How far in advance does SW post flights? when do you book?

[kniquy]

We have an April 2018 trip planned. We have always had good luck with flying SW with times and fares. How far in advance do they open up their schedule? We are going 4/14/18 -- I have a small credit that i need to use up by mid August so i am hoping that the have flights open by then. Thankfully this won't be near Easter, but it is for the week of most NE states spring vacation.

My second part of the question is -when do you book and why?
Will you book as soon as flights are available?
Will you wait until a certain time frame before your flight?

Do any other airlines have a good credit policy i should be aware of?

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

Posted in SW's Travel Tools section: We are currently accepting air reservations through March 7, 2018. On July 27, 2017 we will open our schedule for sale through April 6, 2018. This date is subject to change! Please check back frequently.

I'm waiting for the same time as you so I'm really hoping they open the reservations for the rest of April in August. As for me, I can only go during school vacation so I always book during opening day right when it first opens. For me flying from PVD, I've always noticed the prices go up from opening day.

 

[Marionnette]

We have an April 2018 trip planned. We have always had good luck with flying SW with times and fares. How far in advance do they open up their schedule? We are going 4/14/18 -- I have a small credit that i need to use up by mid August so i am hoping that the have flights open by then. Thankfully this won't be near Easter, but it is for the week of most NE states spring vacation.

My second part of the question is -when do you book and why?
Will you book as soon as flights are available?
Will you wait until a certain time frame before your flight?

Do any other airlines have a good credit policy i should be aware of?

CookiesandOatmeal answered your first question.

I book as soon as the flight schedule comes out, especially if I'm flying on a Saturday or during a holiday period. I use RR points to book the tickets and if the "price" goes down, I get the points refunded to my account. If I had paid with cash, the refund would be issued as a credit which must be used within one year of the day that the ticket was originally purchased - which I don't like. Lately, there has not been any downward movement on the prices for the two trips that I hold tickets for, so I' glad that I took the leap as soon as the schedule opened up.

 

[kniquy]

So i am wondering if there is a work around for my credit --- say it expires 8/14/17 (because i booked 8/14/16) -- If i were to use those funds to book a flight before they expire - just booking something if my dates are not open yet-- could i then change the flight to my desired dates once they open? I think with SW you can change your flights pretty easily without much of a hassle.

Am I looking at this correctly or will i lose my $40 credit? Thankfully not a ton of money, but any little bit helps.

 

[kathy884]

kniguy,
Call Southwest. They will tell you when flights open for the day you want to travel. For credits that expire by a certain date, talk to them too if you want to use if later than that. I think there may be a small fee that allows you to extend the credit, but again a friendly SW agent can tell you for sure. If your desired date is before 8/14/17 you are fine, but they keep track of what credits and monies have what expiration dates, so what you are proposing if it is a flight after those days won't work. Your friendly SW agent can give the best advice regarding what would make the most sense for you to do.

I book as soon as I know when I want to go and SW opens flights. If prices drop, I can rebook and get the credits. We have a SW Credit Card too, so sometimes can use point for flights.

 

[Marionnette]

So i am wondering if there is a work around for my credit --- say it expires 8/14/17 (because i booked 8/14/16) -- If i were to use those funds to book a flight before they expire - just booking something if my dates are not open yet-- could i then change the flight to my desired dates once they open? I think with SW you can change your flights pretty easily without much of a hassle.

Am I looking at this correctly or will i lose my $40 credit? Thankfully not a ton of money, but any little bit helps.

As kathy884 pointed out, it won't work the way you planned. Any new reservation, and any additional monies used to secure it, would be subject to the original anniversary expiration date of the travel funds. But there are cases of being able to extend the expiration date on the funds after they have expired but only if you get a sympathetic customer relations representative because it is not a hard and fast rule. It also comes with a $100 fee. So, in your case it would not be worth the trouble.

 

[ibob52]

The travel funds expiration date is a "must complete flight before expiration date"

not a "must purchase flight reservation before expiration date"

We have all experienced a Southwest Airlines misinterpretation at some point in our travels .. ymmv

My most recent rule error was "Southwest Airlines Gift Cards" are not *totally refundable* They are treated the same as *cash* and have a expiration date after they are used.

 

[maciec]

Heres the link to keep an eye on when they open up
https://www.southwest.com/air/flight-schedules/index.html?clk=GFOOTER-FLY-FLTSCHEDULES

 

[Donna M]

I always book, if the price is ok, the day they open, actually I'm sitting at my computer at like 6am. We are flying out of MHT this Feb. and the flights have gone up $63 since I booked. I have never seen the prices go lower than opening day, during school vacation weeks in the past 20 years that we have gone to Disney. The price did drop when we heading to San Antonio.

 

[mamamelody2]

We booked for our November trip the day the flights came out (May 18). I'm very glad we did, as our flight to Orlando has increased in price and our flight back is sold out. In fact, there are 9 flights from Orlando to home, and only 1 is not sold out. Crazy!