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Don’t Forget to Cancel Your Southwest Airlines Flight 10 Minutes Before Departure

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    This likely will not impact most travelers (who don’t cancel their flights) – but don’t forget to cancel your Southwest Wanna Get Away or Ding! ticket at least 10 minutes before departure if you don’t plan on flying.

    You won’t get a credit for the price of your ticket if you don’t!

    Southwest Has A New No-Show Policy

    Southwest No-Show Policy

    If you cancel a paid flight on Southwest at least 10 minutes prior to departure, the ticketed passenger gets a credit for the entire ticket amount (no change fees on Southwest!) valid for up to 1 year from when you booked the flight.

    But if you book a non-refundable Wanna Get Away or Ding! ticket and don’t cancel or change your ticket within 10 minutes of departure, you will lose the value of your ticket.  Which means that you won’t get a credit towards a future flight!

    Business Select Or Anytime Tickets

    The no-show policy only applies to the cheapest Wanna Get Away tickets.  If you buy a refundable Business Select or Anytime ticket and don’t fly on the ticket (i.e. no-show), you will still get a refund.

    But you won’t get a refund if your Business Select and Anytime ticket has even one Wanna Get Away segment on it and you don’t call to cancel the segment.

    Let’s say you book a Business Select fare from Kansas City to New Orleans and a Wanna Get Away fare on the return.

    Combining A Business Select And A Wanna Get Away Fare

    You eat lots of Arthur Bryant’s, Oklahoma Joe’s, LC’s and Jack Stack BBQ the night before.  So you oversleep, and wake up at 9:00 am for your 8:30 am flight departure!

    Before the change in policy, you would get a full credit towards another flight.  But now, you would lose the ENTIRE trip value because your return trip is a Wanna Get Away segment.  And you have to cancel 10 minutes prior to departure.

    Bottom Line

    You have to cancel or change your ticket 10 minutes before departure or you will forfeit the value of your Wanna Get Away or Ding! ticket.

    You will also lose the value of your ticket if your Business Select or Anytime fare includes a segment with a Wanna Get Away fare.

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)