When is the best time to book flights?

[todzwife]

Flights for a trip in May are about as cheap as I've seen them in a long time ($81 one way and $119 back). Do I book now or wait? It's for Southwest.

 

[clh2]

I would go for it; since it is Southwest. If prices drop, you can rebook, and get the lower price, the difference becomes a credit that can be used for future SW travel for 1 year from the original purchase date.

Also, I would book these as one way flights, since it is easier to do the rebooking if the fares drop.

 

[ValpoCory]

I would go for it; since it is Southwest. If prices drop, you can rebook, and get the lower price, the difference becomes a credit that can be used for future SW travel for 1 year from the original purchase date.

Also, I would book these as one way flights, since it is easier to do the rebooking if the fares drop.

Or if you book Southwest with points, you can rebook and the points go back into your account with no expiration date. For those of us who travel rarely, that is a key difference. And rebooking one leg of a round trip is easy enough. Just call 1-800-I-FLY-SWA, and a person can rebook only a particular leg of the trip for you.

And Southwest just dropped their prices again today. Non-stop flights from Austin to Orlando for just 10 days from now too. Just rebooked at $89 (4,876 points) per ticket. This is my 4th rebooking of my trip since September (sometimes both legs of the trip, other times just one leg), reducing my 4 round trip ticket cost to from 62,900 to 44,700 points. In "real" money that's about $300 saved due to that policy and consistent fare checking. That will pay for quite a few souvenirs at Disney World. Granted, I won't be realizing the savings until I use the 18,200 saved points instead of cash to buy my next airfare to WDW.

I love Southwest.