In a major change, Southwest announced today that flight credits issued from flight cancellations and changes will expire after 12 months.
Flight credits issued for tickets purchased on or after May 28, 2025 will expire one year or earlier from the date of ticketing, depending on the fare type purchased.
That’s a major change from the policy they created a few years back eliminating expiration dates from flight credits.
Many of us like to book low-cost Southwest flights to use up our American Express airline incidental credits (which have been anecdotally working to trigger the AmEx credit). We then cancel the flight and bank the Southwest flight credit. This scheme would still work, but the flight credit will have to be used up in 12 months (for tickets booked after May 28th).
This comes along with the change that Southwest cutting the points earnings on Wanna Get Away fares and also Southwest beginning to charge for checked bags.
