Flying Southwest

[Kristina685]

Hi All!

We are planning to fly Southwest out of Philly to Orlando January 29th and returning Feb 2. I know when I flew to FL before in March we got a roundtrip flight for $209. I keep checking the SW prices and I'm getting $350 RT! Does anyone know if/when Southwest releases sale fares for the winter?? Thanks!!

 

[michellejed]

You have to check daily for fares! I think they go up to February 2014 right now.

Two weeks ago I got a great fare for myself and went later in the day to add some one and it was already gone!! Have not seen it come back down for my airport yet but have seen several sales.

Good luck!

 

[torinsmom]

Have you downloaded Southwest DING? That's how I got the cheapest rates from RDU to MCO.

 

[jiminy14]

I am also looking to fly out of Philly to Orlando but from Dec. 3 until Dec. 19. I have been checking prices every day and the cost has been staying steady at around $350 rt. I think the days of reasonable non-stop flights from Philly to Orlando are gone. When I flew down in February, I paid just over $200 rt. I can actually pay less to fly to Disneyland on Virgin America than to fly on SWA to WDW.
I am looking into Frontier Airlines that is now flying from both Trenton and Wilmington. The prices are significantly lower but the flights are limited. There is usually only one flight a day and they are not offered on every day. Trenton Airport also offers free parking.

 

[WDWAurora]

Torinsmom-that's our airport, too! I just check often when I have dates. I'll have to download ding. What do you find to be a good rate for our route?

 

[Straitlover]

Torinsmom-that's our airport, too! I just check often when I have dates. I'll have to download ding. What do you find to be a good rate for our route?

I have not seen RDU-MCO on DING in like forever unless they've had it during the day (I cna only check it a night and on weekends).

You can sign up on Airfarewatchdog for RDU-MCO, and they will send you emails when the prices change. This will not include any DING sales, though.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Have you downloaded Southwest DING? That's how I got the cheapest rates from RDU to MCO.

Interesting, my ding alerts are always much more $$ than the fare sales.

OP, I check SWA website pretty much every tues or wed and sometimes more than that for our typical routes. That way I see the trend and know what the history is on best price I can expect. Then I just keep checking for that "best price" to show up for my dates. When I see it, I buy. If something comes out later on a super great sale ($49-$59 each way) then I just take the credit for another flight. For ex, I know that typically BNA to MCO would only go down to $99 b/c I watched it over time. I waited for our dates to come up at that price as they were usually $137 each way. Finally, during a fare sale they came up $88 each way so I grabbed them. Never saw them at $99 for our dates after that. You really have to just be diligent and check frequently.

Another option is the SWA visa...it has the 50k points promo right now. We typically have enough points to only need to purchase one way with cash for any given trip. Hth!

 

[Kristina685]

Thank you all for your input! I guess I'll just have to keep diligently checking it. I did look at Frontier since Trenton is not that far from my house but the reviews on their facebook page scare me a bit I know Southwest has sales; I just need to put my patience pants on and keep waiting.

 

[jedijill]

Thank you all for your input! I guess I'll just have to keep diligently checking it. I did look at Frontier since Trenton is not that far from my house but the reviews on their facebook page scare me a bit I know Southwest has sales; I just need to put my patience pants on and keep waiting.

Frontier is a good airline too. I used to fly them from Denver to Philly for work until they dropped PHL.

Jill in CO

 

[tzeitel]

Southwest raises prices during a holiday week - ie. 4th of July - even if you are not flying during that time. Check back in the next couple of weeks I bet they will drop

 

[torinsmom]

I got two dings for RDU-MCO in May and booked for our July trip. I think it was $116 each way--but I used points. I was able to get round trip tickets for a little more than 50,000 points.

I actually had another DING for the same price a few days ago.

 

[donac]

I got 2 tickets from philly with southwest for Aug 24th for $300. Three days later it went down to $217. I did change and I now have a big deposit but I need to use it by next May and it can't be transferred to someone else. I will take it and if we can use the refund great if not we paid for them already.

 

[torinsmom]

I got 2 tickets from philly with southwest for Aug 24th for $300. Three days later it went down to $217. I did change and I now have a big deposit but I need to use it by next May and it can't be transferred to someone else. I will take it and if we can use the refund great if not we paid for them already.

When you pay with points, it works out well. If you see a better price, you just cancel and then rebook.

 

[pistachio]

Interesting, my ding alerts are always much more $$ than the fare sales.

OP, I check SWA website pretty much every tues or wed and sometimes more than that for our typical routes. That way I see the trend and know what the history is on best price I can expect. Then I just keep checking for that "best price" to show up for my dates. When I see it, I buy. If something comes out later on a super great sale ($49-$59 each way) then I just take the credit for another flight. For ex, I know that typically BNA to MCO would only go down to $99 b/c I watched it over time. I waited for our dates to come up at that price as they were usually $137 each way. Finally, during a fare sale they came up $88 each way so I grabbed them. Never saw them at $99 for our dates after that. You really have to just be diligent and check frequently.

Thanks for your info. I'm looking for Phila to Orlando on SWA, and I've downloaded Ding!, but I'm going to keep checking frequently. I'll be thrilled if it goes down to $99 each way.

 

[winterwhite]

When you pay with points, it works out well. If you see a better price, you just cancel and then rebook.

I don't even cancel first...I just click change and it shows me the total with points refunded. I changed our flights to a different return date and got 1k points back for the 2 of us. The total cost RT for us in sept for 2 people was like 10,580 points. Super cheap.

 

[mouserrificmom]

We are Philly based too - but have gotten EXCELLENT deals out of Wilmington to Orlando with Frontier. I believe Frontier is on hiatus out of trenton while they are handling runway maintenance. If Wilmington is convenient for you, check them out. Our whole family of 5 is flying RT in September and paid under $600.