Help! My Southwest Flight Credit Is About to Expire! Try This Trick to Make Your Credits Last Forever

Flight credits are among the many things Southwest Airlines changed with its 2026 overhaul. Southwest used to refund even their lowest fares with a flight credit that didn’t expire. But now, Southwest flight credits (aka travel funds) come with expiration dates.

Fortunately, there’s a hack that Southwest frequent flyers know to convert those expiring flight credits into transferrable flight credits with no expiration date!

We’ll get into the step-by-step instructions for getting rid of a flight credit’s expiration date later in this post. But first, some background:

How long your Southwest flight credit lasts depends on what fare class you booked before canceling. Southwest now has four booking levels: Basic, Choice, Choice Preferred and Choice Extra. Here’s how refunds work with each level:

• Choice Preferred and Choice Extra. Refunds go straight back to your method of payment. So if you paid with a credit card, you get a refund on your card account.
  
• Choice. Refunds come in the form of a transferable flight credit that expires in 12 months.
  
• Basic. Refunds come in the form of a non-transferable flight credit that expires in 6 months.

What’s the difference between a transferable flight credit or a non-transferable one? You can send the transferable credits to another person, so they can use it to book a flight for themselves. You can only use a non-transferable flight credit on your account for your own travel.

Note! This post may contain affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I could earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Win/win!

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How to stop your Southwest flight credit from expiring

Not long after Southwest changed their rules, someone in a Southwest Facebook group I belong to made an exciting announcement: They had discovered a weird trick to remove the expiration date from their Southwest flight credit!

Since reading about it, I have used the Southwest flight credit expiration date hack multiple times myself. I can confirm it works with both flight credits and with Southwest Luv vouchers (credits Southwest gives you to compensate for delays or other problems).

Why remove your Southwest flight credit’s expiration date?

Of course, if you’re planning to book another flight before your travel funds’ expiration date, you don’t need to worry about it! This hack is for people who want to use a flight credit more than six or 12 months in the future. Or maybe you already have a flight credit or LUV voucher that’s been sitting on your account for awhile, and now it’s about to expire.

The “gift card hack”

This is the secret trick for eliminating Southwest gift card expirations, which customers discovered by accident. We can assume that Southwest may put a stop to this at any time. But as of June 2026, it still works for both flight credits and LUV vouchers!

The gist of the gift card hack is that you use your expiring travel funds to purchase a refundable fare, then pay with the expiring flight credit and a Southwest gift card.

Sound arcane and complicated? Fear not! I will walk you through the gift card hack step by step. Follow these exact instructions, and your Southwest flight credit or LUV voucher will become an immortal, transferable flight credit.

(Note: This only works with travel funds that have not yet expired. If your funds have already expired, read on for help dealing with those.)

1. Purchase a Southwest gift card. The amount of the gift card does not matter. I usually try to purchase the smallest one available. I usually buy a $25 gift card through DoorDash. (As a bonus, if you have a DashPass membership as a credit card benefit, you get 10% off.)
   
2. Select a Choice Preferred (or Choice Extra) flight that costs more than your expiring credit. It’s important that you choose “Choice Preferred” or higher! This hack will not work with a “Basic” or “Choice” fare. (Tip: If your credit is small, look for one-hop flights at airports not too far apart. They don’t have to go to or from your home airport, because you won’t be flying.)
   
3. Pay for the flight using your expiring flight credit and your gift card. Pay any remaining balance with a credit card. (Don’t worry, you’ll get all the money back.)
   
4. Cancel the flight. Make sure to select “Refund to method of payment” when canceling! That ensures that any portion you paid with a credit card goes back to your card account.
   

If you do those four steps, you should end up with transferable flight credit with no expiration date, in the amount of your original credit or voucher + the amount you paid with a gift card. If you also used a credit card, the amount you put on your card will go right back to your card account.

Optional: Consolidate flight credits first

What if you have multiple flight credits or vouchers with expiration dates? Southwest only allows you to apply three forms of payment on a flight purchase. So you could apply two flight credits and a gift card together.

But what if you have more than three to use? You could just do the gift card hack again. But you could also consolidate two expiring credits into one by purchasing a flight, then canceling it:

1. Select a Choice Preferred flight or higher flight that costs more than the total of both flight credits.
   
2. Pay with your two flight credits or vouchers. You can pay the remaining balance any way you want — with a credit card, gift card or even with a third flight credit.
   
3. Cancel the flight immediately. Make sure to select “Refund to method of payment” when canceling! That ensures that any portion you paid with a credit card goes back to your card account.

Once these three steps are done, you should have a new flight credit equal to the total of the credits or vouchers you used. If your original credits expired on different dates, your new credit will have the earlier expiration date. But that’s OK, because you can always use the gift card hack to make it non-expiring.

You could technically consolidate three flight credits or vouchers into one using this process. However, that would be a little trickier. Southwest only allows three methods of payment per transaction. So if you use three credits, you can’t buy a flight that costs more than the total of all three. You have to find a flight that costs as close to the exact amount of credit you have. Chances are, the match won’t be exact. So you’ll probably end up with a refund consisting of one larger flight credit, plus the remaining balance of whichever credit you entered last on the transaction.

(This one actually works with any fare class, not only Choice Preferred. When you cancel a flight within 24 hours of purchsae, all funds should revert to the method of payment, no matter what class you bought. However, I do it with Choice Preferred just to feel more secure that the part I paid with a credit card will end up back on my card account.)

If your flight credit has already expired

If your flight credit expired recently, it may not be too late to save it! Multiple Southwest fliers have reported that they got the expiration date on their flight credit or LUV voucher extended by three months simply by calling and asking for an extension.

However, people are saying this only works after the credit has just expired.

To get in touch with Southwest Customer Service, call 800-248-4377 or visit the online Help Center. (Do NOT Google the customer service number! A lot of people get scammed by dialing fake airline customer service numbers posted online.)

Expiring Southwest flight credits FAQ

Q: How do you know these tricks really work?

A: I have tried both the “gift card hack” and consolidating flight credits myself, recently. Both reliably work!

Q: Why do these tricks work?

A: No one is really sure if these are glitches, or the way Southwest intends the process to work. I’ve read speculation that Southwest may be doing it this way to avoid running afoul of state laws that ban gift cards from expiring. Or maybe they just haven’t gotten around to changing it.

Q: Will customer service help me do the gift card hack or confirm that it works?

A: Probably not. It doesn’t seem to be something customer service is trained to tell people about. Most agents may not actually know about it.

Q: Where can I see my flight credits or vouchers and their expiration dates, if any?

A: On the Southwest website, click “My Account” on the top right of the homepage. Near the top of the Account page, you should see “Available Credits,” with a dollar amount. That’s the total amount of travel funds you have.

Scroll down past the “Upcoming Trips” and “Car Rental” sections, to “My Flight Credits.” There, any credits or LUV vouchers on your account will be listed, with their expiration dates. If the credit is transferable, there will be a link reading “Transfer to someone else.”

On the Southwest app, hit the person icon in the upper right of the screen. This takes you to “My Account.” Scroll down past “My Rapid Rewards” and “My Trips” to “My Travel Funds.” Here, you’ll see blanks for entering the Confirmation number and your name. However, you shouldn’t have to do that. Just below that section, you should see “FUNDS FROM YOUR ACCOUNT,” followed by your name, the confirmation code of any credits, their amount and expiration date.

Q: I usually book my Southwest flights with points. What should I use my travel funds for?

A: When booking with points, you can use your travel funds to pay the taxes/fees. These are usually only $5-$11 for domestic flights, but they can be $60 or more for international flights.

Q: Are there any restrictions on what class of fare I can purchase with my newly non-expiring travel funds?

A: You can use them to purchase a Basic fare or any other level, just as if you were paying with your credit card. The only caveat is, if you cancel a Basic or Choice fare, you’ll end up with another expiring travel credit.

But you can do the gift card hack again if you need to.

Q: With the gift card hack, the money on my gift card gets refunded along with my travel funds as a non-expiring travel credit. But what if I wanted it returned to my gift card balance?

A: Unfortunately, Southwest only refunds gift card funds as travel credits. You can’t get it put back onto a gift card, as far as I know.

Q: What if I received my travel credits before Southwest announced that travel credits would expire? Will Southwest add an expiration date to my old credits?

A: No. Southwest says: “Flight credits created on or before May 27, 2025 do not expire.”

Q: The price of my Southwest Basic fare dropped, so I need to cancel and rebook to get the new price. Should I do the gift card hack before rebooking?

A: As long as you plan to fly within six months, no, you don’t need to do the gift card hack. Once you cancel your Basic fare, you’ll have a credit with an expiration date. But since you’re going to re-book the flight immediately, the expiration date shouldn’t matter.

Exception: If you’re canceling a flight more than six months from now, you won’t be able to book that exact flight using your credit unless you do the gift card hack first.

Q: I have a Southwest Companion Pass. Will using these tricks affect my companion?

A: You would attach a companion to your flight only after you have booked the flight you intend to keep. Don’t attach a companion to the flight you plan to cancel.

Q: My flight credit expired months ago. Is it too late to get it reinstated?

A: Maybe. I don’t know what the statute of limitations might be on expired flight credits. But it never hurts to call and ask.

Q: What if I try one of these tricks and I make a mistake? I’m afraid of losing my travel funds and more money on top of that!

A: If anything goes wrong, you should be able to fix any errors and try again. For instance:

• You accidentally book the wrong flight class. If you book “Basic” or “Choice” instead of “Choice Preferred,” you won’t be able to get a non-expiring gift card as a refund. But if you immediately cancel the flight and choose “Refund to method of payment,” the funds you paid with a credit card will go right back to your card, and you’ll end up with flight credits expiring at the same time as the earliest expiration date before you started.
  
  If this happens, try again, this time following the instructions exactly. If you used your whole gift card on the first attempt, you’ll have to buy another gift card to try again.
  
• You accidentally choose “Please hold eligible funds for future use” instead of “Refund to method of payment.” Unfortunately, in this case, the funds you paid with your credit card will now be refunded as a credit. However, if you canceled the flight within 24 hours of purchase, customer service might be able to return the money to your credit card.
  
• You accidentally cancel the wrong flight! This actually happened to me recently. Instead of canceling the flight I’d booked with the gift card and flight credits, I accidentally canceled an upcoming flight that I’d bought months ago at a low price. I couldn’t just rebook it, because the price has gone up.
  
  If this happens to you, call Southwest right away. They will likely reinstate the flight at the original purchase price. They’ve done that for me before when I made a similar screwup.
  
• You can’t cancel the flight you purchased. If you’re having trouble canceling the flight for any reason, call Southwest customer service for help. Although I said they won’t help you with the gift card hack, they will help you cancel a flight. They won’t care why you’re trying to cancel it.

Q: Where are people getting these flight credits and LUV vouchers in the first place?

A: With the new Southwest rules, you get a flight credit that expires in six months if you cancel a Basic fare. Canceling a Choice fare gets you a credit that expires in 12 months.

For example, if I booked a ticket for my daughter to fly home from college, but then her plans changed, I might cancel it and take the credit.

Like learning Southwest Airlines tips and tricks? Check out my post on how to earn a Southwest Companion Pass, fast!