Come Share Your Southwest Release Rates

[kristenrice]

Horribly disappointed in the schedule....SWA has NO non-stops to MCO from GRR for our dates. We are booked for Sat-Sat, but I was willing to move to Fri or Sun and there are no non-stops available. SWA was the only airline to offer non-stop service to MCO from GR and so now, we will be heading to Flint.

The prices out of Flint are disappointing too. It's $141 one-way for the non-stop to MCO, and it is a lot later than it had been in the past. It was typically departing before 8am and now it is a 12:20pm departure. I was hoping for about $120 down so that I could use my points to book all 4 of us. Unfortunately, I was only able to book 3 on points. I'm going to wait it out a little and hope (and pray!) that it goes down. That way, I can use the refunded points to book my ticket.

I have no idea what we are going to do for the return home. There are no non-stops into GR so we may be taking a layover. The cheapest option right now is a 5:50pm departure with a 11:30pm arrival. That's really the only reasonable flight into GR within our price range. We will probably end up flying back into Flint since it is a non-stop and the times are reasonable (2:30 departure, 5:15 landing...with a 90-minute drive home) but I'm hoping that $141 drops a little too. I will be booking that leg with cash with no plans to fly next year so a refund for a lower fare is useless to me. I want to make sure I can get the lowest possible fare when I book it.

Looks like I have a lot of decisions to make...

 

[marsh0013]

EWR to MCO Sat 10/8
7am non stop was 10,281 pts ($172)
2:20pm non stop we booked at 8978 pts ($152)

MCO to EWR Sun 10/23
1:10pm non stop we booked at 10,281 pts ($172)
7:05pm non stop was 14,697 pts ($222)

We are thrilled that they have added non-stop flights from Newark, but would really love a flight down somewhere in between 7am and 2:20pm. Oh well. We wouldn't have gotten the companion pass for 2016/2017 if the non-stops hadn't been added to the schedule, so for all the free flights we're going to be taking, I can't complain too much about the times.

As of now (9:25am), the prices haven't changed. But if I didn't get up early, I would have second guessed myself and never known that they were never lower than they currently are. Hopefully they will go down some over the next 8 months.

Edited to add dollar values corresponding to point values.

 

[Jestocost]

STL-MCO, 9/29 - 10/8, NS, $186 each way and that's by far the cheapest fare we've seen in years.

 

[ollyg]

I am pretty comfortable with my prices. $97 down $117 back out of PIT for 8/20 to 8/27. Seems like since SW bought AirTran there are not many deals.

 

[PSULion]

The BWI-MCO rates are pretty high for the end of October. I checked to get an idea as we are going mid-November. The rates I saw were alll $300+ round trip. A lot more flights with 1 stop or connections too.

I got BWI-MCO roundtrip $200 pp for Oct 15-22, non stop.

Could have gotten $170 round trip if we wanted to fly really early or late.

 

[yankebabie]

ALB to MCO- $95 down, $125 back. Used points so 12,487. Our dates are 9/10-9/17

 

[AngiTN]

They are way high for ATL to MCO. $102 each way. Compares to $72 in May.
I'll wait because they will drop
Even worse for BNA to MCO, May is $64 and the new fares are $140ish

 

[DebbieB]

PIT/MCO - 10/22 to 10/29

Happy with the schedule - better than May.

I used points, 16,459 total. Cash breakdown $158/$123. I could have got an afternoon to MCO for $123 but preferred the 9:35am from PIT.

 

[HeyIt'sMe]

Sat Aug 13 - Non-Stop - IND to MCO - $103/person or 5,788 points/person
Fri Aug 19 - Non-Stop - MCO to IND - $123/person or 7,090 points/person

We used Rapid Reward Points.

 

[Tinkerdreams]

Booked this morning ROC to MCO $130 each way. SW does offer non-stop but it's the middle of the day heading down so we opted for early morning. I really wish they had set flights at set times - like the non stop last time we went was 6:30 a.m. and we arrived at 9:45. Never know when they'll be and I prefer the non-stops.

 

[G719]

I totally forgot to check for flights until 2 this afternoon!!! Our trip is planned for Nov 5-12 but I was hoping to get a late flight Friday, Nov 4. Like 7-8 pm late so we could work the whole day. I ended up booking 5:10 for PIT-MCO which was the latest nonstop. We'll work a half day. It was $123 or 7090 points.
Now waiting until June 2 to get a return flight. Going to set a couple of reminders for that day.

 

[sara mom]

We booked 4 legs this morning.
8/9 BUF- MCO $120 This flight has increased to $145 already.
8/16 MCO-BUF $120
10/7 BUF-MCO $212 (ugh on that one, but we are doing Food and Wine for the 1st time)
10/10 MCO-BUF $190

We are a family of 4, so we bought 16 tickets. Luckily 6 out of 16 were with points. We live near Rochester, but Buffalo has better flight times for their direct flights IMO so we shuffle off to Buffalo for better times and to save money.

 

[sara mom]

Booked this morning ROC to MCO $130 each way. SW does offer non-stop but it's the middle of the day heading down so we opted for early morning. I really wish they had set flights at set times - like the non stop last time we went was 6:30 a.m. and we arrived at 9:45. Never know when they'll be and I prefer the non-stops.

Did you look at BUF? They have a scheduled 8am direct flight, but it has been changed to 6:30 in the past. We book that one so we can have lunch at the MK. (we live in Gananda)

 

[maxiesmom]

Not happy with mine. From GRR to MCO is $145. From MCO to GRR is $166. No non stops from Grand Rapids at all for October. Trying to decide if I would rather fly non stop out of Flint. It wouldn't save much money, only $30 a person, but non stop is so nice.

 

[maxiesmom]

Horribly disappointed in the schedule....SWA has NO non-stops to MCO from GRR for our dates. We are booked for Sat-Sat, but I was willing to move to Fri or Sun and there are no non-stops available. SWA was the only airline to offer non-stop service to MCO from GR and so now, we will be heading to Flint.

The prices out of Flint are disappointing too. It's $141 one-way for the non-stop to MCO, and it is a lot later than it had been in the past. It was typically departing before 8am and now it is a 12:20pm departure. I was hoping for about $120 down so that I could use my points to book all 4 of us. Unfortunately, I was only able to book 3 on points. I'm going to wait it out a little and hope (and pray!) that it goes down. That way, I can use the refunded points to book my ticket.

I have no idea what we are going to do for the return home. There are no non-stops into GR so we may be taking a layover. The cheapest option right now is a 5:50pm departure with a 11:30pm arrival. That's really the only reasonable flight into GR within our price range. We will probably end up flying back into Flint since it is a non-stop and the times are reasonable (2:30 departure, 5:15 landing...with a 90-minute drive home) but I'm hoping that $141 drops a little too. I will be booking that leg with cash with no plans to fly next year so a refund for a lower fare is useless to me. I want to make sure I can get the lowest possible fare when I book it.

Looks like I have a lot of decisions to make...

Sounds like you are in the same boat as me. My problem is that the non stops from Flint arrive in Orlando later and come back home sooner. If it was the other way around I would be all about driving to Flint.

I'm doing Sat-Sat too. What are your dates?

 

[Tass]

Oct. 29-Nov. 2 BWI to MCO $83 each way, non-stop ($166 pp r/t). It ended up a bit less than what we are paying in May ($183 pp r/t).

BWI had many more flights and lower prices than PHL, so we will drive the extra 30-45 min to Baltimore.

 

[LoveMMC]

Not as good as last year. I paid $900. This year I paid 1150 for 4 buffalo to Orlando. End of August. It was only giving me $190 each to return sept 1. I ended up getting JetBlue up including luggage and southwest down.

 

[kristenrice]

Sounds like you are in the same boat as me. My problem is that the non stops from Flint arrive in Orlando later and come back home sooner. If it was the other way around I would be all about driving to Flint.

I'm doing Sat-Sat too. What are your dates?

We are going Oct 15-22. I'm tossing around another idea and it will be dependent on a few factors, namely a drop in airfare and the amount of my bonus from work.

As it stands, we are planning to drive to Flint ($35 for rental car) when the kids get out of school on Friday, spend the night in Grand Blanc ($85 for the hotel) and then take the non-stop out of FNT on Saturday ($564), which will cost us $684 total. I'm thinking about surprising the kids and maybe even DH too!) by booking us on a flight from GRR that departs at 6:30pm on FRIDAY and lands in Orlando at 11:05pm, after a 70-minute layover in Chicago. This flight is currently $780. I would book a room at the MCO Hyatt ($230) and we would simply catch DME the next day. The second option is almost $400 more, but the advantage is that we would not lose a day in the park (we already have 7-day tickets) since we could get there as early as we want. If we fly in on Saturday, the flight doesn't land until 3pm so we'd be lucky to get to a park by 5...and we don't want to be anywhere near Epcot on a Saturday night during F&W.

If the flight from GRR drops, I will have to seriously consider that option. I really don't like arriving at WDW after 3pm. I did book 3 of our 4 tickets (using points so I can change it if I need to) from FNT to MCO, just in case the price changes. If it goes up, I'm at least locked in and if it goes down, I can use the refunded points and combine them with what I have left in my account to book my ticket.

 

[Shelly S]

BDL to MCO. Fri 10 /21 nonstop $125. Return Sun 10/30 nonstop $165. Could have got $125 for the return but wanted the late nonstop.

 

[My2Qtz0205]

I didn't remember to check until dinner time. If it was cheaper this morning, don't tell me.

MCO-ORF, 8/6, non-stop, $132/pp.
I am definitely not impressed with flight times or prices this year.

I also booked the leg down, which was $129/pp on opening day. It is now $152/pp. It is the ONLY non-stop that day, so I booked it in fear it will sell out.
ORF-MCO, 7/28, non-stop, 6:55am (ugh)