How late can you cancel southwest flight:- To have a positive booking experience, it would be better for you to be informed of the flight cancellation policy for Southwest. The Southwest flight cancellation policy is simple. One can cancel their flight with no cancellation fee, upto 10 minutes before the flight’s scheduled departure. If the reservation is cancelled before 24 hours of booking, you can contact the Southwest airline and if the reservation is cancelled after 24 hours, the Southwest gift card or Southwest LUV voucher will be refunded as flight credit. If one cancels the flight in Southwest by abiding with its time limit, there won’t be any penalty that you would be required to pay. The Southwest cancellation policy varies depending on the ticket you have purchased.

Southwest 24 hours flight cancellation policy:

According to Southwest 24 hours flight cancellation policy, if you cancel any ticket within 24 hrs of booking, including a Wanna Get Away ticket, you are eligible to avail a full refund. You can cancel the ticket online via Southwest.com, via its app or by phone directly. You have the option to receive your refund in your original form of payment or convert the value of your ticket into travel funds for future use. The Southwest 24 hrs cancellation policy also says that you are allowed to cancel a ticket purchased fully or partially with Southwest Gift card or an LUV voucher within 24 hrs of booking.

Following are the steps to cancel flight online in Southwest:

  1. Go to Southwest.com
  2. Select the Change/Cancel option from the top right side
  3. Enter your confirmation number, first and last name to retrieve your flight details
  4. Select the ‘Cancel flight’ option
  5. Click on Search. Select the flight you want to cancel.
  6. After selecting the flight, confirm the cancellation
  7. If your ticket is fully refundable, you will have the option to request refund to your original form of payment or hold it as a Travel refund for your future use.
  8. Or if your ticket is non refundable(Wanna Get Away), you have the option to request travel refund for future use.

Cancellation Policies for two types of ticket in Southwest, Anytime and Business Select, and Wanna Get Away

  • Southwest cancellation policy allows you to cancel Anytime and Business Select tickets and avail a full refund or convert it into Travel fund for future use.. however, the ticket must be cancelled 10 minutes before the departure.
  • Southwest cancellation policy for Wanna Get Away tickets allows you to cancel the ticket(within 10 minutes before departure) and exchange them for a travel fund.

No Show policy of SouthWest

Southwest airlines no show policy is applicable if a passenger holding a  Wanna Get Away ticket , doesnot cancel it at least 10 minutes before departure. And under this condition, it will be considered a ‘no show’ and all the travel funds will be forfeited.

For Anytime and Business Select fares, Southwest has a separate no-show policy. Any unused amount of a passenger’s Anytime or Business Select fare will be turned into reusable Travel Funds for future use if they fail to show up for a flight.

For reward travel reservations, under no show policy, all the points of a cancelled flight will be credited to the passenger’s Rapid rewards account and any taxes or fees will be held for future use as reusable travel funds under the passenger’s name.

Southwest airlines cancellation via Mobile app:

Following are the steps to cancel Southwest flight via mobile app:

  1. Download the Southwest airline mobile app via playstore
  2. Login using your Rapid rewards account or simply continue as a guest.
  3. Enter your credentials such as email id and password
  4. Click on the ‘Sign in’ tab
  5. Click on Cancel/Change tab
  6. Choose the flight to cancel
  7. Confirm the cancellation of your flight
  8. You will receive a confirmation for cancellation via SMS or registered email
  9. You can request a refund through original mode of payment
  10. You can reuse the ticket by converting the same into a travel ticket for future flight booking.

When a passenger cancels a non-refundable ticket, they are given flight credits as compensation. The ticket is still useable even if it is non-refundable, thus the remaining travel monies are turned into a credit.

Southwest airlines 24 hour flight cancellation policy – same day:

According to US DoT, the airline provides a 24 hour risk free period that allows a free cancellation against a full refund, without taking the fare type into consideration. The policy is applicable for both online and offline cancellations. However, the ticket must have been purchased from the airline.

Soutwest cancellation policy for non-refundable tickets:

  1. If a passenger cancels a non-refundable ticket during the 24 hour risk period,he is eligible for a full refund. Instead of travel credits, the passenger will be refunded into their original source of payment.
  2. The passenger can choose to get travel credits instead.
  3. However, if the passenger misses the period and cancels the ticket after 24 hrs, he will only get travel credits as the ticket itself is reusable.
  4. Wanna Get Away and Wanna Get Away Plus are non refundable tickets.

Southwest flight cancellation policy for refundable tickets:

There is a flight cancellation policy for refundable tickets. You are eligible for a full refund if you cancel a refundable ticket at any time. Further, the passenger has the option to get travel credits or the original mode of payment. There is no need to request a refund separately. The only rule is that the passenger needs to cancel it 10 min before the flight departure.

Business Select and Anytime tickets are refundable.

Thus, the aforementioned are the Southwest policy for cancelling ticket. It must be cleared by now after going through the aforementioned policies, the time limit within which one needs to cancel the flight with Southwest airlines. The process to cancel as well as the benefits for refundable tickets over non-refundable tickets are also mentioned. What rules the 24 hour Southwest cancellation policy adheres to is as well elaborated. Further no show policy of Southwest is explained and process to cancel flight with Southwest via mobile app is also elaborated.

Thus, after getting acquainted with all these policies and key terms related to Southwest Ticket cancellation, one would not need someone to decide how late to cancel their flights with Southwest.

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