Has anyone ever seen SW Dings for peak holiday vacation days?

[splashmt]

We are traveling in February - Sat. before Presiden't Day. For my flight (I have already booked), ALL tickets are now unavailable. NO seats left. They're not going to DiNG that flight are they??

 

[vacation dreamer]

We are traveling in February - Sat. before Presiden't Day. For my flight (I have already booked), ALL tickets are now unavailable. NO seats left. They're not going to DiNG that flight are they??

Last year we tried going Pres. weekend, Friday to Tuesday and SW flights never went down in price for us.

 

[CarolA]

We are traveling in February - Sat. before Presiden't Day. For my flight (I have already booked), ALL tickets are now unavailable. NO seats left. They're not going to DiNG that flight are they??

I would say you are right... They have no seats to sell so they can't DING.

Remember DING is SW's method to sell unsold seats. I think you have seen them doing that much better lately. DINGs have been limited much more to select days and/or flights then they used to be.

 

[iluvflorida8]

No airline will "EVER" discount seats during a holiday week, and that includes Southwest.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Well, don't be too sure. I was able to secure $59 from MHT to MCO on December 25th... granted, who wants to travel on Christmas day, and both days before and after were $$$ ... but to save $200, I'll take it.

 

[winniedapooh]

I too managed to snag DING's on Christmas Day last year and the year before I was able to save by rebooking due to a sale. I am not so optimistic about this year as we are going 12/27

 

[vacation dreamer]

No airline will "EVER" discount seats during a holiday week, and that includes Southwest.

I disagree.....we booked Thanksgiving week travel with SW back in July for about $250.00 pp r/t and by November 1st I had it down to $180.00 pp r/t. I could have paid $138.00 if I was willing to take a 7:am flight home.

 

[iluvflorida8]

I disagree.....we booked Thanksgiving week travel with SW back in July for about $250.00 pp r/t and by November 1st I had it down to $180.00 pp r/t. I could have paid $138.00 if I was willing to take a 7:am flight home.

I am sure they will discount the seats if it is travelig on the "Holiday" or a ridiculous early flight., but try to find a discount on a Friday,Sat,Sunday of a holiday week, or anytime 7 days before the holiday.

 

[CarolA]

Actually as someone who routinely travels ON Thanksgiving and has traveled ON Christmas I have found some great deals on the actual holiday.

For example for Thanksgiving I fly to Boston on Thanksgiving and return home Saturday night. By avoiding the Wed/Sun flights I generally save a few hundred dollars!

However, if the flights are already showing "unavailable" in all fare classes, it's likely they are sold out. SW CAN'T put them on sale, it has NOTHING to sell.

IMHO one of the hardest flights to get discounts on based on reading these boards is President's Day week flights from the NE. If I lived there I would want to escape in Febuary too! It's the only flight I have ever seen folks book a year in advance and later report then never saw a cheaper price.

 

[Bowen9475]

I had wanted to take the kids to WDW for Presidents week, Monday through Friday but nothing was available at prices I wanted to pay. I played with the dates a little and was able to get Wednesday 2/21 through Tuesday 2/27 on Southwest for $948.40 for 4. I booked right after they opened the dates in September and I was satisfied with this. The kids will miss 2 days of school but we are all OK with this. I was later able to bring the total down to $548.40 which left us with $400 in travel funds. (We were planning another trip in August so we knew we would use the funds but just this weekend my husband and I planned a mom and dad weekend for January which used most of the $400.) The key was to be able to move the dates around a bit. I have never seen a reduction in the fares for the days I had originally wanted. I realize that not everyone has the same flexibility but it worked out for us.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

I love the little tool Southwest has with the "Shortcut to Low Fares"... it's easy to see by the color chart which day would be the cheapest to/from.

 

[debster812]

I am sure they will discount the seats if it is travelig on the "Holiday" or a ridiculous early flight., but try to find a discount on a Friday,Sat,Sunday of a holiday week, or anytime 7 days before the holiday.

I'm also going to respectfully disagree. Last year DS and I flew BOS to RSW from the day before Easter (Saturday) to the following Saturday for $89 each way. <$200 for the R/T for each of us.

I will agree that sales for peak periods are FEW and FAR between, but if you keep a close eye on things, and jump on the good ones, there can be some bargains.

 

[debster812]

IMHO one of the hardest flights to get discounts on based on reading these boards is President's Day week flights from the NE. If I lived there I would want to escape in Febuary too! It's the only flight I have ever seen folks book a year in advance and later report then never saw a cheaper price.

Carol you are 100% correct on this. My mom is a retired school teacher, and she and my dad ALWAYS went away on February school vacation. She also never had the luxury of getting away a few days early, so they would always book the early evening Friday night flight out. Always booked 330 days in advance, and the prices were always high.

We see this now. We travel to Ft Myers each year to see them. We shoot for anything under $250 for a bargain. Those flights RARELY go down.

 

[I'mNoPrince]

I have a Ding fare for my return trip on Fri the 22nd later (not lastest) flight home. I got one on July2nd this year as well.They are very big Holiday weekend travel days. The bigger problem is that they are sold out so I wouldn't think they will have a need for a Ding but you may still get a Sale that covers your dates .

 

[vacation dreamer]

I am sure they will discount the seats if it is travelig on the "Holiday" or a ridiculous early flight., but try to find a discount on a Friday,Sat,Sunday of a holiday week, or anytime 7 days before the holiday.

Our travel was the Sat before on a 8:am flight and we came back the Sat. after TG day on a 6m flight.