Anyone ever book a Disney vacation through SW Airlines?

[luvmylittleboy2003]

Just curious, we are thinking about doing this, not sure of the pros/cons. Tia

 

[camtheriot]

I haven't done it, but I was thinking the same thing. So, I did a mock booking on the southwest vacations website. It seems as though the room is a little cheaper, but I didn't see anywhere to add the dining plan. The dining plan is an absolute must for us, so...

If you are not that interested in the dining plan, it may benefit you to give it a try. Just do a mock booking yourself in the same room you would book on the Disney website and see what you come up with.

HTH,

 

[rwdavis2]

Unless you are saving a significant amount of money I would not. Why put a third party between you and Disney? We booked a cruise through SW last year and although everything was fine the whole process left me wanting. Among other things, no documentation about the cruise other than a confirmation email while many other passengers had handfuls of information about the boat and excursions.
BD

 

[kaytieeldr]

Why put a third party between you and Disney?

Fourth party, actually .

Most airlines don't actually operate their own "vacation" divisions. That's contracted out to one of a few travel companies. So instead of
luvmylittleboy2003 -> Disney, or even
luvmylittleboy2003 -> Southwest Vacations -> Disney, the booking is actually
luvmylittleboy2003 -> Southwest Vacations -> contracting travel company -> Disney.

So, frankly, if something goes wrong, the traveler's claim/issue isn't even with Southwest - it's with that third party.

If you're going to book indirectly like that, just find a good Travel Agent - either a general TA or, in this case, a Disney Travel Specialist like Small World Travel or Dreams Unlimited.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

If you book a package through SW you cannot check yourself in at T-24 hours for your boarding pass.

 

[Poohbug]

I just returned from a trip booked with southwest two weeks ago. The trip was not to Disney but to Universal.

We did check into our flights at the 24 hr. mark but I did not like the middleman aspect. We saved a few hundred dollars with the package but during our stay we had a problem with the hotel. The hotel is refunding us one night of our stay. Of course this has to go thru Southwest and whoever does the package bookings. Will we ever see that refund?? I'm not holding my breath.

 

[DMRick]

We booked through SW last Sept and saved enough to make it worth it for us. We did get the free dining plan and were able to check in 24 hr previous. They gave us the info to do that. We were happy enough with it.

 

[msmayor]

I also believe that if you book through Southwest Vacations, if your flight price goes down you cannot "rebook" and get a credit. Once you book, you're stuck.

No dings, no price drops. And be very careful to check cancellation policies as they may not mirror what you would expect when booking on your own.

We went to Vegas with a large group of friends and half booked with Southwest Vacations...DH and I and another couple booked our stuff separately (hotel and flights).

We caught three price drops on our hotel reservation and two drops on our flights. We all flew on the same plane, stayed in the same hotel...and we paid $450 less than our friends.

If the trip had been cancelled, we would have received full credit for our flights and not been out any cash for our hotel reservation, since we could cancel up to 6pm day of arrival.

Our friends would have lost most of their money if cancelled 10 days or less from the trip unless they'd spent more money and bought trip insurance.

 

[goofy4tink]

Only one time have I booked with a middleman...a TA. And I won't do it again. Way too much room for error. I like having complete control and ownership of my vacation. When booking through an airliine, you no longer have that. I always book my airfare completely apart from everything else. That way, if changes need to be made, I can do it myself fairly easily...at a cost yes, but I can do it myself.
I doubt that SW is going to get anyone cheaper room costs. Look around for a decent discount directly through Disney on rooms or packages.
But you will be much better off if you book airfare directly with the airline and then book the rest of your trip on it's own....don't combine them.

 

[dburg30]

Only one time have I booked with a middleman...a TA. And I won't do it again. Way too much room for error. I like having complete control and ownership of my vacation. When booking through an airliine, you no longer have that. I always book my airfare completely apart from everything else. That way, if changes need to be made, I can do it myself fairly easily...at a cost yes, but I can do it myself.
I doubt that SW is going to get anyone cheaper room costs. Look around for a decent discount directly through Disney on rooms or packages.
But you will be much better off if you book airfare directly with the airline and then book the rest of your trip on it's own....don't combine them.

Yea, I agree I did one thru small world and one thru dreams unlimited. Again, I had no issues, but I just all the sudden found myself 'helpless' as far as it went. So, since I know how the whole WDW thing works now (mostly) and since we have DVC, I'll just be booking everything myself. And with airline fares, I wouldnt ever book a flight thru a 3rd person. And when your dining reservation window opens, I didnt want to have someone else do that for me, or trust them to be on the phone right at opening to make them for me. So since i dont want them to book my flights, I dont want them to make my dining reservations, what are they really doing for me? Booking a room? Nah.. I'll do my own thing from now on.

 

[DMRick]

I also believe that if you book through Southwest Vacations, if your flight price goes down you cannot "rebook" and get a credit. Once you book, you're stuck.

No dings, no price drops. And be very careful to check cancellation policies as they may not mirror what you would expect when booking on your own..

They do offer very inexpensive insurance, which allows you to cancel and make changes. It was still a better deal through SW than direct. I've book the other 39 trips to Disney myself, but SW was too good to pass up on this one. You really have to compare and do what works for you.

 

[Sheriff Woody]

I have a trip booked through SW Vacations because my thinking is that if my flight is cancelled for weather (I'm leaving Philly this Thursday! ) then I won't be held accountable for the hotel and theater tickets that I've prepaid. I know if I buy theater and hotel on my own and can't make it on the scheduled day I'll lose out on the show and pay at least the first hotel night. I believe that Southwest will handle refunds for hotel and show if they can't get me to the place.

In other words, if I book a hotel on my own they don't know or care where I am coming from, so they expect me to show up. If I have booked an air / hotel package the reservations are linked and I should have some recourse. Am I misguided in this thinking?

 

[DrummerBoy523]

If you book a package through SW you cannot check yourself in at T-24 hours for your boarding pass.

This is NOT correct. You CAN check yourself in at T-24. The only difference is that they dont have the paid early boarding stuff which guarantees you an A ticket.

 

[DrummerBoy523]

Just curious, we are thinking about doing this, not sure of the pros/cons. Tia

We are on our 2nd SWA booked Disney vacation. There are links on the site after you choose your room to then choose add-ons like park tickets, the dining plan, DME, etc., so no worries.

I've priced things separately by going through Disney for the room/tickets & SW for air, and then priced them all through SWAV and the price is usually better through SWAV by $50-100.

A certified Disney TA is another option - but not sure if TAs can book SW airfare or not???

No worries here - go for it!

 

[B&Pdisneymom]

I did book through SW vacations and ended up cancelling. Right after I booked is when they came out with the Early Bird check in. When you book through them, you CANNOT use EB check in. When I called to try and get it, they were very rude, so I ended up cancelling through them, and booking everything on my own. The difference was about $200, but I went from a 1 bedroom hotel to a 3 bedroom condo and I could pick my seats on the plane. I just like to have a little more control over my plans I guess. Our vacation was wonderful though. Only been back a week and ready to go again (I wish) Good luck!

 

[uva185]

I'm not a fan of any type of vacation package. If changes or issues arise it is always more complicated to deal with if you booked a package. Look at the cost of booking separately vs. booking a package (btw, this includes "packages" directly from Disney")

That is not to say I do not book packages, but I usually regret it if I do.

I am scheduled to fly DCA-CLT-AUA on an upcoming Saturday. After booking it something came up and I needed to push departure back by one day. So I called Orbitz to inquire about modifying the hotel portion of the reservation and they wanted to charge a change fee for the hotel. I am not used to that, but sucked it up and paid it. Had I booked directly with the hotel they would have made the change without any fees. Penny wise pound foolish.

 

[DrummerBoy523]

I did book through SW vacations and ended up cancelling. Right after I booked is when they came out with the Early Bird check in. When you book through them, you CANNOT use EB check in. When I called to try and get it, they were very rude, so I ended up cancelling through them, and booking everything on my own. The difference was about $200, but I went from a 1 bedroom hotel to a 3 bedroom condo and I could pick my seats on the plane. I just like to have a little more control over my plans I guess. Our vacation was wonderful though. Only been back a week and ready to go again (I wish) Good luck!

did you get charged any cancellation fees? were you booked to WDW or elsewhere? I'd love to know.

No, you cant use EB check-in - but you can check in at t-24 and usually you will get an "A" if you're quick enough. Even with a B, we usually can get the seats we want.