With Southwest Airlines, Changing Flights Is Easy and Free
With the exception of business travel, everytime I’ve stepped on an airplane the last five years it’s been onto one operated by Southwest Airlines (I’d say it’s at least 20 flights). I fly Southwest because they have the easiest frequent flyer program, a major hub twenty minutes from my current house and another one twenty minutes from my childhood house, and is brave enough to put themselves on television. (That last one isn’t a reason to fly but that transparency is unparalleled) Yesterday, I had another reason I could throw on that list - switching your flight on Southwest Airlines is both easy and free. There is no flight change fee and you can do it entirely online. At other airlines, there is typically a $50 change fee on top of the difference in fare, which will usually be a full rate fare because “that’s how it is.” Often, an online e-ticket can’t even be changed at all. The flight change process with Southwest Airlines is entirely online too!
- First, you must have your confirmation number and the name on the credit card used to initially purchase the flight.
- Then, click on TRAVEL CENTER in the top navigation menu.
- Under the Travel Tools column, click on Change Air Reservation.
- Enter in your confirmation number and name on the card.
- You’ll be presented with the legs of your flight, check the boxes for the ones you want to replace.
- When you enter that in, the next page will look similar to the regular Reservations window. Just progress as usual. You won’t have to put in any personal information at this point because they already know it.
- When you reach the summary page, you’ll notice that it’s similar to the regular Summary page except that the new price will be offset by the price of your existing tickets. For me, the price was the same so the final cost was $0.00.
- Once you submit, you’ll be sent a new email with the details of your trip.
Notice there was no change flight fee, no heartburn, and it was all online. Every other airline should be as easy to deal with as Southwest Airlines.
5 responses to “With Southwest Airlines, Changing Flights Is Easy and Free”
CK responds:
Posted: September 29th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
One small problem I have with Southwest is their standby policy. Unless you have a “full fare” ticket you cannot fly standby unless you pay the difference between your fare and a full fare. So say you’re booked on a flight at 1pm but there is a flight leaving at 11am with empty seats you’d like to hop on they won’t let you switch unless you pay the difference. The say it’s to keep people from gaming the system (buying cheaper flights then jumping on a more expensive one) but I find it mostly angers people.
Chuck responds:
Posted: September 29th, 2006 at 3:10 pm
The only thing I sometimes hate about Southwest is having to remember to check in online 24 hours before the flight so I don’t get the dreaded “C” boarding pass. Then also having to play the “don’t make eye contact with people so they won’t ask to sit next to you” game as well once you are aboard.
jim says in reply:
Posted: September 29th, 2006 at 3:36 pm
Chuck, You can easily avoid all that by paying more for a ticket on with another airline.
CK - I do agree that policy is stupid because while it prevents someone from gaming the system, it also leaves empty seats on a plane when they can be filled. Letting someone game the system and getting a cheaper flight is better than compensating someone when their flight is overbooked.
Matt responds:
Posted: October 2nd, 2006 at 5:04 am
The one thing I don’t like about Southwest is a fairly recent change. It used to be that online checkin for flights started at one minute past midnight, regardless of the flight time. This meant that I could just check in from work, reliably get an “A” group assignment, and then not worry about anything else. But now, with the checkin being a rolling 24-hour period, I have to make sure I’m awake at the same hour as my flight the day before it…and since Southwest flights tend to be in the daytime, this is a significant hassle for me.
But there’s also now at least one company that promises to do your online check-in for you, and guarantees a spot in the “A” group. I’ll probably use them the next time I fly.
Harry responds:
Posted: October 3rd, 2006 at 4:14 am
The free switching policy also creates opportunities for rebooking at a lower fare if there is a fare sale after you booked the original flight. You get to keep the difference as credit and you can use the credit on another flight in 12 months.