Unavailable?

[Bowen9475]

I have a Southwest flight on April 20 that I won’t be taking but haven’t cancelled yet. Hoping they cancel it so we can get the money back. I have not received any information about it from them and it is still listed in my RR account but if I try to book the same flight now, it says Unavailable. I can’t imagine it is sold out. What do you think it means?

 

[DebbieB]

I have a Southwest flight on April 20 that I won’t be taking but haven’t cancelled yet. Hoping they cancel it so we can get the money back. I have not received any information about it from them and it is still listed in my RR account but if I try to book the same flight now, it says Unavailable. I can’t imagine it is sold out. What do you think it means?

They will likely cancel. They have been cancelling 4 of 5 daily nonstops from Pittsburgh.

 

[DebbieB]

.

 

[elle101me]

I have a Southwest flight on April 20 that I won’t be taking but haven’t cancelled yet. Hoping they cancel it so we can get the money back. I have not received any information about it from them and it is still listed in my RR account but if I try to book the same flight now, it says Unavailable. I can’t imagine it is sold out. What do you think it means?

I have a flight on the 18th that’s now showing the same thing. I’m hoping that they cancel it so I can get a refund. That same flight today didn’t get cancelled though, so I’ll continue to wait it out until the last minute before I cancel it.

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

I have a Southwest flight on April 20 that I won’t be taking but haven’t cancelled yet. Hoping they cancel it so we can get the money back. I have not received any information about it from them and it is still listed in my RR account but if I try to book the same flight now, it says Unavailable. I can’t imagine it is sold out. What do you think it means?

I think it means that they are no longer selling that flight because they plan to cancel it, but they want to wait until the last minute to cancel it, to minimize the number of refunds they have to pay. They're hoping that by waiting, more customers will cancel first, and naturally, when it's the customer who cancels, they don't have to pay a refund.

In your shoes I would wait until the very last minute for them to cancel. You can always cancel last-minute yourself if they don't. You have nothing to gain by cancelling early.

 

[barbliny]

The airlines are also instituting seating capacity limits to better promote social distancing and leaving empty seats on flights. It is possible that your flight is at that capacity percentage and therefore there are no more available tickets.
Southwest has been flying their non-stops to Orlando from my local airport. If there are 2 daily non-stops, it appears that only one of them is flying.
I would wait to see if Southwest cancels your flight before doing so yourself. But, in the end you should be prepared for the possibility of having to cancel your tickets yourself.

 

[DisneyDreaminDee]

I'd call.
I believe all airlines are now supposed to refund the purchase price regardless of usual policies.
No sense in playing the wait and see game here.

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

I'd call.
I believe all airlines are now supposed to refund the purchase price regardless of usual policies.
No sense in playing the wait and see game here.

Airlines only have to give a refund if they cancelled the flight. In this case, the OP doesn't want to take a non-cancelled flight, so she is not eligible for a refund if she cancels. That is why we are advising her to wait and see if the airline cancels, first.

Some airlines have recently tried to cheat customers by not offering refunds even when they cancelled the flights. So DOT (Department of Transportation) recently stepped in to reiterate that airlines must follow the law that requires them to provide a refund when the airline cancels a flight. But sirlines still are not required to give a refund when the customer cancels. Many airlines are choosing to give cancelling customers a credit towards another flight, to be used within a year or two. But that's not the same as getting your money back.

 

[crazylady]

I wrote to SW this week to get some clarification about our travel funds from a March flight and potentially cancelled June flight. Customer Service called me and said that since I was upset (I wasn't), he would.just cancel the June flight and refund all the money from both flights to me.

So I would just call and talk to them.

 

[Bowen9475]

OP here. My flight was cancelled but Southwest rebooked me onto another flight. I will be calling tomorrow.

 

[Bowen9475]

I wrote to Southwest through FB messenger, got a response within minutes, and they are refunding the entire purchase price to my credit card. So happy with the results!

 

[terri33inne]

I have a flight booked on SW for July, that I've been watching & as the price drops I've been re-booking to get the credit toward a future flight (now almost $200 credit). I just logged on again to check, and EVERY flight for my dates states unavailable for EVERY tier...I checked days before & after, and same thing. Makes me wonder if the airline knows something we don't?

 

[mikehn]

Unavailable means it is cancelled. First they will give you the opportunity to rebook yourself (although it is a very small window). If you havent done so in the very small window they give you, they will rebook you themselves.

 

[Sandiz08]

I have a flight booked on SW for July, that I've been watching & as the price drops I've been re-booking to get the credit toward a future flight (now almost $200 credit). I just logged on again to check, and EVERY flight for my dates states unavailable for EVERY tier...I checked days before & after, and same thing. Makes me wonder if the airline knows something we don't?

Our July flights got moved this morning. The ones coming back are super expensive right now, over 400.00. I wonder what’s going on. No wanna get away fares.

 

[Woodview]

You do realise that flying will never be the same again .

Many flights will be scrapped for ever . The flights that will be there will fly full .

Flights will be several hours apart & will Not be direct flights .

Get used to it ...... It is a changing world out there.

 

[sam_gordon]

You do realise that flying will never be the same again .

Many flights will be scrapped for ever . The flights that will be there will fly full .

Flights will be several hours apart & will Not be direct flights .

Get used to it ...... It is a changing world out there.

I anticipate that being the case for a year or two. But, barring another pandemic, I think flights will resume to "normal" levels in the future.

Oh, BTW, EVERY flight is a "direct" flight. You just make have to make two direct flights to get to your destination.