Airfare

[smorkovsky]

How far ahead can you book?

I know we want to fly Southwest, and I'll know the rates will be better with earlier booking (not a big deal if flight times get changed a bit), but WHEN will they let me book???

 

[PictureJumpr]

Four-ish months ahead.
If you go to their site and sign up for emails, they'll send you a heads-up when the next set of dates is about to open up for booking.


Not sure which city you are flying out of, but if it's Austin then JetBlue will beat Southwest almost every time, on price.

If it's Dallas or Houston, Spirit will usually come in at more or less half the price of Southwest, even less if you belong to/join the $9 club. We're flying Spirit out of Houston at the end of the month for $184 roundtrip, purchased about eight weeks ago. Even with a couple of bags for the group (sharing) at $60 roundtrip apiece, it's much less than the $360pp Southwest wanted for the same timeframe.

I love Southwest in general, but for the Orlando run it is astronomical compared to other carriers.

 

[smorkovsky]

Thanks for that info. We are flying out of Dallas, but DH works for the company doing all the remodeling and new construction at Love Field, so even if it costs us more, politics will keep us in a big orange airplane

I will definitely keep this in mind, though, in case DH decides politics aren't worth another $500!! There are 5 of us, so a little bit of money per person will add up.

 

[Allison]

There is a transportation board here where you can ask lots of questions about airfare and travel, etc. Very knowledgable people over there.

 

[OhThePain]

I was able to book our flights, on SW, for October back in April. So for us, flights opened 6 months out.

 

[DisneyAllyC]

How far ahead can you book?

I know we want to fly Southwest, and I'll know the rates will be better with earlier booking (not a big deal if flight times get changed a bit), but WHEN will they let me book???

Hey I'm not going until March and our flight is booked

 

[mesaboy2]

For most major airlines, it is possible to book 330 days in advance of your return date.

 

[BeerMe]

Hey I'm not going until March and our flight is booked

You're not flying Southwest though. SW only has booking through Feb 12, 2014.

 

[Jestocost]

How far ahead can you book?

I know we want to fly Southwest, and I'll know the rates will be better with earlier booking (not a big deal if flight times get changed a bit), but WHEN will they let me book???

Southwest posts the information about their next release date on their Travel Tools page. Right now it says:

We are currently accepting air reservations through February 12, 2014. On July 22, 2013, we will open our schedule for sale through March 7, 2014. This date is subject to change! Please check back frequently.

If you want to see when specific dates have been opened for booking in the past to give you some idea of when your dates might be available, check the Historical and Upcoming SWA Release Dates thread.

 

[Brian_WDW74]

I've moved this thread to the Transportation forum.

 

[juliebug1997]

Thanks for that info. We are flying out of Dallas, but DH works for the company doing all the remodeling and new construction at Love Field, so even if it costs us more, politics will keep us in a big orange airplane

I will definitely keep this in mind, though, in case DH decides politics aren't worth another $500!! There are 5 of us, so a little bit of money per person will add up.

We are in Dallas too and this is what we have found over the past few years:

AA will end up being about $50 a person cheaper than Southwest. However, if you are going to have to check a bag (one per person each way) than that's going to add on $70 a person roundtrip, meaning you'll pay $20 more. If you end up checking more than one a person, even just for a couple of people, that's another $50 roundtrip.

We have looked at Spirit but their on time record is atrocious and I believe they were talking about adding fees for carry-on luggage. Here is a link to their optional fees:

http://www.spirit.com/OptionalFees.aspx

When I priced out our upcoming trip's flights, I found that SWA was actually cheaper and we are on flights where you do no change planes when they stop. Add in the $240 round trip for our free bags and it was a no brainer. We are looking to go to NYC in November and SWA was $500 cheaper than AA right off the bat and I was going to have layovers and have to fly part of each trip on an American Eagle plane, which I haven't handled well in the past.

 

[juliebug1997]

PS: you can already buy through March 7th.

 

[juliebug1997]

I love Southwest in general, but for the Orlando run it is astronomical compared to other carriers.

Not if you're in Dallas and your other option is American because they run most flights out four of the five terminals at DFW. AA is getting completely out of hand.

 

[RMAMom]

PS: you can already buy through March 7th.

I was just on the Southwest website and can't book beyond February 12th

 

[juliebug1997]

I was just on the Southwest website and can't book beyond February 12th

I was looking just this morning and it said March. Huh....

 

[Jestocost]

I was looking just this morning and it said March. Huh....

Monday.

 

[juliebug1997]

Monday.

I know what the date says but it can also happen early. Again, this morning, I saw "through March 7th". I noticed because we need to travel on March 8th for our cruise.

 

[smorkovsky]

I'd sooner pay $50 more per person one way then fly AA. I absolutely LOATHE AA. I've never once had a even moderately easy time dealing with them. And if a flight gets rescheduled/delayed/cancelled due to weather, you may never get home. And when you do, you'll feel like you flew threw hell, you're bags will still be in hell, and your party will definitely be split up. Well, that's been my experience more than once. Never again.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I'd sooner pay $50 more per person one way then fly AA. I absolutely LOATHE AA. I've never once had a even moderately easy time dealing with them. And if a flight gets rescheduled/delayed/cancelled due to weather, you may never get home. And when you do, you'll feel like you flew threw hell, you're bags will still be in hell, and your party will definitely be split up. Well, that's been my experience more than once. Never again.

Weather delays cause the same problems for every airline. Personally, I think it's silly to say you'll never fly a certain airline because of problems which happen on every airline.

If you fly very often, you need to try and stick with one airline to get frequent flyer status. You'll find this helps when you are faced with travel problems.

 

[Simba77]

Knock on wood, I've had good luck with Southwest.

Not to mention checked bags are free. And, if you need to change your plans (flight times or flight days) you can make adjustments with no fee whatsoever, other than paying for the additional cost (if any) of your new leg of a flight.

And, if prices go down, you can adjust your flight (go to the change flight option) and re-select/re-book the same flight, and you will then have an airline credit in the amount of the difference. The credit can be used for one year after the initial payment you made.

Also, keep in mind that the prices of flights (from Southwest) can change drastically, even from day to day. One day a flight will be $300, then next $175. Seriously. If your plans are flexible, keep checking back multiple times a day before you officially book your air fare if you feel like Southwest is too expensive for the current quoted price.

And if your trip dates are flexible, use the calendar. A flight on Tuesday might be $100 less than the exact same flight on Thursday.