can TAs book Southwest faster

[lidec]

When Southwest comes out with their new dates to book, everything is unavailable, Does anyone know if TAs can get those fares faster? How can unavailable fares happen so quick?

 

[SStJean]

When Southwest comes out with their new dates to book, everything is unavailable, Does anyone know if TAs can get those fares faster? How can unavailable fares happen so quick?

If most of the low fares are blocked out when the dates first open, it is usually because Southwest feels that they can sell those seats at full fare. Using a TA won't make lower prices available any sooner.

 

[NotUrsula]

Most TA's won't handle SWA flights anyway, a holdover from the days when other airlines paid commissions on tickets but SWA didn't.

The most common times for SWA to post sale fares is in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, around 2-3 am. If you really want to get them when they are hottest, that would be the best time to check.

 

[SB in KY]

In my experience when SW fares first come out and certain fares are immediately not available on certain flights it is not because those fares sold out right away, it is because those fares were NEVER available on those flights....they will often block the lowest fares on certain peak days/times so the fares were never really available even though they are listed on the page.

Even some special fares that are only good for travel on Tues, Wed and Sat will show up on those days, but they all read "unavailable"

Don't feel like someone beat you to the fare....you are probably trying to book a bargain fare on a busy travel day or time when it was not really offered.

 

[plutolovr]

As a Travel Agent I can tell you that we don't have access o SW flights in our GDS systems. If we want to book them we do it online just like you, and we charge a fee.

 

[mill4023]

In my experience when SW fares first come out and certain fares are immediately not available on certain flights it is not because those fares sold out right away, it is because those fares were NEVER available on those flights....they will often block the lowest fares on certain peak days/times so the fares were never really available even though they are listed on the page.

This is accurate. It's not because you weren't fast enough, it's because they expect to fill the flight, so there is no reason to offer the lowest fares at all.

I'm not sure why, but it seems to be a common misconception that SW ALWAYS sells a certain number of seats at the "Internet One-Way" fares and this is not the case.