Calling Southwest Experts **UPDATE**

[RweTHEREyet]

I got on-line this morning to book flights for our October trip (I know, a little late in the game here), but here is what happened:

I first booked hubbies got a descent fare
Then booked mine (may come home later so wanted a different itinerary no.) and in the few minutes it took to do mine, his good fare on SW disappeared, mine went up by $15.00 for the flight down.
Then called SW to hold 2 seats with the same return for son and girlfriend and in the 5 minutes it took me to finish mine, the fare went up another $28.00.

I couldn't believe it, all in the space of 10-15 minutes, all doing this on-lline.

My question is, if anyone releases a seat that is on hold between today and tomorrow, would it then become available, or since SW shows only the full fares right now, will it stay that way. Just wondering if I should call SW back right now and book the 2 seats I have on hold or wait and see what tomorrow brings, since I am at their highest fare for that leg of the trip anyway.


UPDATE

Due to a case of serious old-timers, I forgot to call Southwest and confirm the 2 seats I had on hold. I realized this as I woke up this morning to get ready to go to work--what made me think of it then I don't have a clue. Anyway, I ran to the computer because I was really worried that I might not be able to get seats on the flight I wanted at all and that we might not be able to fly back together.

I logged on to Southwest's site and low and behold, not only were there seats available, but at the lower fare I had originally tried for, so I did get seats and I saved right at $85.00. Sure got my MOnday off to a good start, didn't even mind the horrible traffic in getting to work.

So, I guess the moral is, you just never know anymore with air travel, seems to be a different story each time you log on the internet.

 

[Steve Hurley]

I fly SWA quite a bit so I will try to answer your question.

1. In the future I would recommend booking the flights together especially if you get the cheap rate at that time. Then if you want to fly home a different day go back in and change you flight. This si a little bit of a crapshoot since the price could also change but I think it gives you a better shot at the same fare.

2. SWA phone agents don't have the Internet rates available to them (which are always the cheapest). So i'm not surprised the fare was higher. If possible always make your reservations for SWA online as that's whwere the best deals are.

3. Check SWA online everyday but especially Tuesdays and Thursdays as that is when they release most of their flights. iIt's rare that something lower will open up if the website say "Unavailable" but it could happen.

Good Luck

 

[RweTHEREyet]

thanks for the tips.

In the future I would recommend booking the flights together especially if you get the cheap rate at that time

I tried this first and when I was searching for seats for 2, it gave me the higher fare, when I went back and changed it to 1, I got the lower fare for one seat.

 

[NotUrsula]

"I tried this first and when I was searching for seats for 2, it gave me the higher fare, when I went back and changed it to 1, I got the lower fare for one seat."

That explains the very quick price change; you got the last one.

On a given flight, each fare level that is listed has been allocated to a certain number of seats on the plane. If you put in a party size that is larger than the available number of seats at a given price, that price will not appear as available at all.

BTW, SWA isn't the only airline that sets prices this way, all US carriers price this way. SWA is actually a bit more liberal, as their sale prices tend to stick even where there is demand for a certain flight; they almost never lower the seat count after the fare is posted. The automated demand-management pricing systems used by the "majors" sometimes raise prices even before the seat limit has been reached, if seats for a given flight are selling more quickly than expected; the idea is, "there's high demand for this flight on this date; we can probably get more money for it."

As to whether to book the other flights now, it depends. SWA's very lowest fare offerings usually have deadline purchase dates that do not relate to the date of travel, and once the deadline passes, the fare is gone, even if you had a hold; the hold will just move up to the next-cheapest available fare class. I don't think that seats "on hold" are included in the available seats count while they are still active, but holds don't last long. Once they expire, the fares will go back into the pool. Most SWA flyers grab fares ASAP, so fares reappearing b/c of expired holds are very rare.

 

[RweTHEREyet]

Bumped to show Update.

 

[RweTHEREyet]

When I realized that my own return flight was being lowered in price, I called SW back and they booked for me on the lower fare. I won't get the money back, but have a credit at SW for this one.

Well, saved almost $100 today on our airfare, so it pays to check back once the ressies are done.

 

[classicpooh]

When my airfare went down, I thought that I would have a Southwest credit too - I called and they refunded the difference to my credit card... you do not just have to take the credit. I thought that it was wonderful that SW did this... it may be worth a try for you!