Y’all think I’m going to talk about Southwest’s free bag policy, right? Although I DO love that perk (who doesn’t want free checked bags?!), that’s not the main reason why I fly almost exclusively with Southwest Airlines! 

If you’re planning to fly to Disney World (or really anywhere) soon, you might feel overwhelmed by the choices available when it comes to airlines. Should you go budget with JetBlue, Frontier, or Spirit? Choose Delta and hope your plane has those fancy new seats? Wait for someone to announce an awesome discount and just go with that one?

That last option is actually a great idea, but even if I find a significantly cheaper flight on another airline, I’ll STILL pick Southwest every single time. Let me tell you WHY.

Are you ready for the big reveal? I choose Southwest Airlines nearly 100% of the time because of their awesome cancellation/change policy. If you’re not absolutely, totally certain that your travel plans will not change, you’ll love the flexibility that Southwest offers.

Southwest’s Cancellation Policy

You can cancel your Southwest flight any time up to 10 minutes before the flight takes off and receive some kind of refund, whether it’s your money back or a flight credit. How you will be refunded depends on what kind of ticket you bought:

• Business Select and Anytime tickets are refundable with either a method-of-payment refund (i.e., you get your money back) or a flight credit to be used on a future ticket.
• Wanna Get Away and Wanna Get Away Plus tickets are converted into flight credits you can use to buy a future ticket. (And those flight credits never expire!)

If you bought Wanna Get Away tickets, you won’t get your money back directly, but you can use that flight credit to pay for another flight in the future. Note that, if you choose a more expensive flight in the future, you’ll have to pay the price difference.

If you cancel your plans within 24 hours of booking your flight, you can get either a method-of-payment refund or a flight credit for a future flight, no matter which ticket you bought.

If you cancel your reservation with less than 10 minutes until the flight’s scheduled departure time, you may not receive a refund, depending on which kind of ticket you bought:

• Business Select and Anytime tickets are refunded in the form of a Transferable Flight Credit (meaning you can use that credit or give it away to someone else)
• Wanna Get Away and Wanna Get Away Plus tickets are simply forfeited — no refund is offered

If Southwest cancels your flight (and you don’t want to re-book), you can get either a method-of-payment refund or a flight credit.

To cancel your flight, just go to southwest.com/cancel, look up your reservation using the confirmation number and your name, and then hit “Cancel.”

It’s also super easy to change your Southwest flight. There are NO change fees at all, though note that you will have to pay the difference if the flight you change to is more expensive than the original one. For example, if you book one flight for $200 and then change it later to a flight that costs $250, you would have to pay the $50 difference.

I’m always nervous that my plans might need to change, so having that flexibility with either changing my flight or canceling it altogether is awesome for my peace of mind.

So how do the cancellation policies of other airlines compare to Southwest?

Cancellation Policies of Other Airlines

Delta Air Lines

Delta’s cancellation policy does include fees for certain tickets. For Basic Economy tickets, cancellation fees starting at $99 apply. If you cancel your Basic Economy ticket, you’ll get the remaining value of your ticket (minus the cancellation fee) as an eCredit. Note that those eCredits DO expire — when they expire depends on the terms of your original ticket.

Like Southwest, Delta offers a full refund (with no fees) if you cancel your flight within 24 hours of booking.

If you bought a refundable ticket, you can apply for a refund once you cancel, and Delta will review your request.

Change fees for non-refundable tickets — including Basic Economy — are anywhere from $0 to $400, depending on your ticket (plus the price difference).

American Airlines

American Airlines will fully refund your ticket if you cancel within 24 hours of booking, like Delta and Southwest.

If you bought a refundable ticket, you can request a refund online, and your request will be processed within seven days. American Airlines does not refund cash for non-refundable tickets. They will refund a non-refundable ticket under the following circumstances:

• You cancel within 24 hours of booking your ticket
• American Airlines changes the flight schedule by more than four hours and you decide not to travel
• American Airlines changes the flight schedule by 90 minutes or more within 72 hours of your flights departure time and you decide not to travel
• The passenger or their travel companion dies
• Military orders change

AAdvantage members who cancel their flights receive a travel credit (minus the cancellation fee).

American Airlines does charge fees for flight changes if you have a Basic Economy, Business Class, or First Class ticket.

Spirit Airlines

You can cancel or change your Spirit Airlines flight with NO fees if you do so 60 days or more before your trip.

Spirit also has the same 24-hour cancellation policy as the other airlines: If you cancel your ticket within 24 hours of booking (for a flight that’s at least seven days away), you can receive a full payment.

Here’s a chart of the change and cancellation fees:

As an editor, the font changes in that chart are really bothering me. Just had to put that out there.

Frontier Airlines

Frontier also charges change and cancellation fees, and the amount depends on when you make the changes. If you make changes 60 days or more in advance, there are no fees.

Here’s a look at Frontier Airlines’ fees:

So Frontier’s fees are a bit cheaper than Spirit’s.

Other Perks of Flying with Southwest

I’m going to keep singing Southwest’s praises because honestly, I think people need to be talking about this more.

Two Bags Fly Free

This is a BIG deal for me because I am a chronic over-packer. With Southwest, I never have to pay for my checked bags. Two checked bags (each weighing up to 50 pounds) are included in the cost of your ticket.

In addition, you can bring one carry-on (like a small suitcase or duffel bag) and one personal item (like a purse or belt bag) onboard.

Free Inflight Entertainment

Recently, I flew with Delta (one of my friends picked out our flights, and since she did all the research, I didn’t want to complain about the non-Southwest flight 😭), and I made the mistake of assuming that all airlines offered inflight entertainment.

With Southwest, you can hop on the app (even when your phone is in airplane mode) to access free live TV, free movies, and other entertainment options. I never have to download movies ahead of time — I just pick from the dozens of options on the app!

Needless to say, I was pretty bored on that Delta flight (having neglected to pack any kind of entertainment in my carry-on). There are only so many times you can play sudoku on your phone before you start to slowly go insane.

Free Same-Day Standby

This perk is actually one I discovered while doing research for this post, and it’s totally one I’ll take advantage of next time I fly! Southwest offers same-day change and same-day standby, and it sounds super handy.

I always arrive at the airport at least a couple of hours before my flight (my travel anxiety is really showing in this post 😂), and on more than one occasion I’ve walked past gates with flights going to my destination earlier than the flight I booked. Every time, I think, “Man, I wish I could just hop on that flight instead.” Guess what? I could’ve been doing that this whole time!

Same-day change means that, on the day of your trip, you can switch to another flight that’s going from the same origin airport to the same destination airport as your original flight (as long as there’s room on that plane). You can do this for FREE (no change fees, even if the flight you switch to is more expensive than your original flight) unless you booked a Wanna Get Away ticket. Customers with Wanna Get Away tickets would have to pay the difference in price.

EVERYONE can use same-day standby, which means you can put your name on the standby list for an earlier flight. If there’s room, you’ll be able to swap to that flight for free.

There are definitely good reasons to book flights with other airlines, like if other airlines are offering super great discounts, but I’m pretty much sold on Southwest at this point. I even had family members who were affected by the great Southwest cancelation crisis of 2022 (they were stuck in California for a couple of weeks), but they were so impressed by the company’s customer service following the problems that they’re still loyal customers today.

Free checked bags, inflight entertainment, same-day standby, AND the best cancellation policy in the biz? It’s just hard to beat that!

I’ll keep watching for more updates and news that might impact your upcoming vacation, so stay tuned to DFB for more.

Check out our COMPLETE GUIDE to booking the CHEAPEST flights to Disney World!

Which airline is your favorite? Let us know in the comments!