Heads Up For Southwest Passengers

I’ve never flown Southwest, but that day will come soon as they are one of the cheaper flights in and out of Las Vegas. With Newark (EWR) or Laguardia being my home airports I flew almost exclusively through Continental since EWR is a hub for Continental and they had the most direct flights across the country. I know many of you fly Southwest to Vegas, so I figure this is worth a gander.

I don’t pay as much attention to travel blogs any more since I’m settled down here and don’t see much travel in the near future. Elliot.org is one of the blogs I keep an eye on because they are always keep an eye on customer service and are consumer evangelists. They recently posted an article warning “Don’t wait too long to ask Southwest Airlines for a refund” discussing what to do if you lose a ticket.

Interesting. So even though a representative told Travia he needed to wait a year, he would have had to apply for the refund within six months. That’s good to know.

There’s a lesson in here for all of us. Like any other business, airlines don’t want to keep credit on their books indefinitely. Vouchers and ticket credit do expire, and once they’re gone, you can’t get them back.

Even if you’re dealing with Southwest Airlines.

Bottom line here is don’t lose your airplane ticket. Second bottom line here is to set a reminder to call for a refund every 5 months no matter what the airline tells you.

Read the article for complete details on what Travia went through with his lost ticket. This is by no means meant to trash on Southwest, but it’s a heads up on what to do if you lose your ticket.