I'm missing something with Southwest's fares!

[Tiger926]

I see a million posts on this board about Southwest's awesome fares. So I've plugged my numbers in for July 10-22, leaving DTW in morning, returning DTW at night, and the fare is crazy! It's $140.00 more than my Nortwest fare using the Internet rate - if I use the other rates, it's more than double the price! What am I missing? How can their fares be so outrageously priced?

Tiger

 

[Disneymomofsix]

Did you look at different dates for flying? I am flying from Nashville to Orlando. Only some flights were available at the cheap price ($39 for us). When I looked at my original dates for flying, it would have been $100 more each way (for a grand total of $1,400 for my family of 7). Needless to say, we changed our dates.

 

[zippehsmom]

Tiger926, everytime I have checked Southwest's airfare from Detroit, it is almost always higher than Northwests prices, and it is not nonstop. I guess Southwest just does not have great airfare from Detroit.

I have usually always flown Northwest from either DTW or Flint, but this year Spirit had some awesome rates. So, I ended up booking with them.

Here are the prices I found for your dates. I'd say if you wanted to buy now, then I 'd pick Northwest. Especially if you are using Magical Express. I have never paid over $200 on Northwest to Orlando. If you are willing to risk it, it seems like Northwest usually lowers their airfare the closer you get to departure. Last year I went 7/10-7/20 and I bought our tickets in late April, they were $170. However, I noticed that in June the prices went down to $116.

Here are the prices I found for your dates.

Spirit $210.90
Southwest $234
Northwest $230.90

Good Luck!

 

[Brendita]

The trick is to grab the low fares when they come out.
The longer you wait the less your chances are.
There are only so many seats @ the lowest fares.

 

[tycon07]

When the fares came out for July, I was amazed at the low fares from IND to MCO. In the 3 weeks it took us to make our final decisions on the whole trip, the flight was totally unavailable. That is when we decided to go with ATA (59 each way). I think it still is if anyone is interested. I also like the idea of paying the same and being to chose your seats.