Southwest Hacks
Secret Tips and Tricks
Guys- wow it’s been far too long- I’m sorry! But I’m still here and just as obsessed with this little hobby of mine as ever.
In light of it being Southwest Companion Pass season, I’m going to deep dive all the tips and tricks for maximizing value on southwest tickets for you and your family.
For my personal travel hacking update, since my last post we’ve leveraged points to go back to Kauai, a girls night in Boulder, Thomas is currently in Nicaragua surfing, we’ll be headed to Portugal and Spain with the fam after Christmas, and we’ve opened 5 more credit cards. I’ll do a full recap on earning and burning come January again :)
Basics
To lay the foundation for understanding the following tips in tricks, let’s discuss some basics:
Southwest uses a dynamic pricing structure which means prices fluctuate based on demand. Award tickets mirror the cash prices.
Southwest lets you change tickets for free and get a refund if the price decreases.
Southwest opens their booking calendar in chunks rather than on a rolling basis which is more common for most other airlines. You will not be able to book a year out but the website will say when they’re going to open booking for future months.
Southwest has open seating. You are assigned to a boarding group (A, B, or C) and position (1-60) upon check in. The quicker you check in the better your boarding position and the earlier you get on the plane, the higher chance you have of picking the seat you want.
All travelers get a personal item, carry-on, and two free checked bags.
When to Book
Often when a new block of months is released in the SW calendar, flights will be pricey (not always the case so definitely worth looking still on the release day). So, I would search the flight you want on Google Flights and toggle to track prices. It will then alert you with price increases and decreases. You can then book it when you get an alert that it has dropped in price (again the points price is directly related to the cash price).
Or if you have a big buffer of points, you can book it at any time and then use the Google tracker to "change flight” to get points refunded when it drops. **If you have a companion pass, you’ll have to cancel the companion ticket first and then rebook your companion.
As well, SW has sales most every Tuesday. To be honest, most of their sales hardly ever affect flights I have booked because the locations are limited, there are blackout dates, and usually it’s for mid-week travel. But that is another way prices lower beyond just dynamic pricing fluctuations. Some sales are better than others. I do love the anniversary sale they hold in the summer that often discounts 40% off MANY routes/destinations.
Lastly, if you have flexibility with your dates, PLEASE use the low fare calendar on your computer to pick the cheapest dates/times (app only shows a few days at a time). As you can see below, leaving on a Friday versus a Saturday could save you ~50%.
TIP 1: Use the low fare calendar to find cheaper dates when you have flexibility!
TIP 2: After you buy a SW flight, search that same flight on Google Flights and then toggle to “track prices.” If the cash rate decreases, you can go into your Southwest account and “change flight.” You can “change” to the same flight at the lower price and it will refund the points or travel funds (if you booked with cash) back into your account! You don’t even have to cancel and rebook. Click here for a step by step guide to this. THIS IS MY FAVORITE HACK!
For example, I booked Thomas a ticket to Liberia, Costa Rica at 34,000 points. It fluctuated between 34,000-39,000 points for six months until one week before the flight and we were able to get it at 21,000 points (changing the ticket and getting a points refund).
TIP 3: Book your tickets as two ONE-WAY tickets to make the above “change” process more straightforward. Unlike other airlines, Southwest does not discount round trip tickets.
Schedule Change Trick
Say you’re booking at the holidays and you’ve checked prices when the calendar was released, used the low fare calendar, and set a google track price alert to cash in on price drops BUT the flights are still crazy expensive. Here’s a more advanced strategy to try…
Southwest Policy
If you book a flight and the flight time changes at all (even by a minute), Southwest will allow to you rebook onto any other flight between your same departure and arrival airports for no extra charge (within 14 days of your original flight).
The tricky part is that Southwest doesn’t usually tell you if your flight time has changed or if they do, they send a generic email that doesn’t detail which flights have changed. Additionally, you only have 2 weeks to make the change after a schedule change for free online (you can do it later than this but you must call in).
The Play Out
So how might you use this policy to your advantage? If you have points to spare (I wouldn’t do this with cash tickets as the refunded ticket will go to travel funds not cash back), you could book two tickets. One would be the actual flight you want and then book the cheapest flight you can find within 14 days of your ideal flight. For the cheap flight, you’ll have the highest chance of schedule changes the earlier you book it, the more legs it has, and possibly the later in the day it departs. Then, hold onto both flights and hope the cheap flight gets a schedule change.
If there is a schedule change, you can log into the website and it should show that changing that flight to any other flight within two weeks would be 0 points. If this isn’t the case, just give Southwest a call and their very friendly agents can help you. After you make that change, cancel that original expensive flight. Or, if a schedule change never happens on the cheap flight, just make sure to cancel it at least 10 minutes prior to departure for a full points refund.
TIP 4: If you’re booking a flight around an especially expensive time and have points to spare, book the flight you want and another cheap flight within 14 days of that flight. If the cheap flight has any schedule changes, you can change that flight for free to the flight you actually wanted.
Companion Pass
I’m going to refer you back to an older post I made on this. But the short of the story is that the companion pass allows you to designate a “companion” to fly with you for free (outside of taxes and fees which are $5.60 domestically) whenever you fly for the rest of the year in which you earn it and all of the following year. You can change your who your companion is up to 3 times a year.
TIP 5: Get BOGO flights for up to two years (outside of taxes and fees) using the Companion Pass. This is hands down the BEST DEAL in the travel hacking world!
I had loosely heard about this years ago but figured it was only for people that flew on SW an absurd amount (i.e. over 100 flights). As it turns out though, you can qualify for this unicorn of a deal through, drumroll… credit card bonuses!
Thomas has had this for the last year and we’re both working towards companion passes for the 2025-2026 using the 2 person/3 card strategy so we can fly our family of 5 for the cost of 3. If you’re hoping to maximize the 2 year window, the time to start working towards this is now. Again, please reference this post for more!
Delayed Flights
If there is an hour + delay, Southwest will allow you to change your flight for free. You can do this online or if you’re at an airport, a Southwest employee will be able to help you. Obviously, if the delay is weather related they may not be able to get you onto other flights easily.
If there is a 3hr + flight delay and the delay was in Southwest’s control, you’re also entitled to a $75 compensation in the form of a travel LUV voucher (federally mandated after the big Southwest 2022 snafu).
TIP 6: Watch your flight for delays, the day of, and change your flight ahead of time for free if needed. Plus, pursue SW for a $75 LUV Vouchers if your delay is over 3 hours.
Family Boarding
Families with kids under 6 automatically get to board between the A and B boarding group so you’ll always get to sit together!
Upgraded boarding & Early Bird Check-In
If you hold any Southwest credit card you get a mix of these benefits, so make sure you know what you have and are using these (the benefits are tied to your card member card, not calendar year). You can also pay for these benefits.
Early Bird Check In
Early Bird Check In is priced on a sliding scale from $15-$99 each way. You will be automatically checked in for your flight 36hrs before your flight and automatically assigned a boarding position (guarantees decent seats). The earlier you add Early Bird Check In, the better the boarding position you’ll get. That said, if you add Early Bird Check In at the time of booking your flight you won’t get that money back if you end up cancelling the flight. However if you add it later, you can recoup that fee. Additionally, if you want to add it for only one person, not everyone on your flight, you’ll also have to do that after booking. Lastly, if this is a credit card benefit, use that card to purchase this and you’ll get a statement credit for the amount on your next statement. You also don’t have to get this for your companion as they should automatically be assigned a similar boarding number to you.
Tip 7: Use Early Bird Check Ins for longer flights, flights with multiple legs and travel around the holiday. Your SW credit card likely has this benefit and will credit the use as a statement credit.
Upgraded Boarding
Upgraded Boarding also helps you get a better boarding position but it works differently. You can only purchase this within 24hrs of the flight and it’s only per leg. As well, this is limited so the upgraded boarding spots can sell out. This won’t help companion board earlier unless you’re buying this for their ticket as well.
Tip 8: Use Upgraded Boarding if you miss checking in on time and and you end up with a bad boarding position. Your SW credit card likely has this benefit and will credit the use as a statement credit.
Flight Credit versus LUV Vouchers
Flight credits never expire and can be used to pay for taxes and fees. LUV Vouchers however do expire after a year. To convert a LUV Voucher into a Flight Credit, you will want to book a flight that’s slightly more expensive than the LUV voucher you have. Use your voucher to pay and then use a credit card for the remainder. Then after the flight is confirmed, go into your account and click to cancel the reservation you just made. Because it’s within 24hrs of booking, you’ll get the option to get a cash refund for the amount that was on your credit card. The amount that was on your LUV Voucher will be given back as a Travel Credit (which again never expire and can be used for taxes and fees)!
TIP 9: Convert LUV Vouchers into Flight Credits so they won’t expire and you can use them for taxes and fees on point bookings.
Discount on Cash Fares
You can often get discounted Southwest gift cards at Costco and Sam’s Club (cheapest being $430 for a $500 gift card).
Tip 10: If booking with cash, look for a discounted Southwest gift card first to save 15% on the ticket.
Changes in 2026
Southwest has announced that they will be changing up their boarding and seating process. They have specifically noted that they will seat you by your companion, they will be assigning boarding, and they will be increasing leg room to some seats. We do not know much more than that at this point.
If you’re interested in going for the Companion Pass, need to get a SW card and you don’t have a family member or pal to refer it to you, I’d be so incredibly appreciative if you used my referral link! (If you’re not specifically going for the companion pass, I personally might wait for an elevated offer)
And lastly, there’s a GREAT elevated offer on a Chase Ink Unlimited card that’s expiring on Thursday morning if you have some bigger spend coming up and you’re in the market for a new credit card. You will earn 90k points after you spend $6,000 within 3 months with no-annual fee. This is a business card but you can qualify as a business with as little of a side hustle as selling random crap on Facebook Marketplace. It earns 1.5% on all purchases. Chase points are by far my favorite points to earn and use! Here’s a link to that offer :)
To traveling the world with our families!
Hoover