When your flight is significantly disrupted:

If your flight is canceled by Southwest, significantly delayed, or significantly impacted by a schedule change (generally a delay or change of three or more hours domestically and six or more hours internationally), and you decide not to travel, you are eligible for a method-of-payment refund of any unused charges. We recommend that you contact Southwest® as soon as you know of your change of plans. Learn more about your options.

When your flight is not significantly disrupted:

If your flight is not significantly disrupted but you decide not to travel, you must cancel your reservation at least 10 minutes prior to the original scheduled departure to avoid a penalty.   Southwest® handles the optional travel charges as follows:

• Extra Legroom, Preferred, and Standard seat charges will be refunded as a flight credit that you can use toward air fare on a future flight. The flight credit will be valid for 12 months from the original seat purchase date. Learn more.
• Unaccompanied Minor fees will be refunded to the original form of payment if the child does not travel or if the child travels with an accompanying adult Passenger.
• Pet Fares will be refunded to the original form of payment.
• If you cancel your reservation within 24 hours of booking, you will receive a method-of-payment refund.
• Priority Boarding is non-refundable.

Customer check-in requirements:

If you do not plan to travel, please cancel your reservation at least 10 minutes before the flight’s original scheduled departure time.

If you do not cancel your reservation at least 10 minutes before the flight's original scheduled departure time, your reservation will be subject to our no-show policy.

Partner Itineraries

Customers traveling on an itinerary involving a partner airline should refer to the partner airline for details about their refund policy and no-show guidelines.