Historically, are SW prices cheapest when they first open up?

[disneygrandma]

We'd be looking for mid-Sept dates. Should we plan to buy our tickets when these dates open in January? Or will prices be cheaper later on? Anyone have experience booking withing the first few hours of flights being posted?

 

[goofy4tink]

Personally I don't much mind if the prices go down a bit after I book....I am not going to quibble over $10 or so for each person. I know what fares I am willing to pay, and when I see fares that are in that range, I book. I refuse to play the 'waiting for fares to go down' game. The days of fares of $59 from TF Green to MCO are over. So, whenever I can get a fare of $200 r/t, direct, I book it. And if I have to pay up to $270, I will. I don't pay more than that. If it costs $300 to fly, then I stay home.

 

[kkandaj]

I was up at the crack of dawn when the flights came out in October for May. They have not moved once since then. This may not be for all airports and destination, but I have been watching every other day--and they are still at $153.

 

[Bobo912]

I fly on Soutwest often and when I see a price I can live with, I book it. Most of the time the price goes down after I book and I just rebook and use the funds for the next trip. Most recent example, I booked a Dec flight to Orlando on Aug 3 and on Aug 22 the price dropped by $160 for the RT. I don't think there is an advantage to booking the day the dates open up, but if you see a price that seems reasonable to you, I would go ahead and book it. Waiting around for the price to drop is risky. SWA flights fill up - maybe not right away, but you can't really predict how quickly it will happen. I can recall 2 times in the last 8 year or so when I've been on a Southwest flight that wasn't completely full.

 

[cbsnyber1]

I have tracked SW fares from Pittsburgh to MCO since October, and they were stuck at $139 each way from release day. A couple of weeks ago many of them suddenly fell to $95 each way, and that seems to be for most time periods through August.

So, no, they were not the least expensive at first but they did drop to a pretty good value. Too bad I'm booking for the first week of October; the next fare release date will run through September 28, so I have to wait for the release after that.

 

[mommyrosa2]

We'd be looking for mid-Sept dates. Should we plan to buy our tickets when these dates open in January? Or will prices be cheaper later on? Anyone have experience booking withing the first few hours of flights being posted?

I definitely agree w/ others who say if the price is right,book it, you can always change it if it goes down. For our most recent trip in October, our airfare went down twice from our original purchase date. Last year & the year before was a different story...the day we booked (both years) was the cheapest we saw...the airfare just got higher & higher leading up to our departure dates. I've learned not to gamble anymore, if it's a good price from the get-go we book it.

 

[disneygrandma]

Thanks for all the replies. We appreciate all the advice.

 

[dancin Disney style]

We travel to WDW every summer at the very end of August and return in September. I usually find the best airfare in May. I have never paid more than about $89 each way.


This year we are traveling in June and returning in July....have to be there for a convention that goes through the week of the 4th So I know that I will be paying a lot more for airfare this year. When the dates opened up it was $104 and now it's $134....I really wish I had booked the week the dates were released. However, now it's on to playing the waiting game. If I can't get a flight for about $99 then we will consider driving.

 

[Huff]

I find SW almost always drops 6-10 weeks out but do so only for a few days. I had been checking daily in Oct. for our Jan. trip and saw fares around $375 rt for PHX-MCO. In early Nov. they dropped to $225 rt and I bought. They stayed lower for 3 days then went back to $375. Now they're over $500 15 days out.

 

[bubba's mom]

I was at the SW site waiting for summer rates to open. We booked as soon as they opened.

The price(s) haven't changed AT ALL since they opened.

I think it's strange, but I can only imagine the prices would go up?

Good luck to ya!