Southwest "loophole" is open

[brownhaired_girl]

The Southwest change loophole is open now for Nov and at least some of Dec. I got a bunch of points back and the flights I wanted.

 

[Synergy]

Yep, I just got to change a flight I'd booked for a family member and went from 30k round trip to 17k round trip. Now they've got to cancel the original two placeholder flights before southwest gets mad that the same person has two tickets on the same flight. I'd be able to do it all myself but he insisted on adding his companion immediately despite me attempting to explain what I was doing. No more favors from me, lol.

Tough not to book some speculative trips for us, but I think we're staying vaguely local for the duration. Every high risk activity we engage in requires two weeks before I can see my dad who just started chemo - I wouldn't be traveling even if there wasn't a pandemic on.

Edit: for anyone who isn't familiar with how this works: any flight you book between November 4th and January 4th can be changed up to 30 days in either direction. You can even change between nearby airports if Southwest considers them coterminals. To keep it simple, just book the cheapest flight you can find within 30 days of your ACTUAL trip - you'll then be allowed to change it to when you actually want to fly for no additional fee, even if the flight you want is an expensive nonstop. For example, I just booked a cheap PHX-CVG flight for November 7th, and changed it to a PHX-CMH flight on October 22nd, saving me almost ten thousand points. If you can travel, use and enjoy!!

 

[Balke1]

Yep, I just got to change a flight I'd booked for a family member and went from 30k round trip to 17k round trip. Now they've got to cancel the original two placeholder flights before southwest gets mad that the same person has two tickets on the same flight. I'd be able to do it all myself but he insisted on adding his companion immediately despite me attempting to explain what I was doing. No more favors from me, lol.

Tough not to book some speculative trips for us, but I think we're staying vaguely local for the duration. Every high risk activity we engage in requires two weeks before I can see my dad who just started chemo - I wouldn't be traveling even if there wasn't a pandemic on.

Edit: for anyone who isn't familiar with how this works: any flight you book between November 4th and January 4th can be changed up to 30 days in either direction. You can even change between nearby airports if Southwest considers them coterminals. To keep it simple, just book the cheapest flight you can find within 30 days of your ACTUAL trip - you'll then be allowed to change it to when you actually want to fly for no additional fee, even if the flight you want is an expensive nonstop. For example, I just booked a cheap PHX-CVG flight for November 7th, and changed it to a PHX-CMH flight on October 22nd, saving me almost ten thousand points. If you can travel, use and enjoy!!

Do you have to call in to customer service arrange the change?

 

[brownhaired_girl]

Do you have to call in to customer service arrange the change?

It can all be done online

 

[Synergy]

Do you have to call in to customer service arrange the change?

Nope, all online. If you're using cash, make and change your flights starting with the flight you'll get back the most on, and use that travel fund towards the next one down. End with the flight with the lowest amount of savings, to minimize the amount of money that might get stuck in a travel fund. No need to do this part if you're booking with points.

 

[dsmrp]

Are there blackout dates in this +/- 30 day window ? We want to fly Xmas Eve, return NYE. We have $ in travel fund due to cancelled April flights.

 

[Synergy]

Are there blackout dates in this +/- 30 day window ? We want to fly Xmas Eve, return NYE. We have $ in travel fund due to cancelled April flights.

Nope, that's what makes this so amazing. Book a slow cheap Tuesday in early December on a cruddy connecting flight, change to a nonstop on xmas eve. Hurry, this is more or less unannounced and they can/will lock down the changes again at any time. I've been doing this for over a year (they started it for the MAX schedule changes) and will miss it very much when it's gone for good.

 

[LMD]

Yep, I just got to change a flight I'd booked for a family member and went from 30k round trip to 17k round trip. Now they've got to cancel the original two placeholder flights before southwest gets mad that the same person has two tickets on the same flight. I'd be able to do it all myself but he insisted on adding his companion immediately despite me attempting to explain what I was doing. No more favors from me, lol.

Tough not to book some speculative trips for us, but I think we're staying vaguely local for the duration. Every high risk activity we engage in requires two weeks before I can see my dad who just started chemo - I wouldn't be traveling even if there wasn't a pandemic on.

Edit: for anyone who isn't familiar with how this works: any flight you book between November 4th and January 4th can be changed up to 30 days in either direction. You can even change between nearby airports if Southwest considers them coterminals. To keep it simple, just book the cheapest flight you can find within 30 days of your ACTUAL trip - you'll then be allowed to change it to when you actually want to fly for no additional fee, even if the flight you want is an expensive nonstop. For example, I just booked a cheap PHX-CVG flight for November 7th, and changed it to a PHX-CMH flight on October 22nd, saving me almost ten thousand points. If you can travel, use and enjoy!!

I sort of get it....maybe.....so I can book a flight and then change it and they will not charge me any more? Does this include Christmas week?

Edited to add.... I have tickets booked Ft Myers to Albany NY for Nov 20....it does say I may change with no additional cost if I stay inside the restrictions however when I go to change it it says...... you selected an airport that is not protected under our reaccommodation practices

 

[travelhacker]

So the basic idea that I have used (and others may have better strategies), is that I look for flights in advance and book them around them time that I want to travel. I always book the cheapest flight that is available.

When Southwest makes a schedule change, they allow you to change the flight without any fees.

So for example, I am considering going to California for Thanksgiving, I booked November 16th to December 3rd for something like $100 round trip ( booked using points, but that was the cash cost). When Southwest changed my schedule, I went in and changed it to the exact dates and times that I wanted without any additional fees. The flight would have probably cost me $350-$400 round trip.

 

[travelhacker]

I sort of get it....maybe.....so I can book a flight and then change it and they will not charge me any more? Does this include Christmas week?

As long as it is open and within 30 days of your original travel dates, it should be allowed.

 

[Synergy]

So the basic idea that I have used (and others may have better strategies), is that I look for flights in advance and book them around them time that I want to travel. I always book the cheapest flight that is available.

When Southwest makes a schedule change, they allow you to change the flight without any fees.

So for example, I am considering going to California for Thanksgiving, I booked November 16th to December 3rd for something like $100 round trip ( booked using points, but that was the cash cost). When Southwest changed my schedule, I went in and changed it to the exact dates and times that I wanted without any additional fees. The flight would have probably cost me $350-$400 round trip.

This is the best strategy - during a prior change window, some folks (myself included) noticed that they seemed to have programmed in a delay. You couldn't book a flight during the window and immediately change it, it wouldn't open for changes for several days. I tested it this time, though, and was able to change immediately. No telling what they'll do next time, so I've been booking both the exact flight that I want (at a high price) and booking the cheapest flight in the few weeks around it. I make the change when it becomes free, and then cancel the original flight.

 

[Synergy]

I sort of get it....maybe.....so I can book a flight and then change it and they will not charge me any more? Does this include Christmas week?

Edited to add.... I have tickets booked Ft Myers to Albany NY for Nov 20....it does say I may change with no additional cost if I stay inside the restrictions however when I go to change it it says...... you selected an airport that is not protected under our reaccommodation practices

That's very strange, are you attempting to change origin or destination? As long as I maintain the same two cities, and don't try for more than four weeks, I've never had it error at me.

Did you play around with dates? You can move it, say, four weeks in one direction, and then another couple of weeks. I've never actually gotten the message you got =(

 

[JudyH]

I’ve never heard of this loophole. However last night our son got notice that his nonstop Christmas flight was now a two stop and they sent him a change link so he found another nonstop and got points back. I used his same link to redo his return flight (which I paid for and I got points back on my account)

 

[LMD]

That's very strange, are you attempting to change origin or destination? As long as I maintain the same two cities, and don't try for more than four weeks, I've never had it error at me.

Did you play around with dates? You can move it, say, four weeks in one direction, and then another couple of weeks. I've never actually gotten the message you got =(

you are right it was my dates. Interesting thing....my return trip does not have the option to change at all . Have to call CS. (On SW I alway book each leg separately instead of RT)

 

[brownhaired_girl]

As long as it is open and within 30 days of your original travel dates, it should be allowed.

I’ve found that you can extend the 30 days by doing 2 changes.
Oops, I see Synergy covered this.

 

[5finny]

Not working now
May come back later

 

[twise625]

The Southwest change loophole is open now for Nov and at least some of Dec. I got a bunch of points back and the flights I wanted.

Thanks for this! I never knew about this strategy. I used it to book flights in March and April from Indianapolis to California and California to Hawaii and the return trips. I booked the cheapest fares within 14 days of the days I actually wanted to travel and also booked the flights I really wanted on the dates I wanted. I just got notifications of flight changes and re-booked on all of them to the flights/dates I wanted for no additional points, then cancelled the other flights and got a whopping 77,000 points in refunds! I went from using 106,000 points for the travel to 29,000 points.

 

[twise625]

I sort of get it....maybe.....so I can book a flight and then change it and they will not charge me any more? Does this include Christmas week?

Edited to add.... I have tickets booked Ft Myers to Albany NY for Nov 20....it does say I may change with no additional cost if I stay inside the restrictions however when I go to change it it says...... you selected an airport that is not protected under our reaccommodation practices

I also got this message but when I clicked through, it gave me the re-booking option and I was able to select the alternate flights at no additional point cost.

 

[Synergy]

I also got this message but when I clicked through, it gave me the re-booking option and I was able to select the alternate flights at no additional point cost.

So glad this worked so well for you! That's the exact method I've been using. Granted, I've ended up canceling most of my trips, but it's nice to have something on the books to dream about!