I missed Southwest fares!!

[zurgswife]

They opened up fares this am...I thought by chance to check about 5pm....there were only 7am flights left on Dec 12......

So, I ended up booking Airtran for my flight home...didn't want to take a chance...didn't want to leave for home at 7am....

Oh well maybe next time...

 

[Steffy]

Hey Zurgswife,

The fares were gone by 3:11 p.m. when I got my email from Southwest.

I looked at Autotrain, USAir, (hahahhaaha) and finally looked from BWI and booked. About $300.00 more than I wanted to spend for the 5 of us, but maybe there will be a sale...

 

[FINFAN]

They were gone for our dates in a flash as well...we have really great fare on AA nonstop from Chicago, but I was checking just in case ....always watching, as Roz from Monsters Inc. would say.. I may be blowing our deal on the airfare as DH just said to change our dates for a bit longer of a trip...Iam calculating if it is worth the extra $$$ to do so...or even more if we chance MVMCP on the 17th! What to do...what to do.....

Pam

 

[SStJean]

The same thing happened to me. I checked early in the morning and it was still at Dec. 11th. Early afternoon it was at Jan. 15th...

I went to get my return flight for Dec. 12th and the lowest fare was $131 p/p...way too much. So I was "forced" to stay at Disney another day. Flying back on the 13th for $49 p/p.

Thank you Southwest!!

 

[Bosjoe]

Originally posted by SStJean
The same thing happened to me. I checked early in the morning and it was still at Dec. 11th. Early afternoon it was at Jan. 15th...

I went to get my return flight for Dec. 12th and the lowest fare was $131 p/p...way too much. So I was "forced" to stay at Disney another day. Flying back on the 13th for $49 p/p.

Thank you Southwest!!

same here SSTjean. but I did it at 3pm. I do not think they released the cheap fares for that Sunday, I need to try to get the 13th off $49 are available for Manchester that day.

 

[SalandJeff]

This happened to us when we were waiting for last round of SW airfares to come out. We needed only our return flight on 10/30 and the schedule only went to 10/29. On the day they released the dates from 10/30 to the beginning of Dec, I could not use my computer until 11 am and the cheap seats were all gone. So we booked on Song.

Well within a week or two, SW came down on the price of all those flights that were not available on that 1st day. So you might want to check back in a week. I don't know if they release more seats or if they were waiting to announce a "sale".

Good luck!

 

[MJTinNH]

Sorry you couldn't book SW with the discount!

The next round I'll be staking out is the last week in April 2005. I have never traveled to FL in April and that is also the week NH kids have spring vacation.

I'm going to have to watch like a hawk. Rather travel out of MHT then Logan!!

 

[mareed]

For those of you who "missed" the discounted seats for your flights, keep in mind that there may not have been any seats at those lower prices at all. So, even if you'd checked at the exact time that the dates were released, the flight prices available may have been the same. For the more popular travel dates & times, Southwest sometimes doesn't make any of the lowest discounted seats available at all.

For example, flying back Saturday or Sunday after New Years, the only seats available are full-fare for us! So, we're driving.

 

[simzac]

All this talk of missing the cheap fares scared me, so I went ahead and bought 4 RT tickets leaving 1/1 and returning 1/5. Probably wouldn't have been a problem if I waited, but at $59 each way, I just couldn't gamble.

 

[Magic2000]

Hey Zurgswife - we're coming home on Dec 12 too! Flying Southwest - I got the 2nd lowest fares, and I was able to get the 11:20 AM flight. They used to have a 1:30 PM flight, which was perfect for us, but they don't offer that one any more.

When will yall be arriving? We come in on Dec 8.
(I think we were in Disney the same time in July too - we were there July 2-10)

Have a great trip!! Hope to see ya there!

 

[robinb]

I missed them too! I had a very busy week and just noticed that SWA opened their schedule. Darn! I am really mad since I was checking every single bloody day until this week.

 

[danacath]

I have never had the chance to fly Southwest, but with their great fares, I would love to give them a try. When would I need to start looking for airfare for Feb. 11? I sure don't want to miss out.

 

[simzac]

Originally posted by danacath
I have never had the chance to fly Southwest, but with their great fares, I would love to give them a try. When would I need to start looking for airfare for Feb. 11? I sure don't want to miss out.

I would check every day if you can. All you have to do is pull up their home page, it shows what date they are currently taking reservations up to.

 

[cebellis]

Originally posted by danacath
I have never had the chance to fly Southwest, but with their great fares, I would love to give them a try. When would I need to start looking for airfare for Feb. 11? I sure don't want to miss out.

SW starts booking flights 6 months prior to travel date. I would call them to see what date they are booking up to right now and ask when the dates will be available for 2/11. Good Luck!!

 

[maraakl]

Originally posted by cebellis
SW starts booking flights 6 months prior to travel date. I would call them to see what date they are booking up to right now and ask when the dates will be available for 2/11. Good Luck!!

Just check their website, it is printed right there. They actually book 4-6 months out.
I would be surprised to see Feb. flights much before the middle to end of Sept.

 

[cebellis]

Thanks for letting me know that for future traveling.

 

[mousy_in_canada]

January 29- February 5th.. Do you think they will be out at the end of this month? what deals do they open the schedule at?
I am departing from Buffalo if that helps.. TIA

 

[cebellis]

Originally posted by mousy_in_canada
January 29- February 5th.. Do you think they will be out at the end of this month? what deals do they open the schedule at?
I am departing from Buffalo if that helps.. TIA

They say on their website 4 to 6 months. Makaakl gave me that advice. I would call them direct to see when they might be booking for February just to be sure.
Good Luck!!

 

[lawgs]

mousy_in_canada

the best category of fares is usually the "internet only fare" which are not always posted when the schedule opens up and which, sometimes, are for a very limited amount of time

the internet only fares seem to be available on a vast majority of the flights when they are listed and in particular do not seem to be connected to a particular day of the week like the promotional fares are sometimes )


the most recent lowest fares in that category have been the 49$ one way fares but that was only good if you flew before september 30th

for the rest of their schedule the lowest fare right now seems to be 59$ depending on your travel dates, this particular round of internet only fares ends august 5th if i am not mistaken

on a side note:

after september 15, they seem to have two non stops daily for buffalo

........one in the early morning and one in the evening outbound

.........one in the morning and one in the afternoon inbound

with respect to when your dates will open up, no one really knows but SW ( within the last couple of weeks they have opened up their schedule twice, once to december 11th and now until jan 14th )

make sure you sign up for their tuesday update, it will inform you via email each week what is happening at SW

 

[danacath]

Great thread... thanks for the info, everyone!