Fareward

Guide ยท checked 2026-10-11

How to Use Your Southwest Flight Credit (and When It Expires)

Quick answer

A Southwest flight credit is money held for future Southwest travel, usually created when you cancel a non-refundable fare or change to a cheaper flight. You apply it at checkout on southwest.com or in the app. Expiration depends on when and how it was created:

  • Choice Extra, Choice Preferred and Choice credits: expire 12 months from the date the fare was booked and ticketed.
  • Basic credits: expire 6 months from the date the fare was booked and ticketed.
  • Credits created on or before May 27, 2025 don't expire, per Southwest's help center; credits from reservations booked, ticketed or voluntarily changed on or after May 28, 2025 carry an expiration date.

Because these rules changed in 2025, check the exact expiration shown on your own credit.

Where Southwest flight credits come from

  1. Cancelling a non-refundable fare. On Choice and Basic fares, cancelling at least 10 minutes before the original scheduled departure turns the ticket value into a flight credit. Miss that cutoff and the funds may be forfeited.
  2. Changing to a cheaper flight. Southwest doesn't charge change fees. If your new fare costs less, the difference is held as a flight credit (or refunded to your card if your fare was refundable). See Southwest price drop after booking.
  3. Refundable fares that aren't cancelled. On Choice Extra and Choice Preferred, if you don't cancel, the funds are kept as a Transferable Flight Credit.

How to find your Southwest flight credit

  • Signed in: your Rapid Rewards account lists travel funds tied to your account.
  • Not signed in: Southwest's Check Travel Funds page at southwest.com/travel-funds lets you look up a credit with the original confirmation number and passenger name.
  • Your email: the cancellation or change confirmation lists the credit amount and expiration.

How to use a Southwest flight credit

  1. Search and select your new flights on southwest.com or in the Southwest app.
  2. On the payment page, choose to apply travel funds and enter the confirmation number and the passenger's name (or select funds from your account).
  3. Pay any remaining balance with another form of payment.
  4. Check the new confirmation. If you used several credits, remember that the new reservation's funds may inherit the earliest expiration date among the funds you combined.

Transferring a Southwest credit

Southwest says Transferable Flight Credits can be transferred between Rapid Rewards members, and only one transfer is permitted. For bookings made through a Southwest Business channel, transfers are limited to employees within the same organization.

Southwest Basic: the expiration trap

Basic fares are cheapest for a reason. Changes are allowed only by upgrading to Choice or higher, and a Basic credit expires 6 months from the original booking date. On round trips that include a Basic segment, you can cancel only if you cancel both segments or upgrade the Basic one. If you cancel a Basic ticket to chase a lower fare, make sure you'll fly again before that credit expires.

Turn a fare drop into Southwest credit

The most common way people earn a Southwest credit without cancelling a trip is a price drop. If the fare on your Choice flight goes down after you book, you can change to the same flight at the lower price, pay no change fee, and keep the difference as a flight credit. You keep your trip and get credit back.

The hard part is noticing the drop. Southwest fares move often.

Tips to avoid losing a Southwest credit

  • Write down the expiration from your confirmation email, not from memory.
  • Book travel before the expiration date. Southwest's help center says travel must be completed by the expiration date on newer credits.
  • Cancel at least 10 minutes before departure on any trip you won't take, or the funds may be forfeited.
  • Use the oldest credit first when you have several.

Already booked? Let Fareward keep watching

Forward your airline confirmation to [email protected]. Fareward watches the fare on your exact flights and fare type. If it drops and your fare rules allow it, Fareward files with the airline as your agent, without needing your airline password, and the savings land as airline credit in your name. It covers United, Delta, American, Alaska, Southwest and Hawaiian.

Watching is free. Fareward takes 20% of the savings, only after a credit lands. If the fare never drops, or your fare can't be repriced, you pay nothing. Because the savings usually come back as airline credit rather than cash, it works best for people who'll fly that airline again.

FAQ

How long is a Southwest flight credit good for? Credits from Choice, Choice Preferred and Choice Extra fares expire 12 months from the original booking date. Basic credits expire after 6 months. Southwest says credits created on or before May 27, 2025 don't expire.

How do I use my Southwest flight credit? Choose your flights on southwest.com or in the app, then apply travel funds on the payment page using the confirmation number and passenger name, or from your Rapid Rewards account.

Can I transfer a Southwest flight credit? Southwest says Transferable Flight Credits can be transferred between Rapid Rewards members, and only one transfer is permitted.

How do I check my Southwest travel funds? Use Southwest's Check Travel Funds page with the original confirmation number and name, or sign in to your Rapid Rewards account.

Do I get a Southwest credit if the price drops? On Choice fares, yes. Change to the same flight at the lower price with no change fee, and the difference becomes a flight credit. Basic fares must be upgraded to change.

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Sources (checked October 11, 2026)