after cancelations are complete. The whole process of claiming refunds through the mobile app or the official website at the time of flight cancelation has been discussed in great detail in the previous sections.

Online Refund Request via email on the Official Website

Passengers can also request a refund later via email on the official website if their flights are disrupted. They can also request reimbursements in such cases. The entire online process is described step-by-step below.

1. i. Come to the footer section of the official Southwest Airlines website. Click on ‘Contact Us.’ You’ll be redirected to the ‘Contact Us’ page.
2. ii. Find the ‘Email us’ heading on the right side of the ‘Call 1-800-I-FLY-SWA’ headline.
3. iii. Find the ‘Send us an email’ hyperlink written in blue. Click on it. You’ll be redirected to the ‘Email Us’ page.
4. iv. There are three options, ‘Complaint,’ ‘Comment/Question’ and ‘Compliment’ that depict the nature of the emails you want to send. Click on any of the first two options.
5. v. Ten tabs would appear under the heading, “Complaint related to.” Click on the first button called ‘Flight.’ An ‘About’ section would appear right below with four more tabs.
6. vi. Select the ‘Flight Cancelation’ tab which is second from left.
7. vii. Now, click on the yellow ‘Next’ button. You can also click on the ‘Reservation’ tab and find the cancelation option.
8. viii. Once you click on ‘Next’, a complete refund request form would open up where you have the option to upload relevant documents and write in detail about the inconvenience you faced leading to cancelation.
9. ix. Fill out the entire form and submit it.
10. x. You can also submit a request for reimbursement from the same ‘Email Us’ page by clicking on the ‘Travel Disruption’ tab and following the subsequent prompts.

Offline Refund Request via Phone Call

Passengers can also request a refund via phone call by directly calling the Southwest Airlines customer helpdesk in the contact number 1-800-435-9792. Vital information such as the booking confirmation number, date, origin and destination of travel and the ticket number must be kept ready in hand before making the call.

Offline Refund Request by Postal Mail

Refund requests can also be sent by postal mail to the Southwest Airlines Refunds Department at the below-mentioned address along with information about the unused tickets, receipts and other supporting documents.

1. Southwest Airlines
2. Refunds Department
3. P.O Box – 36649
4. Dallas, Texas – 75235-1649

The 7-day refund processing timeline in such cases would be counted from the day the refund requests are received in the above-mentioned address with complete supporting documents.

How to check the Travel Funds balance or the refund status for the canceled Southwest flight?

If passengers have Rapid Rewards® accounts and they entered their account numbers at the time of booking, then the Flight Credits issued and the currently available travel funds balance would reflect in their accounts after cancelations are confirmed. And if they don’t have Rapid Rewards® accounts, the travel funds balance can be checked in the following manner.

• i. Visit the homepage of the official website. Click on the ‘Flight’ menu in the header section.
• ii. Select “Check Travel Funds”from the dropdown which is the third sub-menu from the bottom. Click on it.
• iii. You’ll be redirected to the “Check Travel Funds” page. Click on “Flight Credit” and enter your first and last names and the booking confirmation number in the designated boxes and click on the white “Check Funds” button right beside.

If a Flight Credit has been already issued in the passenger’s name, it would show here along with the currently available travel funds balance.