You probably already know that airfares fluctuate. You may even know that it’s possible to request money back if a flight gets cheaper after you book it. But I bet you didn’t know how extremely easy Southwest Airlines makes it to get your money back after a price drop!
In fact, in about 10 minutes, I recently got back 3,000 Southwest points, worth about $40.
How to get your money back when Southwest Airlines prices drop
Here are the step-by-step instructions for getting your miles or cash back when a Southwest Airlines fare you’ve already booked goes down. First, we’ll go over how to get your money back for flights booked in the Choice, Choice Preferred and Extra classes. Then, we’ll go over how to get your money or miles back on a Basic fare.
Getting your money back on a Choice, Choice Preferred or Choice Extra flight
Step one: Log into the Southwest website and click My Account, in the upper right corner.
Step two: On the left side of the screen, you should see the heading “You have X upcoming trips!”
Below this, you’ll see — you guessed it — all the trips you have reserved for future dates. To check the price on one flight, click “Details.”
Step three: On this screen, you’ll see info like your flight date and departure times. Make note of these. Then click the words “Change flight,” in the middle of the screen. (And don’t worry — just clicking this button won’t change your flight. You can decide that after you see the prices.)
Step four: On the next screen, you’ll see each leg of your journey, with a check box. If you have a round trip flight, you could check both boxes to see the available prices for both flights at once. Or if you prefer, just check one box to adjust your flights one at a time.
Step five: After you check the box, a yellow button will appear at the bottom right that says “Explore options.” Click it.
Step six: Finally, you get to see the prices! If you paid with dollars, Southwest will show you the $ price. If you paid with points, you’ll see these prices in points.
If you are not open to changing your flight time, locate the same exact flight on the page. If the price starts with a +, as in “+3,000 points, that means the price went up since you booked it. Better luck next time!
If the price starts with a minus sign, as in “-3,000 points,” jackpot! Your flight got cheaper since you booked it. Simply click the new price to proceed.
If the price says + 0 points, it means the price hasn’t changed since you booked it.
If you are open to changing your flight time to get a better deal, take a look at the other prices on the screen. Remember, the + and – prices you’re seeing are relative to what you already paid for your original flight. So if you see an acceptable flight that says “-$100,” that means you’ll get a $100 refund or credit if you switch. If you’re really flexible, you can even click on different days to see if you could save by flying on a different date.
Step 7: If you don’t want to make any changes, you can just leave this page. Click on another part of the Southwest site, or simply log out.
Step 8: If you do want to change your flight, click “review changes.” The next screen will tell you how many dollars or points you’ll be getting back.
Step 8: If you like what you see, click “Review passenger and pricing” on the bottom right. This will take you to the screen where you can make a final check to make sure that you have selected the correct flight, that your phone number is correct, etc.
Step 9: Click the yellow button on the bottom right: “Confirm changes.”
That’s it! You’re done! If you’re lucky, you just saved yourself a few bucks — or points — with very little time and effort.
Note: How you receive your refund depends on what fare class you booked:
- If you paid with dollars, changing a Choice flight to another Choice flight will give you a transferrable Southwest flight credit that expires in 12 months.
- If you paid with miles, changing a Choice flight will return the extra miles to your Rapid Rewards account.
- Changing a Choice Preferred or Choice Extra flight will give you a refund to your original payment method, like your Southwest credit card.
How to get your money or points back if your Basic fare drops
Southwest calls Basic fares “nonrefundable.” That doesn’t mean you can’t get anything back if the price changes. It does take extra steps, though.
Step 1: To check whether the price of a Basic fare has gone down, you’ll have to search as if you’re booking a new flight. On the front of the Southwest site, type in your cities, your date, and hit the yellow Search flights button.
Step 2: Look at today’s price for the flight you previously booked. If today’s price is higher or the same as what you paid, you’re done for now. Check again another day!
If it shows a lower price in points or dollars, open another window to the Southwest site. Go to your Account and cancel the original flight. If you paid with dollars, you should immediately receive a refund in the form of a non-transferrable credit that expires in six months. If you paid with points, you’ll see the points credited back to your account.
(If you don’t see your refund right away, log out of your account and log back in.)
Step 3: Immediately use that credit to rebook the same flight at the new, lower price.
Step 4: You should now have a non-transferrable Southwest flight credit on your account. You can use this toward another flight in the next six months. Or, you’ll see an increase in your Rapid Rewards points, which you can use any time.
What if the lower price sells out in the minute or two between canceling and rebooking? Fortunately, I’ve never had that happen. But Southwest will warn you if there are only a few seats left at a certain price point. On the booking grid, near the price, it will say “3 left,” or similar, in red type.
If Southwest recently changed your flight
When Southwest changes their flight schedule, they give passengers who have already booked the opportunity to change to a different flight for free. You don’t have to pay the price difference or anything.
This is often a boon when it happens! If you booked a 10 p.m. flight because it was cheapest, you can now change to a more convenient time at no extra cost.
But if the price changed, this situation can make it a little trickier to get a refund. During the two weeks after Southwest notifies you of a flight schedule change, you won’t get charged extra for changing the fllight — but you also won’t get a refund for changing to a cheaper one.
If the price dropped substantially, you can still get money or points back. You just have to cancel the flight and use the credit or miles to rebook it at the lower price.
If you have a Companion Pass
If you are a Southwest Companion Pass holder, and you already have a companion attached to the flight, you need to do one extra step before you make any of these changes:
Remove your companion from the flight. You can’t make any changes to a flight with a companion attached.
After you change or rebook the flight, add your companion to the flight again.
You could also just call Southwest customer service
I like using the website or app for self service, but a lot of people find it easier just to call Southwest when you see a flight price change. Tell them about the new price, and they should be able to make the change for you. If you ask them to, they should even be able to cancel your Basic fare and then rebook it at the new price using the credit.
By the way, call Southwest at their customer service number, 800-248-4377, or visit the online Help Center. (Do NOT Google the customer service number! People get scammed by dialing fake airline customer service numbers posted online.)
Does this money-saving trick work only on Southwest?
It may also be easy to get a little money back when prices fluctuate on other airlines, too. I’m just super familiar with the Southwest system, so this is what I know! If you have this process down pat for another airline, I’d love to hear about it.