Southwest flight credits will no longer expire

While most airlines are hardly known for putting customers first, Southwest Airlines has made a name for itself with customer-friendly policies like free checked baggage, no change fees, and unassigned seats. Now, the airline is looking out for passengers in another way — by announcing that flight credits will never expire.

Typically, when travel plans go awry, airlines will provide a flight credit that must be used by a certain date. Now, under Southwest’s industry-first policy, those credits won’t have an expiration date, regardless of what kind of ticket was purchased.

Customers who currently have existing unexpired flight credits don’t have to do anything. The credits will remain valid and any expiration dates will be removed once Southwest updates its systems.

As for whether or not other major airlines will follow suit, I personally wouldn’t count on it. Airlines only began implementing a Southwest-style ‘no change fee’ policy during the pandemic in order to assure wary travelers — and even then, American brought them back in select international markets.