Southwest Outrageous Ticket Prices

[kydisneyfans]

I don't know about the other airports, but from Milwaukee, the extremely high fares (as in more than $100 more each way than they were last year) cover any outgoing flight from the Thursday before Good Friday through the Monday after Easter. For the return flights, they cover the Friday after Easter through the next Monday.

The district where my daughters teach has its spring break from Good Friday through the following weekend. That is a pretty common spring break around here. So, anyone who wants to fly nonstop from MKE to MCO for spring break without taking the kids out of school for a few days (which isn't an option for teachers anyway) either has to accept the 50-60% increase in fares from last year, or fly out on the Tuesday after Easter and return two days later. I should add that all of my fare searching is for one person, so I don't know if families would be stuck with an even higher fare.

Maybe the fare is "correct" if the market will bear it. But, you'll have a hard time convincing me that that dramatic increase isn't a result of the lack of competition. It isn't surprising to me that the Justice Department is investigating the airlines for collusion with regard to setting routes and fares.

I completely agree. With fuel costs way down, there is no need for prices to be 50% higher than last year. I think the prices are bait and will drop big time, except for Easter week itself.

 

[ibcnu]

We are planning the first week of March (DD has college spring break) and the airfare is crazy expensive ALL of March!! No way gonna pay that, we're driving!

 

[mcd2745]

SW has always been our preferred airline and we fly out of Islip (Long Island), NY. We're booked on a Disney Cruise for President's week in 2016. We have yet to book our airfare. The "Wanna Get Away" fares are all blacked out for the dates surrouding that week, and the other fares are insane. This is on top of the fact that they have drastically cut the number of flights in and out of Islip. Other airlines are in the same ballpark, although the trend the last couple of weeks (I check prices pretty much daily), has been priced coming down slightly - from completely ludicrous down to just plain ridiculous. Hopefully they get to reasonable levels at some point or we may cancel the cruise. WDW/DCL, Universal, etc. should be very concerned about the price airfare right now. If prices remain sky high (pun fully intended) - all while fuel costs are as low as they've been in a long time - it's going to hurt them.

 

[Jestocost]

Not really a fair headline. All airfares are substantially higher now and, in our case, Southwest still is the best option. First, they are the only carrier operating non-stop flights between MCO and STL. Second, the one-stop flights on other carriers were $100 higher for a round trip than SWA and we would also have had baggage fees.

 

[pooch]

Sorry, I know this isn't helpful but I am very excited that my tues to following wed flights 11/10 to 11/18 non stop from Hartford Ct to MCO dropped to $82 each way. That's $164 round trip! I'm sorry, I'm just so excited!!

 

[djo]

Not really a fair headline. All airfares are substantially higher now and, in our case, Southwest still is the best option. First, they are the only carrier operating non-stop flights between MCO and STL. Second, the one-stop flights on other carriers were $100 higher for a round trip than SWA and we would also have had baggage fees.

We fly out of Lambert too. The prices are definitely higher than I'd like to pay but it's spring break and flying non-stop with young ones is important to us. With school and work driving is not an option.

 

[Rubbertops]

I saw this morning that prices for my flight went from $250 down to $123. I have to take a late flight but I am happy with this price.

 

[cedricandsophie]

Just got flights on United from Chicago to Orlando on March 3 to march 17 for a little over 300 each. I've found lately that southwest out of midway airport is never much cheaper than flights out of Ohare and it takes a lot longer to get to.

 

[son3disfan]

Just thought I would share...
We bit the bullet and booked airfare for March as we are worried that prices will only increase ( hard to believe they could go any higher!) both were non stop and the perfect times we wanted.
I can " live " with what we booked, but it is much more then we originally budgeted for , or have paid in the past.
Unfortunately, working for the school board I am only able to fly out late Friday, (for a Saturday morning cruise.) So I was worried about losing the availability/time of flight. Returning on the Sunday as the Saturday prices were even more. It done. Not happy. But done. So not good at the gamble....
March 11th BUF- MCO $212 on JetBlue ( Southwest was up to $293)
March 20th MCO- BUF $287 on southwest

Good luck to fellow Canadians looking for a good deal over March break. Not sure it's going to happen this year.

 

[kydisneyfans]

I posted earlier in the thread and my convention flight to MCO dropped to $144 today. It's just a few dollars over last year now. It pays to recheck.

 

[son3disfan]

I posted earlier in the thread and my convention flight to MCO dropped to $144 today. It's just a few dollars over last year now. It pays to recheck.

What dates???

 

[dakotix]

If you look for flights on the weekends the prices are always going to be expensive. I looked last Tuesday/ Wednesday for flights from Hartfod > MCO and I was seeing $90-125 each way. Those same flights today, Sunday, are over $200 and sometimes over $300 each way. The prices change daily and the sales come and go. Just keep looking mid week and if you see your preferred time for less than $130 grab it. And if you book your flight and see the fare is cheaper down the road, Southwest will re-book you at the cheaper fare. You just have to call them in order to do that.

Sundays, Mondays and Fridays -- Fares are always higher

Tues-Thurs, Saturday -- Fares tend to be cheaper

 

[antman]

I'm waiting for SW to post their May schedule but noticed the priced went up pretty significantly in the recent time frame they just opened. I'm hoping May goes back to more reasonable prices. I don't know if others have done this but this year I opened a Chase Southwest Card and a Chase business Southwest card and got 50,000 points for each. After spending an additional $10,000 I also get a companion pass so someone can fly free with me. We'll be able to make a couple trips through the end of 2016 with only the minimal $5 per ticket fee.

 

[kydisneyfans]

April 10 is our flight from SDF.

 

[ziravan]

We normally fly out of Houston, live in SETX, it would be $1136 for the 4 of us. We're driving in November, again. Just made the drive in June. I can't stomach paying so much for flights. $2632 to go back in March 2016. I foresee us putting a lot of miles on my car.

Austin is always cheapest on SWA vs Houston or Dallas. Try booking through Austin.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I completely agree. With fuel costs way down, there is no need for prices to be 50% higher than last year. I think the prices are bait and will drop big time, except for Easter week itself.

This logic has some flaws
1. Jet fuel is not on the same pricing structure as your auto gas and has not fallen as fast.
2. Airlines play a game of "fuel guessing" So long in advance they buy the fuel at a guaranteed rate. If they guess right the fuel price they pay is lower then the current market price, but if they guess wrong, they are stuck paying the high prices even though it's cheaper now. So what they are paying is not determined in most cases by the current fuel pricing.

 

[elaine amj]

I am flying to Orlando in February and I agree - the prices right now are crazy. We are now looking at an avg of almost $600 to fly to Orlando from Detroit! It used to average about $300 or so for spring breaks! OUCH. I can totally fly across the country for that price (and I flew to California this summer for much less than that). Our upcoming Orlando flight for Labor Day weekend is half that price.

I'm juggling like crazy because I really like a winter escape and I have Universal APs this year. This is pushing me to price other carriers - not something I have considered for a while now because I enjoy Southwest so much (and we have Companion Passes)

 

[afyoung]

We are flying Southwest in October. I booked our flights as soon as the window opened and everything was cheaper than any of the other airlines. We are paying $1500 for 4 tickets nonstop round trip out of Nashville on a Thursday night, returning the next Sunday (10 days apart)...this was $400 cheaper overall than a Friday flight. If I were to book the exact same flights today the cost is over $3000. That is twice what I paid in April...same exact flights, so obviously the planes are not full yet. The flight out is starting to fill, but there is another one 20 minutes later (also nonstop). I am hoping we are offered the bump for a free drink and priority boarding.

 

[TJA]

Just thought I would share...
We bit the bullet and booked airfare for March as we are worried that prices will only increase ( hard to believe they could go any higher!) both were non stop and the perfect times we wanted.
I can " live " with what we booked, but it is much more then we originally budgeted for , or have paid in the past.
Unfortunately, working for the school board I am only able to fly out late Friday, (for a Saturday morning cruise.) So I was worried about losing the availability/time of flight. Returning on the Sunday as the Saturday prices were even more. It done. Not happy. But done. So not good at the gamble....
March 11th BUF- MCO $212 on JetBlue ( Southwest was up to $293)
March 20th MCO- BUF $287 on southwest

Good luck to fellow Canadians looking for a good deal over March break. Not sure it's going to happen this year.

Your post caught my eye because we also fly in and out of BUF, and we are going to MCO in March, though our dates are a bit later than yours. That $287 price you got on SW is the exact same fare I'm seeing for every nonstop flight for my dates. So I'm thinking that's their starting fare across the board and it will either increase if the plane starts to fill up or decrease if the plane has enough empty seats. Either way, I will be checking SW a few times a day until that number changes.

I also booked JB for our flight down. I found mine for a bit less than yours, but still it was a MUCH better deal than SW, even with the new luggage fee. JB was $178 and SW was/is $287 (of course...).

 

[dakotix]

If you look at Southwest's "Flexible Dates Low Fare Calendar" you'll see that flights in November 2015 through January 2016 are really cheap. We always get our flights 2-3 months out. If you try and buy them now for Spring 2016 you're going to get fleeced! The rates start ridiculously high and then as your departure date nears the fares drop considerably. The only exception to that rule is when they have their "sales" and you are able to find cheap flights 6+ months in advance. But that's rare unless you're glued to their site every morning...been there, done that.

Don't worry, you won't get stuck without a flight if you wait. Our trip Spring trip was last minute and was planned 8 weeks before we went. The flights were around $100 each way. If you have already bought your tickets, just keep your eyes open for the better rates and call SW to adjust your fare. They don't charge "change fees" and are really nice about it.

Also, I got the 50,000 bonus point SW credit card and haven't paid a dime for the last two trips to Disney (these are trips for two). Our next trip in the Spring we'll be flying free as well. Be patient and smart about it and everything will be OK! They know people will panic that's why they get away with such high fare prices! It's a game of chicken...don't get caught up in their nonsensical games!