"Group Rates" from SWA

[lynninpa]

There will be 17 of us going together to Disney. I called SWA to inquire whether or not they had "group" rates/discounts for larger parties. The gentleman I spoke gave me the number to call for parties of 10 or more. Yet that office is not open until Monday. In the meantime, I was just curious if anyone had any experience with this. Curious to know how much of a savings may be offered!

 

[wdwscout]

My experience with groups is that there is no discount/savings, and sometimes you even have to pay more than the advertised rate.
The deal is that they will guarantee your whole group will be on the same plane, and you can even book seats close to one another.
Some airlines will allow you to pay a deposit to hold the seats for the group, and then pay the balance about 30 days before the trip. That's another advantage over having everyone book online separately. When you do it as individuals, you have to pay in full when you book. And if there are 17 of you, you may not all end up getting the same fare. The lower priced seats are few in number, and once enough people have purchased them the price starts going up.

I have run 3 Boy Scout trips that required airfare. Our groups were between 25 and 45 people on the different trips. We never got a discount. I used US Air out of Phila this past summer and Spirit out of AC 2x before that. I spoke with SWA. but their fares come out too late for what we needed. We wanted to lock in prices more than 6 months out.

So, just be prepared. You will likely NOT get a lower price, just a guarantee that you will all be together.

 

[I'mNoPrince]

We have used it as well for our Paintball teams when we traveled. No discount and like PP stated they just give you what rate is available not any sales that could be current.

The thing is I think they only let you book 5 or 6 using the web-sight per Confirm number . Where if you call they will let you do more then that .

 

[luvmarypoppins]

I know my ds class trip used southwest and there were about 40 of them. The lead chaperone said they even refused to give them their boarding passes until they were at the airport, so I am assuming they all got the C seats. Maybe its different with less people. Also coming back they had weather problems and were diverted to another airport in another state. Dont even get me going on that one. Southwest was totally useless. The poor chaperone rented a bus and booked the kids in a hotel overnight and brought them home by ferry the next day to our state. Hope your experience is alot better. My next ds is doing this trip in May so I hope it is better this time.