Southwest Airlines

[Free4Life11]

I just don't understand how people can get flights for so cheap!

On their website all I could find from Chicago to Orlando was a ONE WAY that was about $200!!

I am reading about peopel getting 4 tickets for liek $450!!

It would jsut $450 just for ONE ticket from Chicago!!!

There website seems unprofessional because I find it hard to believe that the rates don't change, but the way it is set up it seems like they would never change.

How do you find good deals on Southwest...

-Matt

[jamounger]

We got 6 tickets for 847 dollars from detroit in august with there fly a friend for free deal. It ended on May 23 and the tickets had to be bought in pairs. I havent checked to see if they are offering anything special now. DebM

[Pumbaa_]

I recently ordered 8 tickets from CT to Orlando for $908 through Friends Fly Free. (I just checked the price today and it would have been $1588 :bounce: :bounce:

The lowest R/T airfare I have gotten is $75. What a deal!

Keep checking, they often offer specials. I booked my hotel in February for September, but just booked airfare two weeks ago. I figure I can always modify my hotel dates if airfare is better for a different date.

Good Luck!

[SRRN]

Free4Life11,
You might want to call Southwest and ask for their least expensive rate,for the dates you're planning to fly.Then ask,if there are any rates cheaper,if you go "on_line".It will save you time,trying to go through the web-site,if nothing is available.Good Luck!

[Grog]

Definitely keep checking. My SO is flying to Seattle next month and is having to go Continental because it's $323 compared to over $500 on SW. We would have preffered SW because Continental leaves from a different airport and means driving about twenty-five miles as opposed to four miles to the airport SW flies out of. I made the same flight to Seattle on SW about ten months ago and a roundtrip ticket was $198 (From Houston). Good luck in your search.

[Disneyfun1]

You definately have to check constantly. Try going to www.travelocity.com and sign up for their fare watcher program. They will e-mail you when the price goes up or down. I have been looking since Oct for Phx to orlando and the lowest i got was 272.50 on delta. I had to use delta because we had 4-$59 vouchers to use. I finally dropped sat to 242.50 and i bought them and then used my vouchers on that price for a total of 183.50. Today it went down another $10 so i called them and they are sending me out another 4-$10 vouchers to match the price. I check about 4 times a day just in case. BTW......the lowest i was able to get 2 years ago on Delta was $89 RT, that sale only lasted about 4 hours though, and i have NEVER seen it that price ever again. Maybe a glitch in the system, but i couldnt believe it!

[Eno]

Also try NorthWest - they had a companion free rate. Only works on the Internet when you put in an even number of tickets. If you enter 1 or 3 gives you a higher rate.

[KJMAX1]

We originally booked Southwest, however, American Airlines had a war with them, and instead of 99.00 each way from Seattle, we paid 85.00 through AA. Much nicer seating in my opinion. Like everyone has said, keep trying ALL the travel sites. Travelocity was the only site giving thetickets away for AA on sale, all other sites showed it at full price.

[cboudre1]

Try checking SW on Tuesdays. Specials come out on Tuesdays and go fast.

[almostGoofy]

Try these travel search engines: www.sidestep.com or www.qixo.com. I constantly searched on these and the travelocity websites. Found my cheap Southwest fare on sidestep and booked right away.

You definitely need to check almost everyday in order to catch the cheap fares before they're sold out. With Southwest, it also helps to check 6 months in advance of your planned departure. Southwest only sells up to 6 months in advance so if you can catch when they begin to sell the dates you want, you might have a better chance.

[soxcub]

Check out Hotwire.com. I was able to get 6 round trip tickets from O'Hare for $132 r/t per person on American Airlines. The cost was $100 more per ticket to fly from Midway for the same dates. I also tried Southwest's Friend's Fly Free promo. Every date I attempted was unavailable.

[bwvmary]

I'll second the hotwire.com recommendation. We have had great luck with them - good flight times and huge savings. Does require flexibility on the flight times, though. My strategy is to leave a day earlier and/or return a day later than I would if I were booking specific times that I want. That way, the only downside is too much vacation time - if that's possible! I've always saved at least three times as much on the tickets as I have had to pay for extra hotel and meals. Good luck.

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Matt,
I find SWA's web sites one of the easiest to negotiate and they can and do change, often.
Remember, this is a no frills airline and they find no need to have glitzy website, plain and simple is the way it is.
They do not, at least not recently, have their airfares on any of the services like expedia. You have to access their site.
They also have the easiest change rules around with no penalty whatsoever. The only "charge" you may incur is if the fare you are changing is lower than the one you are changing to.
Call that unprofessional if you want, but, to me it is great customer service and just plain good old fashioned business.

[dgaston]

I fly SWA often. The lack of seat selection prior to boarding doesn't bother me. I signed up for the weekly email notification of the specials and that has been terrific. I also like the fast rewards--I'm earning a free ticket in June and I usually pay for my own flights!!!

[Laurajean1014]

Cheapest flight on SWA was $75/rt from BDL to MCO! Booked three trips on internet with that price!

SWA has made money since Sept. 11th. (Notice all the ads they'
re placing on network TV!) They got over $14mm in compensation for possible loss of revenue. But they didn't loose revenue..... Lately, I have found their prices to be very high! So, we booked on Jet Blue instead. JB was $100/rt each way cheaper per ticket than SWA.

An old trick; try searching for your tickets in the middle of the night. I know it sounds crazy, but we are talking about the airline industry. For whatever reason, rates are thrown out in the middle of the night at very low prices to see if the competition is lowering theirs and/or to see if consumers will buy at what rates and when.

Maybe someone that works for the airlines could better explain...

[Rhony51]

We purchased 4 tickets on NW from NE to MCO for about 550.00 for all 4 including tax. We thought this was too good to pass up.

Rhony

[pmouse13]

I just booked 4 round trip tickets through South West from Manchester NH to Orlando for 700.00 total. This is only 175.00 each person. I did not think this was bad because in the past it usually is about 200.00-225.00. I agree with the earlier post....you can change with no penalties. It's nice to know that if you need to change your plans that you can do so and not lose your money. Also, these are non-stop flights. Thats an even bigger bonus since I hate to fly. The time of the year is September.
Goodluck and keep checking.
Paula

[littlestar]

When I check fares on Southwest, I go to southwest.com and then click on reservations and walk through it that way (put your cities and dates in, etc.)and it brings up a whole string of fares across the screen. I used to check under fares, but that didn't bring the cheap fares up. The cheapest I ever flew on Southwest was last labor day weekend. They had Indianapolis to Orlando for $81.50 total (this included taxes). I couldn't believe what I was seeing on the screen. Needless to say I booked it!

I check their site every couple of days.

[Winniemouse]

This is a very interesting topic
Here is my question,
My family and I are planning on going down during Easter week
2003 dates: 4/12-4/20.
Did anyone ever get a good airfare deal for this time of the year?
I've been checking prices and I'm having sticker shock!
Or I click in my dates and nothing is available.
Any suggestions would be really appreciated.
:)

[SRRN]

Winniemouse,

My advice would be to check ALL airlines flying to Orlando from your departure city.We were able to book a direct flight to Orlando,on Delta for $l89 per person for December.That is, by far the lowest rate we're ever booked.:smooth: Good luck

[pattyT]

I just booled six flights to Orlando from Providence RI last week and I got a great rate!
$130 per person - round trip non-stop!
I booked through a local agent on South West it was a 'bring a friend for free deal' I think!

[hulabird]

Matt-

We leave out of Chicago Midway, for two adults for 8/25-9/1, we paid total round trip for both including taxes: $264.00 on SW during friends fly free, I did this 2 months ago, but now it would cost us $427.00...u have to keep checking and purchase when u see that unbelievable price.