How to get points (or flight credit back) when booking the cheapest SWA flights

I pretty much always book Basic fares. It works for me because I’ve racked up a good amount of points (thank you, welcome bonuses 🙌) and I know Southwest pretty well at this point. But don’t worry—no gatekeeping here.

If you’re booking Southwest’s cheapest fares, here’s something you should know about getting your points (or flight credit) back when prices drop after you book. And if you’re thinking, “yeah yeah, it’s probably in the fine print”… listen, I say this with love—not everyone is reading all that.

The good news? This is super easy.

When you book a flight, just keep track of what you paid. I literally just use a note on my iPhone—nothing fancy at all.

Then every Tuesday (because that’s usually when Southwest drops sales), I go in and check prices for my upcoming flights. And this part matters: search like you’re booking a brand-new flight. Don’t hit “modify flight.” That used to work, but with Basic fares, it won’t show you if the price dropped anymore.

Once you find the current price, compare it to what you originally paid. If it’s cheaper—yay. Just cancel your original flight, get your points or flight credit back, and rebook at the lower price.

Also, quick tip: if you have one of the higher-tier cards and picked a seat for free, in my experience it goes right back into inventory. So you can usually grab the same one again when you rebook a few minutes later.

That’s literally it.

I just did this today and got almost 10,000 points back on one flight. Honestly, that alone makes it worth putting up with the little things about Southwest that I don’t love as much these days.