Need SW Expert Opinions Please

[tdelano]

We will be traveling May 20th to 27th. Live in Ok but usually travel out of KC on SW. I had been anxiously awaiting the May schedule which opened but the prices are double what I have paid in the past. Now I don't know if I should go ahead and book a different airline which currently beat SW price or wait and see SW rates drop or they run a sale. SO, SW experts..what is the chance that they will lower the price or run a sale for the last week of May??? Appreciate the advice! Also, once before I found a promo code on this website.. where to find one again??

 

[valeriekc]

We live in KC and have been newly pleased by the non-stop flights now offered by Midwest Express. We took the two across leather seating flights down over Thanksgiving! I took a quick look at Yahoo's travel section around the end of May and found fares to be $201.00 on Midwest as well as Delta.
We've been many times around the end of May and have found the fares to be around the 200-275.00 range during that time.
Traveled a few times on SW but not during that time of year...so can't really give you a great southwest answer but 201.00 (these days) seems pretty good to me for non-stop on Midwest express?
Good luck

 

[tdelano]

I saw the Midwest rates and was considering going ahead and booking on them but don't know anything about them. What is the deal with the double seats across? Is this in coach? Is this a small charter plane? The last time we flew SW out of KC we paid $125 round trip in Dec. Thanks!

 

[valeriekc]

On Midwest Express the airplane is a regular size jet and instead of having two seats on one side and three on the other (or three on each side) they have wider seats, two on each side with leather upholstery.
So it is "similiar" to first class the entire length of the plane.
Also little aluminum legrests that fold up.
They serve fresh baked chocolate chip cookies as well.
So a pretty good setup in my opinion.
Go to midwestairlines.com to check them out?
As for 125.00 per ticket for round trip....wow nice fare, but that seems pretty unlikely to get that low with fuel costs rising so much these days.
I noticed that SW fares were ranging around 260.00 for your trip in May?
Good luck!

 

[RobInBigKC]

FWIW: My family is flying from K.C. to Orlando in February and we chose Midwest Airlines this time (have flown Southwest and Delta to Orlando in the past; have flown Midwest only once before, on a business trip to Toronto, way back in 1996 or 1997). Midwest was cheaper than Southwest at the time we booked the flight (of course, two days later Southwest cut their prices to a bit less than Midwest Airlines but I still would have paid the extra ten bucks for Midwest).

One possible drawback (depending on how you look at it) is that Midwest only had a late afternoon flight arriving in the late evening so we had to extend our Disney stay an additional day on the front end. If you want to drive to K.C. and fly out in the same day, an afternoon departure might work perfect for you.

One possible "perk" (depending on what seats you get) that Valeriekc didn't mention is that you will get reserved seats on Midwest as opposed to Southwest's open seating.

I did NOT do the internet searches that Valeriekc did but: When I was searching for February flights six weeks ago, one of the best fares I found was Delta but it was a mid-size plane (held somewhere from 45 to 60 passengers in five or six across seating, I believe, and it was a jet plane, not a prop plane). So, double-check that if plane size is important to you.

Also, if your travel dates are at all flexible, you might check prices for flying a day and two days before, and a day and two days after, your planned dates. My family's February dates could not be flexed anymore because of all of our DS's in school but if we could have flown to Orlando and back to K.C. one day earlier, our price per person would have dropped about $50 and, if we could have moved the trip up two days, our price per person would have dropped about $75.

-- Rob

 

[RobInBigKC]

One possible drawback (depending on how you look at it) is that Midwest only had a late afternoon flight arriving in the late evening

I meant to clarify -- "for the flight out of K.C. to Orlando".