How to Cancel a Southwest Airlines Flight

Can you cancel Southwest flights? Generally speaking, yes. Southwest Airlines has one of the best cancellation policies among major airlines — as long as you don't have a Southwest Basic fare.

In 2025, Southwest majorly clawed back its consumer-friendly policies, including its formerly very generous cancellation policy. These day's Southwest's cancellation policy is good but not great — yet still better than most other airlines.

Here's what you need to know to cancel your own Southwest flight.

How to cancel a Southwest flight

Canceling your Southwest flight is fairly simple. You can go to southwest.com/cancel or look up your reservation in the Southwest mobile app. Enter the ticketed passenger's first name and last name, along with the confirmation number of the reservation.

You can also call the Southwest reservations department at 800-435-9792 or, if you included your Rapid Rewards number on the initial reservation, you can find the flight on your My Account page. Once you've entered your flight information, you'll see any travel balances or refundable amounts attached to the confirmation number.

To cancel the flight, select "Cancel."

How to change or rebook your Southwest Airlines flight

The Southwest Airlines flight change policy is simple: no change fees if you need to modify your flight reservation for all classes except Basic.

Assuming you booked in Wanna Get Away Plus, Anytime or Business Select, you can change your flight as many times as you want, but you'll need to pay the difference if the new flight is more expensive than the original one. If you're booking a last-minute flight, that can be a hefty fee.

To change your Southwest flight, call the reservations department or look up your flight with the confirmation number and passenger information online or on the app.

» Learn more: Which Southwest Airlines credit card should I get?

And keep in mind, that simply wanting to change your flight to a new time isn't sufficient. There needs to be an available seat on the new flight you want.

How to get a refund on Southwest Airlines

Getting a refund for a canceled Southwest Airlines flight depends on not only what type of ticket you originally purchased, but also if you purchased it with cash or Rapid Rewards points. Plus, some flight add-ons, like EarlyBird boarding, are nonrefundable. If you cancel a flight where you purchased EarlyBird boarding, the amount you paid for that add-on won't be refunded.

For flights booked with cash

Basic tickets are typically the airline's lowest-priced fares, and you'll only receive Southwest travel funds if you decide to cancel. Same goes for the new Wanna Get Away plus fare. Flight credits for Basic fares expire in six months from the date the fare was purchased and ticketed. Transferable Flight Credits from Wanna Get Away Plus fares expire twelve months from the date the fare was booked and ticketed.

If you prefer to get your money back to the original form of payment rather than as a travel voucher, you'll need to book an Anytime or Business Select ticket from Southwest.

Alternatively, you can purchase travel insurance or pay for your flight with a credit card that includes travel insurance benefits. This would allow you to cancel your flight for a full refund, assuming your selected policy covers your reason for cancellation.

Southwest's cancellation policy

The Southwest flight cancellation policy is simple: You can cancel your flight at any time, with no cancellation fees, up to 10 minutes before the flight's scheduled departure on all fares except Basic.

• If you booked a non-Basic flight with Rapid Rewards points, they'll be refunded back into your loyalty account.

• If you booked a non-Basic flight with cash, it will either be refunded back to your method of payment or converted into Southwest travel funds, depending on the type of fare you booked.

• Even for nonrefundable reservations, if you cancel within 24 hours of booking, you can receive a refund back to the original form of payment or convert the airfare into travel funds.

For Basic fares, you may upgrade the fare to Wanna Get Away Plus®, Anytime, or Business Select to be able to change your flight.

If you get Southwest travel funds after canceling a Southwest Airlines flight, be aware that there are some restrictions to using your credit. For Basic Fares, the travel funds are accessible only with the confirmation number and the name of the original ticketed passenger — in other words, they're not transferable to anyone else. And, they expire within six months from the date the fare was purchased and ticketed.

Wanna Get Away Plus, Business Select and Anytime fares, on the other hand, are eligible to be transferred to someone else with a Rapid Rewards account. They don't expire for 12 months.

Since the flight cancellation policy is worse than what it once was, but it's still pretty customer-friendly. Plus, the process is relatively simple, should you consider canceling if your plans change or the price drops. You can always rebook with your points, travel funds or cash refund.

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