Southwest Cancellation amount

I was debating on cancelling my reservation around Christmas time from
BWI to BUF since I was having problems getting a decently priced
one-way rental car to Toronto. I looked on their site to see that if I
cancel, I would be able to get the full fare as a credit to use within
one year of purchase or I can transfer it to another individual...
Does anyone know whether or not the amount of the credit (fare) will be
reduced the closer you get to the departure date? i.e. If I cancel now
I'll get the full amount of the credit, but if I cancel 2 days before
the departure I would get less than the full amount.

The other question I have is when you're online you see:

Ticketless Travel SM Funds
Please select what you would like to do with the balance of these
funds.
Refundable $25.00 Hold for future use.
Request a refund of the refundable balance.
Nonrefundable $***.** These funds will be held for future use.

Does that mean that even though I purchased the Internet fare which is
non-refundable, they are still willing to refund $25 back to my credit
card and then hold on to the balance for me to use or transfer to
someone else?

On 13 Oct 2006 07:39:42 -0700 in rec.travel.air, "J"
wrote:

Does anyone know whether or not the amount of the credit (fare) will be
reduced the closer you get to the departure date?

ask southwest, not a usenet newsgroup. duh.

J wrote:

I looked on their site to see that if I
cancel, I would be able to get the full fare as a credit to use within
one year of purchase or I can transfer it to another individual...
Does anyone know whether or not the amount of the credit (fare) will be
reduced the closer you get to the departure date?

That would be highly unusual, but then so is your ticket with $25 being
refundable. No matter how late before departure you cancel the ticket,
the worst you can do is a full credit toward other flights on WN, even
if you cancel right before the flight.

Dennis P. Harris wrote:
On 13 Oct 2006 07:39:42 -0700 in rec.travel.air, "J"
wrote:

Does anyone know whether or not the amount of the credit (fare) will be
reduced the closer you get to the departure date?

ask southwest, not a usenet newsgroup. duh.

Nothing else to do troll?

mrtravel wrote:
J wrote:

I looked on their site to see that if I
cancel, I would be able to get the full fare as a credit to use within
one year of purchase or I can transfer it to another individual...
Does anyone know whether or not the amount of the credit (fare) will be
reduced the closer you get to the departure date?

That would be highly unusual, but then so is your ticket with $25 being
refundable. No matter how late before departure you cancel the ticket,
the worst you can do is a full credit toward other flights on WN, even
if you cancel right before the flight.

Thanks mrtravel. Just quite confusing the way they run this part of
their business.

J wrote:
mrtravel wrote:
J wrote:

I looked on their site to see that if I
cancel, I would be able to get the full fare as a credit to use within
one year of purchase or I can transfer it to another individual...
Does anyone know whether or not the amount of the credit (fare) will be
reduced the closer you get to the departure date?

That would be highly unusual, but then so is your ticket with $25 being
refundable. No matter how late before departure you cancel the ticket,
the worst you can do is a full credit toward other flights on WN, even
if you cancel right before the flight.

Thanks mrtravel. Just quite confusing the way they run this part of
their business.


FYI:

Regarding the $25 portion of the ticket that is refundable... it is due
to the taxes they charged on the fare.

Does anyone know whether or not the amount of the credit (fare) will be
reduced the closer you get to the departure date?

Never happened to me. I've have to change my Southwest itinerary on
several occasions, with lead times varying from weeks to the day
before, and have always received full credit.

NOTE: The various chunks of money credited to you on Southwest carry
their own histories. In my case, the electrons in my account are
usually still quivering when I buy the next ticket, and I have a
congenital distaste for letting money slip away unawares, so I've
never had any portion of the balance expire. But it could happen if
you forget you have a balance and/or many months go by in between trips
on Southwest.


Refundable $25.00 Hold for future use.
Request a refund of the refundable balance.
Nonrefundable $***.** These funds will be held for future use.

Does that mean that even though I purchased the Internet fare which is
non-refundable, they are still willing to refund $25 back to my credit
card and then hold on to the balance for me

That's how I would interpret it, though in practice I've never
requested a refund. If you want to know for sure, give their 800
number a call.

Cheers,
--Joe