Post all SW questions concerns, etc. here...

[DisDadDVC]

I wasn't able to look for our Tues., January 3rd departure until over the weekend so I missed the opening day prices and the 2 flights I was most interested in were at $103 when I first looked this weekend (the first 2 direct flights of the day). While that's not a terrible price I was hoping for $86 or $89 so I have been watching a couple times a day. Late this afternoon I searched (but I only left the default of 1 person) and the price was $86 for that 2nd flight of the day! I was completely elated!! When I went to book it and I changed it to 3 people it went back up to $103. Same for 2 people - $103. The only $86 fare was for 1 person. Not sure if I made a big mistake or not but I went ahead & snagged the ONE seat although I would have preferred to have them all on one purchase just for check-in ease. I figured I'd keep hawking the site for another drop on the other 2 seats. But now I'm wondering if I might find the drop on the FIRST flight of the day rather than the 2nd flight - then we'd be on 2 different flights. They don't always change prices on ALL flights. Now I'm second guessing my choice to jump on the ONE tix. DOH!!! I've really gone & complicated things in more ways than one haven't I?!

I would just go ahead and book the other two tix for $103. It is not THAT much more than $86, and the price could go up a lot more, or you could end up on diff flights. Not worth the $17 savings IMO.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I would just go ahead and book the other two tix for $103. It is not THAT much more than $86, and the price could go up a lot more, or you could end up on diff flights. Not worth the $17 savings IMO.

On the other hand...if they grabbed the last $86 ticket they could be one cancellation away from finding ANOTHER ticket at $86. It's all risk reward though...

 

[DisDadDVC]

On the other hand...if they grabbed the last $86 ticket they could be one cancellation away from finding ANOTHER ticket at $86. It's all risk reward though...

Right. In my mind the reward is $17, and the risk is $50+. And given that at least southwest gives travel credit, you may even be able to use the $17 if/when they release more low fare buckets.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Right. In my mind the reward is $17, and the risk is $50+. And given that at least southwest gives travel credit, you may even be able to use the $17 if/when they release more low fare buckets.

Yep - the real risk is I guess technically even worse...flight sells out for some reason and you're out cold!

 

[Iowamomof4]

How long do we think it will be before we start seeing WGA fares for the Sunday after Thanksgiving?

 

[DisDadDVC]

How long do we think it will be before we start seeing WGA fares for the Sunday after Thanksgiving?

2-3 more weeks probably

 

[Anal Annie]

Yep - the real risk is I guess technically even worse...flight sells out for some reason and you're out cold!

The flight was JUST released last week so I think it's probably still far from selling out. And it's for January 3rd which I seriously doubt is a big seller of a day. I booked our Sept. flights several weeks back but still watch them daily if I can just to be sure that I A) don't miss a credit and B) to confirm to myself that I pulled the trigger at the right time. I booked JetBlue down and SW home. SO FAR the ONE DAY that I booked both of them was THE ONLY DAY that my $82 & $83 prices were available on both airlines. The day AFTER I booked our SW return flight it went up from $83 to $218 and it sat there at that price for about 10 days!! So weird. It has since dropped back to around $103 for the most part. But there certainly is a LOT of fluctuation so I am going to HOPE the flight I want going down for this January trip drops again & that I catch it. It's still very early into the schedule release. I need 2 more seats so the $17 is really $34 but you're right it's not a HUGE amount. But I like to pay for them if I can out of my PayPal balance so the cheaper they are the easier that is to achieve.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

The flight was JUST released last week so I think it's probably still far from selling out. And it's for January 3rd which I seriously doubt is a big seller of a day. I booked our Sept. flights several weeks back but still watch them daily if I can just to be sure that I A) don't miss a credit and B) to confirm to myself that I pulled the trigger at the right time. I booked JetBlue down and SW home. SO FAR the ONE DAY that I booked both of them was THE ONLY DAY that my $82 & $83 prices were available on both airlines. The day AFTER I booked our SW return flight it went up from $83 to $218 and it sat there at that price for about 10 days!! So weird. It has since dropped back to around $103 for the most part. But there certainly is a LOT of fluctuation so I am going to HOPE the flight I want going down for this January trip drops again & that I catch it. It's still very early into the schedule release. I need 2 more seats so the $17 is really $34 but you're right it's not a HUGE amount. But I like to pay for them if I can out of my PayPal balance so the cheaper they are the easier that is to achieve.

I agree with you...I'm the guy that actually would wait to save the $17.

On the other hand...if they grabbed the last $86 ticket they could be one cancellation away from finding ANOTHER ticket at $86. It's all risk reward though...

I was just responding when DisDadDVC said the risk was $50+ more. Again...the real (and HIGHLY remote) risk is the flight sells out. And the reward is the $17...

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Data Point:
I was booking flights from PIT - MCO for Nov 12th through Nov 15th. Booked the morning of release (which I typically don't do...usually book within a few days though). $131 each way. Since then...flight there went up to $242 and it went up in steps so it increased every day or 2!! Flight home went down to $112.

In 100+ flights on Southwest I'd never seen one shoot up like $242 one did. Fortunately we have over 400k Southwest points so everything we book is on points and I was able to take advantage of the down. BUT if I were booking cash and had waited I would be sick to my stomach.

 

[DisDadDVC]

Data Point:
I was booking flights from PIT - MCO for Nov 12th through Nov 15th. Booked the morning of release (which I typically don't do...usually book within a few days though). $131 each way. Since then...flight there went up to $242 and it went up in steps so it increased every day or 2!! Flight home went down to $112.

In 100+ flights on Southwest I'd never seen one shoot up like $242 one did. Fortunately we have over 400k Southwest points so everything we book is on points and I was able to take advantage of the down. BUT if I were booking cash and had waited I would be sick to my stomach.

This is a tactic that SW now employs. They want to make people fear its going to go even higher. I guarantee that $242 flight will drop back down. However, many people don't know that and are afraid so they will go ahead and book it. These people often don't fly often, and may have difficulty making use of the travel credit when the flight goes down in price.

 

[perthgirl]

My DD and I will be flying from LAX to MCO in January and then from MCO to SFO. Southwest looks like the best option for us as they don't charge for bags and as we are coming from Australia we will have baggage! Can you suggest when the best time to book would be?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

This is a tactic that SW now employs. They want to make people fear its going to go even higher. I guarantee that $242 flight will drop back down. However, many people don't know that and are afraid so they will go ahead and book it. These people often don't fly often, and may have difficulty making use of the travel credit when the flight goes down in price.

I think on this particular one what they are trying to do is even out the passengers on each flight since they make the run 4 times daily. If you're willing to fly out at 3:30 or 5:30 you can get it for $123...If you want the morning flights you can pay $242. BUT I've also seen the strategy you've mentioned too in some instances.

The thing I've learned through tracking flight prices over the past decade or so is there is no rhyme or reason. These articles that say 3:00 on Tuesday or...47 days in advance...while maybe statistically accurate have nothing to do with your particular situation. I've seen flights that are cheapest on day 1 of release, 3-4 months prior, 1-2 months prior, less than 1 week prior and everything in between. Sometimes they're cheapest on Sunday morning, sometimes Tuesday, and sometimes Friday, and every other day too. AND just when you figure it out and think that same scenario will repeat itself...on your next trip the rules and pattern all change. The best strategy I've seen as a customer is to figure out how to get your hands on some major Southwest Points and you can always have the cheapest flight without the hassle of the travel credit.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

My DD and I will be flying from LAX to MCO in January and then from MCO to SFO. Southwest looks like the best option for us as they don't charge for bags and as we are coming from Australia we will have baggage! Can you suggest when the best time to book would be?

See my post just above yours...you may be able to get some anecdotal evidence from a frequent LAX traveler who flies that route and has documented it...but short of being able to predict the future it's hard to say. I like to look at the flexible fare calendar and make some predictions using that...or if you're looking for a simple answer (that is likely inaccurate) I'd say about 3 months prior.

 

[DisDadDVC]

I think on this particular one what they are trying to do is even out the passengers on each flight since they make the run 4 times daily. If you're willing to fly out at 3:30 or 5:30 you can get it for $123...If you want the morning flights you can pay $242. BUT I've also seen the strategy you've mentioned too in some instances.

The thing I've learned through tracking flight prices over the past decade or so is there is no rhyme or reason. These articles that say 3:00 on Tuesday or...47 days in advance...while maybe statistically accurate have nothing to do with your particular situation. I've seen flights that are cheapest on day 1 of release, 3-4 months prior, 1-2 months prior, less than 1 week prior and everything in between. Sometimes they're cheapest on Sunday morning, sometimes Tuesday, and sometimes Friday, and every other day too. AND just when you figure it out and think that same scenario will repeat itself...on your next trip the rules and pattern all change. The best strategy I've seen as a customer is to figure out how to get your hands on some major Southwest Points and you can always have the cheapest flight without the hassle of the travel credit.

yup...

 

[Iowamomof4]

I went back through old emails and discovered I received an email from SW about their 44th birthday last year on Tuesday, June 16. Should I anticipate a similar sale sometime soon for their 45th birthday? If so, that's coming up!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I went back through old emails and discovered I received an email from SW about their 44th birthday last year on Tuesday, June 16. Should I anticipate a similar sale sometime soon for their 45th birthday? If so, that's coming up!

Southwest has typically done some sort of birthday sale. The routes and prices however have varied widely over the years, some have been great, others have been duds. Not sure if they'll look at "45" as a Big Year or not.

ETA: By Big year I mean...if they consider 45 a milestone they may do a deeper deal. For example the 40th anniversary sale was a $40, $80, $120 sale with crazy amounts of routes available.

 

[Huff]

OUCH! SW is currently showing $550/RT PHX-MCO for late Sept-early Oct. Am hoping they will drop in the next month or two.

 

[perthgirl]

Thanks. I ended up booking a Virgin America Select seat at (wait for it.....) less than the economy (ie without Select) seat for the LAX to Orlando trip. Since then they have increased the prices by $500! per seat for Select as they only have flexible left - but business is cheaper! hey also now have cheaper economy seats but frankly by the time we add luggage and food etc we only paid around $50 more which is ok with me. The LAX to MCO was good timing - we arrive in LAX from Australia at 6am and depart for Orlando at 9am (which I assume is enough time given we are US citizens and therefore should get through immigration quickly). It is a direct flight to MCO which is also attractive given we would have already been travelling for something like 26 hours.

MCO to SFO is a different story - II don't mind cheap and cheerful and we are flexible on the time of day so will keep watching SW. Anyone have a clue what a 'reasonable' fare might be for January?

See my post just above yours...you may be able to get some anecdotal evidence from a frequent LAX traveler who flies that route and has documented it...but short of being able to predict the future it's hard to say. I like to look at the flexible fare calendar and make some predictions using that...or if you're looking for a simple answer (that is likely inaccurate) I'd say about 3 months prior.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

Outch the 550 price hurts to read. Is that round trip? we will be going from PHX to MCO too so wow. Hope some prices drop.

 

[momof2cuties]

I'm flying with my 3 kids..,18, 16 and 4. My plan and hope is to sit with the 16 and 4 year old with the 18 year old next to us.
Thinking it may make sense to do the early bird check in for the two teens so they can find an area and then I can do family boarding with 4 year old.

Does that seem to make sense to get us all together?