Book now on southwest for July trip or wait?

[mom2missmous]

It looks pretty certain now that we will be going to Orlando area(USF and hotel only stay at boulder Ridge,) at end of this July. We have previous credits from a covid cancelled flight. Should we book now or wait to see if rates go down ?( we generally book as soon as we can, but this year all things normal are... well not!LOL) PS- moderators, I did not know how to move this to the sw section of the boards!

 

[FCDub]

There is no way to predict flight prices. If vaccine distribution is solid and XX million people are good to travel? Prices could go up. Or they could go down based on the next few months.

Book when you're comfortable with the price. Choosing Southwest helps because of your ability to get travel credits after price drops. Otherwise, no one can predict what the prices will do.

 

[rwdavis2]

As was mentioned, book when you like the price.

 

[Gitelfor]

Currently, Southwest's lowest fares are out to about the 4th full week of May; after that, the fares are set at a consistently higher fare. That window should push out each week.

As @FCDub noted, nobody knows what the travel climate will be the end of July, but there is a lot of pent up demand, and if demand increases significantly, so will the fares.

You can keep an eye on fares by looking at
Southwest Low Fare Calendar .

 

[mom2missmous]

Good point all! Daughter who works in health care has had both shots and hubby and I just got our first. while not a guarantee of safety, we feel better about going now so maybe we will book .

 

[rwdavis2]

To add on, 3 months ago United's first class fare from DC to San Francisco were under $1000 now they are $1500+ per seat. I would expect air fares to keep going up as demands increases.

 

[Dakota731]

And I’ve found for summer and Christmas the fares always seem to stay high. I’ve waited the past few years and the ticket prices didn’t drop for us. I guess they figure that’s when people with kids travel so they can get whatever prices they want during that time

 

[holden]

We just booked flights for this summer because they were pretty low. I was afraid they will start to creep up. Our local news has been running a lot of stories of how people are planning to travel this summer. I do think many (like us) will travel whether vaccinated or not.

 

[angelmav]

Yep, lots of pent up demand will push those fares higher the longer you wait would be my guess.

 

[Orion Nebula]

I would book now and keep an eye on the prices. If they drop you can re-book without a fee and receive a refund for the difference.

 

[_19disnA]

As was mentioned, book when you like the price.

I agree, airlines cut back on capacity when covid first started since far fewer people were traveling. Just because we didn't travel last year due to covid doesn't mean we will go on 2 vacations this year!!! Airlines will add back capacity when there is sufficient demand, but clearly that won't happen overnight. I would imagine the most popular routes will be where capacity is first added to maximize revenue. Less traveled destinations will likely add capacity sometime in the future.

Peak travel periods like Thanksgiving/Christmas typically fill up airplanes so there is no need to offer specials at those times. Airlines also offer different price levels and once the lowest price tickets are gone for a certain flight, the fare jumps to the next higher category.

Each airlines has different rules on how you can rebook for a flight if prices happen to go lower. Typically, the most desirable flights sell out first, so it is also a matter of how flexible you are in flying less desired times and/or connecting vs. non-stop flights.