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Southwest Airlines is making sweeping changes to its long-standing policies, including the end of flight credits with no expiration. Beginning May 28, 2025, any new or reissued flight credit will come with an expiration date.
If you're sitting on multiple Southwest flight credits, now is the time to act. Here's how I'm consolidating my family’s credits into fewer, more flexible (and still no-expiration) vouchers before the new policy takes hold.
How Southwest Flight Credits Work
Currently
Since 2022, any flight credit earned through Southwest from cancelling a flight has not had an expiration date — no matter the fare class originally purchased. That applies to Southwest's lowest — and cheapest — Wanna Get Away fares. Flight credits from Wanna Get Away Plus fares are transferrable to another Southwest Rapid Rewards member — but only once.
Obviously, having a transferrable flight credit offers more flexibility, since it doesn't have to be used by the original passenger.
Starting May 28, 2025
As Southwest recently announced:
“Flight credits and Transferable Flight Credits created from tickets purchased or changed on or after May 28, 2025 will have a specified expiration date of one year or less depending on the fare purchased.”
This is a big change, as the new flight credits must be flown (not just booked) by the expiration date. For travelers who don't fly as often, the lingering expiration date can be stressful. The new credits will expire in 6 or 12 months, depending on the fare class.
This means from now until May 28th, any currently outstanding or newly created flight credits will still have no expiration and are transferrable, if from a Wanna Get Away Plus fare. So the process I describe below can only be done until May 28th. After then, the process will result in flight credits with an expiration date.
How I'm Approaching Outstanding Flight Credits
If you are like me — with a family and fly Southwest with any regularity — you've accumulated various flight credits over the years for you and your family members. I usually use Rapid Rewards points to book award flights. However, there have been occasions in which I've used cash. In those instances — whether by cancelling flights or rebooking when the price goes down — I'm now stuck with random amounts of flight credits. Here is just a sampling from me and other family members.
As you can see, some of these credits are transferrable; others not. As the policy change is coming, I need to figure out how to “clean up” these credits to use down the road.
Why does this matter?
Southwest only allows you to use 3 methods of payment (including flight credits) per person per booking. So I want to reduce the number of flight credits I have as well as make them transferrable, allowing me the flexibility to use multiple credits (as needed-up to 3) or transfer them to others for future bookings.
So my plan is to:
- Find and book Wanna Get Away Plus fares that are very close to the total of three outstanding flight credits, but not over (as this would require 4 methods of payment and not work).
- Cancel that flight soon thereafter
- Wind up with one, larger transferrable flight credit with no expiration.
Here's what it looks like in practice:
- I have three non-transferable credits for one person, totaling $204.18
- I found a flight costing $203.78 for the Wanna Get Away Plus fare
- Once I booked and cancelled that flight, I now have a single, transferrable credit for $203.78 — with just 40 cents leftover
Important Notes
- Flight credits will still have no expiration date if cancelled as long as the booking is made through May 27, 2025.
- Starting May 28th, if you book with a previous (no expiration) flight credit and then cancel that flight, the new credit created will now have an expiration date appropriate for the fare class you booked.
- You can use Southwest's Low Fare Calendar to search by month for a flight close to the amount of your credits. You can search by Wanna Get Away Plus fare at the top.
- If consolidating flight credits for a child 11 and under, you will have to book a flight for an adult (ideally with points), reference that booking when buying the flight for the child, then cancel both. For children ages 12-17 you just have to enter an adult's contact information.
- You will likely end up will small, leftover credits during this process as it's difficult to book a flight for exactly the same amount as the sum of credits you are using.
- It generally won't make sense to consolidate any outstanding credits of $5.60 as those can be used for the required taxes on future award bookings.
Related: Comparing Southwest Credit Cards
Bottom Line
Southwest’s decision to end flight credits with no expiration marks a significant devaluation, especially for infrequent flyers and families juggling multiple credits. But until May 28, 2025, you still have a window of opportunity to consolidate your credits into larger, transferrable ones with no expiration date attached.
That means now is the time to review, organize, and clean up your account to avoid losing flexibility in the future. After that, the new rules kick in — and so do the expiration clocks.
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