Booking southwest flights for 7 people-have some questions!

[clh2]

Hello, will be eagerly waiting for the next Southwest release of seats, so we can finally book flights for our Disney Cruise in October. We will need a total of 7 flights.

When the flights get released, will I be able to get 7 tickets at the same time for the cheapest fare? I’ve been following what has happened on release day for the past several releases. Or will I need to split these up in perhaps a 4&3, or 3&2&2 smaller groups. If pricing gets absurd, I can use points for 2 of us.

And, yes, I will be online right away at 7 am eastern time, as from what I’ve read, the new dates open between 7 am and 10 am ET on release day.

Thanks!

 

[Karalee402]

Hello, will be eagerly waiting for the next Southwest release of seats, so we can finally book flights for our Disney Cruise in October. We will need a total of 7 flights.

When the flights get released, will I be able to get 7 tickets at the same time for the cheapest fare? I’ve been following what has happened on release day for the past several releases. Or will I need to split these up in perhaps a 4&3, or 3&2&2 smaller groups. If pricing gets absurd, I can use points for 2 of us.

And, yes, I will be online right away at 7 am eastern time, as from what I’ve read, the new dates open between 7 am and 10 am ET on release day.

Thanks!

I'm right there with you eagerly awaiting the new date drops for our Sept/Oct. WDW trip. We traveled with our in-laws last year, so we were a party of 7, and I booked all 7 tickets at the very same time last year. I know there have been many changes with SWA this year, so it definitely could have changed since then.
Good luck and solidarity with booking this week! I'm so excited to finally have some dates/times set!

 

[Jimsig]

It will depend on how many seats they have in the lowest "fare bucket" and I don't think anyone here really knows how many seats are available per "fare bucket." Though I am sure there are others in the past that have been in your shoes and may have some advice as to how many they were able to purchase.

Best and only way to figure out if you are getting the lowest fare for all 7 is to first try for 1 and see what that fare is. Then go for 7 and see how much. If it's more pp for 7 then you will have to break it down in smaller amounts.

 

[clh2]

It will depend on how many seats they have in the lowest "fare bucket" and I don't think anyone here really knows how many seats are available per "fare bucket." Though I am sure there are others in the past that have been in your shoes and may have some advice as to how many they were able to purchase.

Best and only way to figure out if you are getting the lowest fare for all 7 is to first try for 1 and see what that fare is. Then go for 7 and see how much. If it's more pp for 7 then you will have to break it down in smaller amounts.

Thanks…i hope we can do 7 at one time, would certainly be easier!

 

[EACarlson]

I think it's going to depend on when in october. If it's anywhere around the school holiday (whatever you want to call it) you probably are not going to get 7 in the lowest fare bucket on release day. With Halloween being on a Friday, anything around there probably the same deal. It's probably not going to be worth it to try to work that hard to save $10 per ticket, by the time you find the sweet spot, those tickets will be gone and you will be in the next bucket anyway. I'd just buy the 7 at once. The benefits of being on the same PNR far outweighs the 50-100 dollars you may save.

 

[clh2]

Got my tickets booked, I booked right when tickets were released. Still was a lot more than I was expecting…on the other hand, if I waiting until “now” ie 1 hour 15 minutes later, the 7 flights have increased by 2400.

This was definitely worth getting up early for!

I wasn’t happy at the cost of the flights, compared to last drop of tickets, but I was able to use their new-to-me feature of using a combo of points/$$$, which kept my cash outlay at $100 less than I was hoping flights would cost.

Glad this piece of the trip is booked!

 

[Karalee402]

Got my tickets booked, I booked right when tickets were released. Still was a lot more than I was expecting…on the other hand, if I waiting until “now” ie 1 hour 15 minutes later, the 7 flights have increased by 2400.

This was definitely worth getting up early for!

I wasn’t happy at the cost of the flights, compared to last drop of tickets, but I was able to use their new-to-me feature of using a combo of points/$$$, which kept my cash outlay at $100 less than I was hoping flights would cost.

Glad this piece of the trip is booked!

Just wanted to thank you for the heads up about the time flights go on sale! I was up and booked our flights the second they went on sale, and just like you said above, within a few hours, prices more than doubled! Thank you SO much for the tip! Still expensive, but definitely better than they are now!

 

[DebbieB]

Keep watching. I have a flight in early April that has dropped twice. I got 2300 points back this morning (1 person, 1 way).

 

[Sparrow'sLady]

Just wanted to thank you for the heads up about the time flights go on sale! I was up and booked our flights the second they went on sale, and just like you said above, within a few hours, prices more than doubled! Thank you SO much for the tip! Still expensive, but definitely better than they are now!

What time, for your time zone, were they available?

 

[Karalee402]

I was on and ready at 7am Eastern, but it was a few minutes past 7 that they were actually released. And honestly, within hours the price went up like crazy!