<p>Hello, all-knowing friends. D and I are flying Southwest to Philly tomorrow, and back on Sunday. Now D is thinking she might want to get back Saturday night. Have you been able to make this kind of change to a nonrefundable flight, and if so is there a best way?</p>
<p>Thank you for your patience!</p>
<p>You may have to pay the difference in the price of the ticket (if there is any).
I would call Southwest directly to see what they can do for you.
Good luck!!</p>
<p>Logic suggests SWA would be thrilled to carry a Sunday passenger on Saturday … Saturday being a lower-traffic day usually. If it was me, I’d stop by the SWA ticket counter when I arrived in PHL and speak with an associate there. Good luck!</p>
<p>PS, I’d be a little surprised if SWA nicked you for a change fee. Generally passengers who need their ticket reissued are flying AFTER their scheduled date.</p>
<p>See, I knew I’d get great advice. Thank you. I will check with SWA in Philly…(and we’ll know better what we’re up to by then.)</p>
<p>SWA doesn’t charge “change fees” but if you bought a discounted “Wanna get away” ticket you will almost undoubtedly have to pay the difference between the discounted fare and the “anytime” fare, which is usually about twice the cost (or more.) There’s no penalty, but you lose the early-purchase discount. You can find out the fare on [Southwest</a> Airlines | Book Flights, Airline Tickets, Airfare](<a href=“http://www.southwest.com%5DSouthwest”>http://www.southwest.com)</p>
<p>Remember to check fares on other airlines. You could cancel a leg of your Southwest itinerary and use the credit for another flight subject to the terms and conditions of a Southwest credit voucher.</p>
<p>Southwest doesn’t charge change fees, but you do need to rebook and pay the difference in fare, if any. Doing it online you cancel the original, get a credit for the fare and rebook the other, then use your credit to pay for it. Where it might get dicey, and doing it in person might help, is if the original ticket is roundtrip and you have to rebook the whole thing. Fares on the outbound leg may have increased as well. I don’t know if you can just rebook one leg of a roundtrip ticket online.</p>
<p>Um, perhaps my response (#3) was too brief.</p>
<p>On certain days of the week, demand for airline seats is high. On other days it is low. Sunday is generally one of the high demand days. Saturday demand is generally much lower. Moving a passenger up from Sunday to Saturday benefits the airline. Whether the OP’s D flies Saturday on a reissued ticket, or whether she flies Standby “on an earlier flight where seats are available” I believe the change could be arranged at little or no cost.</p>
<p>Now the OP may need to lead the agent to water, so to speak …
“I’m thinking of returning Saturday night instead of Sunday. Are there any seats available on the Saturday flight. There are? A lot of seats? There are? That’s great. Would my current ticket permit me to fly standby on that flight?”</p>
<p>My daughter just changed her Thanksgiving flight on SW last week. She actually got a better deal coming home (to PHL!) on a Friday then on the Wed. she had planned. She’s going home on the following Saturday because it was much cheaper then Sunday. We’ve changed flights quite a bit on SW and it’s easy peasy, even their wanna get away flights. They give you credit or you pay the difference in price, but as everyone else has said, no change fee.</p>
<p>No need to talk to an agent, you can just do it on-line.</p>
<p>You guys are so great. Thank you for the script, newhope! I definitely need to have it spelled out to know how to go about it. Or maybe we’ll try the Kathiep method. Or hopefully we’ll just get to have our weekend in Philly! Thank you!</p>
<p>I love Southwest too. I hadn’t flown it for awhile since Spirit to Boston was a more convenient flight for me. Now that Spirit has mysteriously suspended this route, I am back to SW. They are very accomodating , but like others have said , they might charge the difference between the two flights
Just a warning , flights into and out of Philly never seem to be on time…not the airline , but the airport</p>
<p>You can only do standby without paying an increased fare if you originally bought Business Select or Anytime tickets. Wanna Get Away and Senior fares require you to pay the difference between your fare and the current Anytime fare. [Fare</a> Information - Southwest Airlines](<a href=“http://www.southwest.com/html/air/fare-information.html]Fare”>Fare Information and Rules | Southwest Airlines) This is true even if you are standing at the gate in the airport and they have empty seats on the plane. They used to allow it but the policy changed 2-3 years ago. The only time they allow no fee changes is if adverse weather conditions are predicted.</p>
<p>I’ve changed flights online several times to get lower fares; I always track my flights until a couple of weeks ahead of time just in case. Yesterday I used an $8 credit against a new ticket (prices on my last flight had gone down $4/leg).</p>
<p>I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m finding even those Saturday night flights recently on Southwest are incredibly full. It seems like 5 years ago flights always had empty seats and now they are packed full or to near capacity.</p>
<p>If anyone still has all those Southwest “free drink” booklets, that were sent out regularly over the past several years, time to throw them out. The only drink coupons they now honor are for A-list, preferred passengers. I only fly about 12 to 15 times per year, so I don’t qualify. I refuse to “pay retail” for an in-flight drink after getting them for free all these years, mostly from my Rapid Rewards Visa card purchases…</p>
<p>I would suggest you inquire when you GET to Philly. </p>
<p>Last winter, I got to the airport earlier than I thought I was going to be able to. I had a reservation on a 7:30 pm flight but while walking to my gate to wait, noticed the 4:30 flight was boarding. I walked up to the counter and asked if there happened to be an extra seat on the plane…and if so, could I switch. NO PROBLEM. There was a seat, they issued me a new ticket, and poof, I left three hours earlier than I had planned…no charge at all…and I had gotten the cheapest ticket SWA offers. </p>
<p>It pays to ask.</p>
<p>I think at this time of year everything is full and if you can change, it is going to be very expensive. Check online and then ask when you get there.
It is easy to change far out, but not easy last minute. I am a very frequent Southwest flier (A List).</p>
<p>My daughter just changed her flight a week ago and got a credit. She had a wanna get away flight. I don’t think it matters if you change close to the date or further out, just that there’s a seat available.</p>
<p>It matters for availability and the fares can be very high close in, due to the selling out of the cheaper fares.</p>
<p>I agree about the expense - those wanna get away flight prices sell out, but I’m guessing these might be the flights OP’s daughter wants [Southwest</a> Airlines - Select Flight(s)](<a href=“http://www.southwest.com/flight/select-flight.html?disc=0%3A21%3A1321632448.674000%3A6449%4060D5E837FEF49A77120E614F026C0FE0BA22ABB6&ss=0&int=&companyName=&cid=]Southwest”>http://www.southwest.com/flight/select-flight.html?disc=0%3A21%3A1321632448.674000%3A6449%4060D5E837FEF49A77120E614F026C0FE0BA22ABB6&ss=0&int=&companyName=&cid=) and all flights are available. I could be wrong about the return flight, I’m thinking she meant the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Bottom line is that SW is the best airline to book if you might want to change a flight!</p>
<p>It used to be very easy to fly standby on an earlier SW flight, but as Marilyn says, you now have to pay the difference in fares. They agents may have some discretion in the case of potential weather conditions or if your original flight is overbooked, but I’ve found that in general, they stick to the rules. </p>
<p>SW doesn’t have round trip flights. Each leg is separate, so you can make changes with no effect on the rest of your ticket. Numerous times, I have had credits when I’ve had to make a late change.</p>
<p>There’s really no such thing as a nonrefundable ticket on Southwest. You always get a full credit for your flight if you have to cancel or a credit for a difference in fare if you have to make a change. I travel a lot and often get multiple tickets if I’m not sure of the date so I can secure a good fare. Then I can cancel the one(s) I don’t need and use the credits for additional travel.</p>
<p>I just changed my S’s return SWA flight for tomorrow (Thanksgiving eve night) departing now at 7:05 PM instead of 9:05 PM. I booked the original flight over a month ago on a “wanna get away fare” and this new flight, about 24 hours from now, was at NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE!</p>