airfare experts

[M2DD's]

When southwest opens dates tomorrow for the next rounds of bookings will this drive other airlines like delta or airtran to lower there priceses? As of now out of 2 small airports the prices are sky high. We can fly out of chicago through southwest but it takes 3 hrs to get there and we have to pay to park the 2 wks were gone.I'm ok with paying around 100$ for each of us but 161 is just to high.Not to mention the 265 for the way back.Any suggestions or advice?
TIA
Laura

 

[uva185]

They will probably not match Southwest fares just because Southwest opens up more dates. I will need your departure city and dates to help you with airfare.

 

[Bill From PA]

When SW released their fares for our Oct 07 dates out of PHL, they weren't very impressive, but I remembered reading on this board that SW and AirTran were fighting for market share in Philly, so I checked their site that morning and got a great rate, $237.60, RT for the two of us, that's $118.80 each, RT. AirTran was quite a bit higher prior to SW posting thier rates, so I suppose they responded to SW rates. I don't know if this will apply to the Chicago market, good luck.

Bill From PA

 

[slruud]

Do not count on SWA fares to go down just because they extend their schedule. The past few times their fares stayed the same or went up, and there were plenty of people quite upset on these boards. A few weeks later SWA started offering sales and prices came down along with DING! fares. You need to be flexible. Sign up for SWA email updates and DING!. It only takes a minute or so to check fares once or so a day. If you're on the net anyway, take a spin to SWA or whatever airline and check fares. Good kuck.

 

[M2DD's]

They will probably not match Southwest fares just because Southwest opens up more dates. I will need your departure city and dates to help you with airfare.

We have 3 airports that are within an hour drive for us. They are
BMI(bloomington,il)
PIA(peoria,il)
MLI(moline,il)
Were leaving the 21 in the evening or the 22nd in the morning. Were returning the 1st of june.The lowest fare I have found is out of MLI for 141 including taxes. Maybe wit gas prices thats the best rate I'll guess.We usually
pay around 80-90$ the last few yrs. I have seen fares for as low as 69$ from air tran. any help would be great.
My DH is going for a shorter period of time so if I could find a good fare for me and my 2 DD's I can take any flight within those days.

 

[uva185]

I pulled up the history of the fares between the cities you listed. Overall the prices have risen steadily over the past year. (like the price of oil) My advice is to watch the fares closely but do not book your flights sooner than 2 months before the day of departure. There is a good chance lower sale fares will be added this spring. That said $140 is not too bad. I usually pay $150 for a nonstop flight from DC to Orlando. That price includes a built in "premium" to use the downtown airport as opposed to driving out of the city. Hope this helps a bit.