Southwest Airlines announced today they’ve eliminated expiration dates on flight credits. Flight credits will now be valid indefinitely.
Beginning today, Southwest Customers will begin seeing a placeholder expiration date of December 31, 2040, on valid flight credits ahead of additional work later this year that will update technology systems to altogether remove expiration dates on flight credits.
Note: previously expired flight credits do not come back to life, this is only valid credits which are still unexpired or for flights booked out from today and beyond.
Major positive change, and hopefully something that pressures other airlines to follow suit. It really makes it easier to lock funds into a major airline with a cash booking when you know that, if cancelled, you’ll have forever to use up the credit.
This can also make it easier to use up Amex airline credits (and maybe others) since, anecdotally, a lot of people have success buying low-cost Southwest tickets and getting reimbursed. Going forward, you can buy a ticket, cancel, and bank the funds with no expiration. (More tips on this can be found here and here.)
Update 7/29/22: Multiple readers are reporting seeing Luv vouchers also showing no expiration anymore. Initially the reports were that Luv vouchers will continue to expire. We’ll have to wait and see if this is indeed a confirmed change for Luv vouchers as well.
