I was waiting for Southwest to extended their booking window, for our November trip to Orlando .
I booked our round trip yesterday, and learned (or relearned) 2 items, which I wanted to share. The tips are not that incredible, but if it can save someone money, it is worth the post.
1) Prior to day that Southwest extends their booking window, know your dates of travel and the Flights you want to take on each day (the Flight Number and Times).
2) If you are booking more than one ticket per flight, and the lower tickets are not available for your entire group, hit the back button, and reduce the number of tickets requested, and see if the lower tickets become available.
An example of my experience yesterday.
I had been monitoring this news group, for an update on Southwest extending their booking window. I had previously looked at what flights were available for October, and would take those flights, if they were available in November. I saw a posting, about 30 minutes after it was posted, about Southwest.
I immediately went to Southwest's web site and selected the days and flights I wanted for our family of 4. I saw that the lowest fairs were available for both outbound and inbound flights. They were as low as I would have hoped, but they were the lowest they had available.
I then called my wife to confirm the dates and times of travel. This took about 5 minutes. When I tried to move forward on Southwest.com, it forced me to refresh. My lowest fairs for the inbound trip were then gone. I then purchased the 4 tickets (the 4 outbound were at the lowest price available, and the 4 inbound were at the Second lowest price).
As it turned out, my confirmation phone call to my wife cost me about 200 dollars (at least at this point)
After I had purchased my 4 tickets, and could relax, I went back to the Southwest site and tried something. I requested our same dates of travel, but put in 3 people. The prices were the same as I had gotten (for my flights). I then tried for 2 people, the lowest fair was now available.
I called southwest, and talked to a reservationists. She took my confirmation number and split my purchase of 4 tickets, into 2 purchases for 2 tickets a piece. She then stayed on the line, and walked me through how to take one of my confirmations for 2 tickets, and change them to get the lowest (instead of the second lowest fair) for 2 inbound flights. She also said that because the change happened within 24 hours of the purchase, she could credit my Credit Card.
At this point, I want to be sure and mention how patient and helpful the person at Southwest was during all this.
I now effectively had the same flights for our family of 4, we just had two confirmation numbers instead of one.
This saved us $96.00 dollars. So the call to my wife ended up costing me an additional $96 dollars instead of the $200, I thought it would.
Lessons Learned ..
I booked our round trip yesterday, and learned (or relearned) 2 items, which I wanted to share. The tips are not that incredible, but if it can save someone money, it is worth the post.
1) Prior to day that Southwest extends their booking window, know your dates of travel and the Flights you want to take on each day (the Flight Number and Times).
2) If you are booking more than one ticket per flight, and the lower tickets are not available for your entire group, hit the back button, and reduce the number of tickets requested, and see if the lower tickets become available.
An example of my experience yesterday.
I had been monitoring this news group, for an update on Southwest extending their booking window. I had previously looked at what flights were available for October, and would take those flights, if they were available in November. I saw a posting, about 30 minutes after it was posted, about Southwest.
I immediately went to Southwest's web site and selected the days and flights I wanted for our family of 4. I saw that the lowest fairs were available for both outbound and inbound flights. They were as low as I would have hoped, but they were the lowest they had available.
I then called my wife to confirm the dates and times of travel. This took about 5 minutes. When I tried to move forward on Southwest.com, it forced me to refresh. My lowest fairs for the inbound trip were then gone. I then purchased the 4 tickets (the 4 outbound were at the lowest price available, and the 4 inbound were at the Second lowest price).
As it turned out, my confirmation phone call to my wife cost me about 200 dollars (at least at this point)
After I had purchased my 4 tickets, and could relax, I went back to the Southwest site and tried something. I requested our same dates of travel, but put in 3 people. The prices were the same as I had gotten (for my flights). I then tried for 2 people, the lowest fair was now available.
I called southwest, and talked to a reservationists. She took my confirmation number and split my purchase of 4 tickets, into 2 purchases for 2 tickets a piece. She then stayed on the line, and walked me through how to take one of my confirmations for 2 tickets, and change them to get the lowest (instead of the second lowest fair) for 2 inbound flights. She also said that because the change happened within 24 hours of the purchase, she could credit my Credit Card.
At this point, I want to be sure and mention how patient and helpful the person at Southwest was during all this.
I now effectively had the same flights for our family of 4, we just had two confirmation numbers instead of one.
This saved us $96.00 dollars. So the call to my wife ended up costing me an additional $96 dollars instead of the $200, I thought it would.
Lessons Learned ..
