Air Tran/Southwest Prices

[LoveMMC]

Hello

We are anixously waiting to hear if we can get work leave approved for an October trip.
I have been watching the prices on the Air Tran and Southwest websites for the past two weeks.
They are flying steadily up up up!
Buffalo to Orlando started off at 92 last week and now are 124 - 142.

My question is- do the prices just keep going up and stay up closer to the date or is there a chance they will go down?

TIA

 

[evie308]

I've been checking my August dates ( BUF-MCO) for the last month (several times a day) and it fluctuates daily and sometimes during the day. Price difference has been about $100 roundtrip.

I haven't purchased yet. I'm still waiting to see if I can get a flight for $300 or less. If not, our family will make the 20 hour drive instead.

 

[a1tinkfans]

when it comes to sw/at you should BOOK when you see a flight cost that works for you....You can always get the credit back (I always do flight segments by the way)
Otherwise you are chancing it as the flights will go up closer and then "sometimes" you can luck out with a DING fare Or if flights are not booked, they may drop....But the likelihood of a price drop on a popular day/time (friday/sat) is less likely than lets say a tuesday .....
Good Luck.................

 

[dchronister]

I've always heard that Tuesday night at midnight is the cheapest time to book flight, that it is the cheapest of the week. I have been looking closely at this and it appears to be correct. I have been watching a flight from memphis to mco and on Tuesday it has been running $109 to Mco and $119 back to memphis. On Saturday when I looked, it was $129 to mco and $139 back to memphis, not a huge difference, but when you have to book 7 flights like I do, it adds up. Thought that may help a little anyway.

 

[Fire14]

I have watched our flights go up and down but our going down flight has never gone down to what I bought mine at, I'm guessing during one of their sales.

 

[JenDett]

About a month ago SW had a sale for STL to MCO for $150. We were debating how many days to go, and decided about midnight on a Thursday. I went to book it and it was back to $188. I felt SICK about it, as that put it in the range where we would probably drive instead of fly.

I went into a panic, and called SW to see if they could still honor the fare. The agent told me the specials are put in the computer Monday afternoon, and show up on SW website early Tuesday morning, and expire Thursday night.

I looked at some other forums, and it seemed SW repeats their specials 3 or so times within a booking cycle (from when fares are released until travel). I kept my eye on it.

4 weeks after the initial sale, the fare was at $157. I noticed this at 1:30 AM during a bout of insomnia when I was aimlessly surfing the internet on my phone. I bolted out of bed, hit the laptop, and booked it. The flights I wanted must have been popular, because one of them shot up to $190 on Wednesday (one day after I booked).

I hope the same happens for you, and you get another shot at a good fare.

 

[JayhawkFans]

Kicking myself for not booking airfare last week when it was at $196 r/t per person for our trip in October. It has now jumped $30 p/p for a total increase of $90. I have my fingers crossed that it will drop again but I think I had better check again tomorrow (Tues) and if it is still the same price as today go ahead and get it booked.

 

[Fire14]

I do know SW has done a annv. sale in June last few yrs That I've been paying attn.

 

[icunurss]

I am flying CHI to MCO in October and recently booked our flights. When they first went on sale, it was $153 going and $135 returning. By the next day, going went up to $254. Kept watching and the return soon went up to $180. Booked the return last week for $139. Kept watching. On Saturday morning, the going flight went down to $166 - booked it. Within 10 minutes, it was back up to $222. It is crazy! I wanted to hold out and try to get lower fares (since we don't fly often and might not be able to take advantage of credit), but between the fluctuations and worries about the flight being sold out, we just did it.

 

[tyzzle]

Mine flights for Sept. were $114 when released. They have fluctuated up to $190 but never got that low again. The lowest they went was after that was $134 so far

 

[LoveMMC]

Thanks for the info everyone