Disappointed in Southwest prices

[Jennabeth]

As of right now, June 2nd.
https://www.southwest.com/html/travel-tools/

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Prices for our October trip went up just over $150 if we fly out of GRR from last time we flew with Southwest (and now have to connect in MDW). Might just drive to MDW and fly from there. Still cheaper than Delta or United for the same time frame either way.

Have you checked the cost of flying out of Flint? Sometimes that is a lot cheaper than GRR and MDW.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I could not agree more!!! I've been waiting for this day for months to book our October flights .... So disappointed. And and and!!!! Southwest killed the nonstop flights from RIC to MCO so now we HAVE to connect in ATL which means more time and more cost.

What the hell Southwest? If I hadn't already done the whole Swagbucks to Walmart Gift cards to Sam's Club for Southwest gift cards thing, I would have booked JetBlue.

WHAT?!!? No more nonstop from RIC to MCO!?! You have to be kidding me, I've been saving up Southwest points!

 

[Jaime4004]

Southwest is the most convenient option for us, they fly into the small airport that's 10 minutes from my house and they are generally the cheapest. I hate their boarding so if another cheap airline came, i'd jump ship. Rumors of Jetblue coming here.. For me, the SW fares often are the cheapest the morning they are released, especially if going around any holiday. I booked two trips yesterday morning, one to tampa and one to orlando for $250 round trip which has been the average price over the last few years. They have cut down on the non-stop flights so they sell out quicker and always seem to be full.

 

[pjlla]

I agree with the other posters who said to wait a bit for the prices to come down..... especially if your travel dates are at all flexible. I booked yesterday because I had specific dates and times that were not at all flexible.... so I couldn't afford to "wait and see". And in fact, I am only flying SWA on my outbound flight because they didn't have ANYTHING that was compatible with my return date/times. But that is the beauty of being able to book one way! .................P

 

[kydisneyfans]

Southwest is all over the place with pricing right now. Made a last minute decision to do a travel package for the Star Wars races at Disney in April. SW coming down was over $200 from Louisville, I found Delta out of Lexington for $119. Coming back it was $189 on SW. I've never paid more than $124 for a flight segment to Orlando or back. I bit the bullet last night and bought from Louisville to San Francisco for fall break. That was in the range I expected. Louisville to Chicago in July is insane too, over $300 for RT. I'll drive the 6 hours first.

 

[Marionnette]

I didn't think that their PHL<->MCO prices were too bad. They aren't much different from American and I get free checked bags with Southwest.

I booked airfare for F&W yesterday. But I pay with points, so if they come out with a lower fare, I can rebook and have the extra points returned to my RR account. If I had to deal with a credit that expires a year from today, I wouldn't have booked the flights just yet.

 

[My3kiddos]

I'm booking our flights to PUJ today and I have waited since the flights came out to see if the prices go down and they haven't. I'm using points for the majority of the flights, but they cost a lot more than they did the past 3 years! It's not just Southwest though. I booked a Delta flight from Lexington to Charlotte and it was $73. Coming back they want $454! NO THANK YOU! We were debating on renting a car and driving back, but luckily we found an AA rewards flight and had enough miles.

 

[wendow]

I'm disappointed too in SWA prices and flight times these days. We fly out of Denver. Just a few years ago, we could fly to MCO for $220 RT per person (in early Sept). Priced our flights yesterday when they opened our dates up and it is $398 RT. We also have lost quite a few of the nonstops, and there are no more early morning ones for us (weekdays or weekends) for our dates. Such a bummer. We are considering flying out on Frontier and returning on SWA. It will cost us more b/c we have points to cover the SW flights but Frontier will be OOP. I just cannot see losing our entire arrival day b/c we cannot get an earlier nonstop.

 

[ThisIsJason]

Have you checked the cost of flying out of Flint? Sometimes that is a lot cheaper than GRR and MDW.

Thought about that. Sadly that doesn't seem to be the case for our October trip. Flint will run us $485 each round trip. Grand Rapids will run us $390 each. Chicago-Midway will run us $318 each. Probably going to just fly out of GR, looking at the 'saving' driving to Midway and then staying in a hotel there it would end up costing us more anyway.

 

[Minnesota!]

One of the reasons we book SW almost exclusively is because of the flexibility. We have had to modify/cancel more vacations than I can remember. Never paying a penalty.

The other reason is because they are usually the cheapest, or at least the same prices as, the other airlines out of here. I don't mind layovers, so that is a moot point for me.

 

[englishteacha]

We lucked out, I guess. I booked on Thursday for Portland, Maine to MCO in August and found the prices to be reasonable, and considerably less than all Southwest's competition. Of course, there's no direct flights to MCO from Maine anymore, so we always have a layover. I'm not brand loyal, but Southwest had the best times and prices for our dates. What hit me was that this is the first time we're flying as a family of 3. Our price went up by a third! Small humans are expensive!

 

[Gracie09]

The airlines have fuel contracts that aren't based on the gas or oil prices we see today, unless they are doing a new contract. This is part of how some airlines were able to avoid fuel surcharges for awhile they had contracts with a lower cost for longer.

I don't see prices for oil staying this way for too long, not that it should have gotten so high. But I also don't see the airlines reducing prices because of it. We aren't spending money on gas like before so we have more money to spend etc.

Also fuel is not airlines largest expense- employees are. Health insurance has increased, pensions etc etc.

 

[kristenrice]

Thought about that. Sadly that doesn't seem to be the case for our October trip. Flint will run us $485 each round trip. Grand Rapids will run us $390 each. Chicago-Midway will run us $318 each. Probably going to just fly out of GR, looking at the 'saving' driving to Midway and then staying in a hotel there it would end up costing us more anyway.

Part of our family booked R/T from FNT for $280 when GRR was $390! That's for October too. It's so weird....

 

[maxiesmom]

Thought about that. Sadly that doesn't seem to be the case for our October trip. Flint will run us $485 each round trip. Grand Rapids will run us $390 each. Chicago-Midway will run us $318 each. Probably going to just fly out of GR, looking at the 'saving' driving to Midway and then staying in a hotel there it would end up costing us more anyway.

I just purchased tickets for October. It was $681 for 2 tickets, that is including EBCI. Flint for the same dates would have only saved us $60 total, and Chicago and Detroit were even more expensive. I don't think I have ever paid so much for tickets to Orlando. I'm really hoping the price comes down and I can get some good credits.

 

[EmmyL258]

I had the opposite experience. Got direct flights from RI to MCO for $268 a person round trip. That seems like a bargain to me!

ETA: that includes early check-in or whatever it's called

 

[ah10is]

We lucked out, I guess. I booked on Thursday for Portland, Maine to MCO in August and found the prices to be reasonable, and considerably less than all Southwest's competition. Of course, there's no direct flights to MCO from Maine anymore, so we always have a layover. I'm not brand loyal, but Southwest had the best times and prices for our dates. What hit me was that this is the first time we're flying as a family of 3. Our price went up by a third! Small humans are expensive!

I also booked from Portland, ME to Orlando for August. I have never flown Southwest, but they definitely had the best prices for this time of year - $344 round trip - though I paid with points. JetBlue is over $600 for our dates and all other carriers were over $450 not including baggage fees. So overall $344 is a whole lot better price wise. Though previous years we normally have paid $275 on average for a round trip from Portland, ME to Orlando.

 

[tvsdisney]

I just got our RT flights from Rdu for 128!!! We just scheduled a last min trip!! Woohoo!! I always fly southwest love the flexibility to change our tickets if something comes up, no baggage fees and the flight attendants are some of the friendliest I've ever seen.

 

[ThisIsJason]

Part of our family booked R/T from FNT for $280 when GRR was $390! That's for October too. It's so weird....

That is what I don't get. From what I have seen Flint has always been cheaper, but for our October dates GRR is coming out ahead.

I just purchased tickets for October. It was $681 for 2 tickets, that is including EBCI. Flint for the same dates would have only saved us $60 total, and Chicago and Detroit were even more expensive. I don't think I have ever paid so much for tickets to Orlando. I'm really hoping the price comes down and I can get some good credits.

We book our trip this morning out of GRR. 2 tickets with EBCI ran us $740, but we had $44 in credit from our May 2015 trip, so $696 total.

 

[minniefan65]

When the August dates went up on Thursday MKE to MCO was 136 for the trip down. We are waiting to see if my husband will be flying with us or coming down a few days later so i didnt book right away. I looked at the prices last night and they had jumped to 151. Today I looked and the price had shot up to 211. An increase of $75 in two days just to get to Florida. So we are now looking at leaving a day later. At least the return trip hasn't gone up. We are locked into Southwest this year because we have vouchers from last year.

 

[dhardawa]

We live in Louisville and flights to New York were going to run me about $450 round trip. We're flying out of Indianapolis instead for $148 round trip. Both were Southwest, but the cheaper flight is direct. Go figure.