Southwest won't charge you a fare difference to change your flight dates or times

As the coronavirus pandemic evolves, the travel plans of millions of customers around the world remain in flux. Airlines have scrambled to respond with flight waivers and some airlines have handled the crisis better than others.

Southwest Airlines, for instance, has a long-standing policy of never charging change or cancellation fees on any booking, but has in the past billed customers for the difference in price if the new flight costs more. As Deals We Like first reported, the airline is now allowing customers to change their flights to another date at no extra cost.

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Here's what you need to know.

You'll need to navigate to the "My Trips" tab in your Southwest account and find your booking.

At the bottom, click "change flight," which will take you to a new page. You can change your flight date or time as long as you plan to depart and arrive at the same airports.

You'll then be taken to another page to make changes to your dates or times. Note that Southwest makes it clear that changes outside of those conditions (i.e., departure and arrival cities) may result in a higher fare.

Related: How to reprice a Southwest flight when the fare decreases

The coronavirus-related slowdown has repeatedly been called “unprecedented” by airlines, with at least one CEO warning earlier this month that the downturn could be worse than what was seen after 9/11, as TPG's Edward Russell reported yesterday.

After 9/11, Southwest was notable for not cutting capacity despite the drop in demand. The airline instead postponed new aircraft deliveries and delayed planned growth.