Advice on best way to book Southwest

[AllesonWonderland]

Okay, I've been reading up on the different Southwest threads on how to book your flights. It looks like the majority are in favor of booking each leg separately, to help if you get a Ding later on. Am I correct? I've also read some people suggesting booking tickets separately in case there aren't enough seats at the ding fare. Anyone with experience in these areas? We're a family of 4...I'm not sure if the people who were suggesting buying tickets in smaller numbers were with much larger groups.

TIA, I just want to have all my ducks in a row so I'm all set to book when the rest of March is released tomorrow. (Like that positive thinking??!! LOL)

 

[wdwfan1]

On one of our recent trips I tried to book two seats at the lowest fare. Nothing was available. I changed it to one seat and it was available, so I booked one seat at the lowest fare, and one at the next rate.

I think that is what the post referred to.

 

[mom2jamie]

This time around, I took the advice found on the Disboards to book one way at a time. I did this for Feb 07 Florida trip. Booked when the rates were high but seats were going fast. The rates did go down and we ended up with over $600 in credits for 6 people. The one thing that I learned was not to put more than 2 people on one reservation. I had 4 on the trip going down and could not get the cheaper rate because there were not 4 seats available. I did not want to go through canceling totally and rebooking I just wanted to change the reservation for a cheaper rate. From now on I will only put 1 or maybe 2 on one reservation. Lesson learned.......I could have saved an additional $304 for future travel.........

 

[mom2dzb]

I did this for Feb 07 Florida trip. Booked when the rates were high but seats were going fast. The rates did go down and we ended up with over $600 in credits for 6 people.

So, let me see if I've got this right . . . you book as soon as SW has their schedule for the flights you want then you watch to see if the fares go down. When they do, you call and request a credit.

Have I got that right?

Do the fares always go down? How vigilant do you have to be to find the lower fares?

I plan on taking lots of trips to WDW from the Pacific Northwest, so I want to become proficient at this!

 

[salmoneous]

There are many folks on this board who have had good luck with complicated SW booking schemes. And I don't want to discount their success. But I don't think it's crucial for everyone to go through the trouble.

But I'm a long-time frequent SW flyer. And I've never once booked a RT as two O/Ws, nor split a reservation. And I've never regretted it - there hasn't once been a time when I lost money because I couldn't rebook due to the way I made my initial reservation.

Especially if you are booking a cheap fare to being with, and are flying at popular times, complicated bookings probably aren't necessary (just to state the obvious reply - but the "complicated" schemes I'm talking about just aren't that complicated, and don't cost anything, so why not do it even if the chance is small)

 

[pbnjrockette]

I think booking one-way at a time is the way to go. It only takes a minute extra and can save you a lot if rates go down---especially if the rates are only for one leg of the trip!

You do have to be rather vigilant at watching the DINGS....they are posted here if you need a heads-up.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=15558370#post15558370

I did get a better Internet Only flight for our trip back---but again the Internet Only flights are usually up for less than a day.

Good luck!

 

[alyssa810]

We've started to book one ways, and it's worked out well for us. We also don't tend to book right away, or as soon as our dates become available, and that also has not been a problem for us. I think if you're planning on traveling during holidays or school vacations, it might be more worthwhile, but for the most part, are trips to wherever we go aren't during those high demand times.

 

[AllesonWonderland]

Our trip is during our Spring Break (March 24-31) I know not everyone has Spring Break at the same time, but I'm thinking this could still be considered 'peak season.' On top of that, we recently relocated, so I have nothing to compare prices to. (Except that right now for those dates Allegiant is $350 r/t pp and AA is $400.) So, slightly worried, but I'm hoping it will all work out. I wouldn't mind booking them at one rate and having them go down later either!!

Thanks for the tips, any other input is certainly welcome.

 

[I'mNoPrince]

We book One ways with all 3 of us and I have never had a problem getting the lower fares.

I check everyday (it only takes a minute some time during the day) as well as have Ding installed.

I book as soon as they become avail and then go from there . We go enough to use up the TTVs (Ticketless Travel Vouchers) that you get for credit good for 1 year . Others have had their Credit cards credited as well but you have to call a certian number and you can't make any changes to your flights (days or times).

 

[mom2jamie]

The seats were being booked fast this year and we did not want to take the chance of not getting a non stop. There are now 8 of us traveling down. The rates were higher than usual so we decided to bite the bullet and book. I did not check the rates again until the end of October and noticed that they did go down. At the high rate we paid; I hoped that they would, but with the prices of gas really did not expect them to. But Southwest came through for us and we saved. I was able to get partial credit to cc and rest on future travel. We only fly Southwest

 

[Rpsemont]

I just booked our april tickets - there are three of us, dh, DD (11) and me. I booked them all individually and all one way.

However, for our Feb trip, when fares and availability seemed to be disappearing quickly, I booked DD on the same flight with me and dh on a separate itinerary - but same times