Southwest Airline discounts at Free DDP time

[kcashner]

For anyone who has a trip planned to WDW in August or September, Southwest has announced very discounted fares to Florida from most cities. At their web site, click on "specials" and you will find a list of Florida cities. Go to "Orlando" and a huge list of cities with discounts to/from Orlando will appear.

The Southwest specials run till mid October.....and if this post is inappropriate here, I know someone will kindly move it.

 

[DonaldsNo1Fan]

i booked my trip months ago at 89 each way thinking i was getting a great deal. they are now 59 each way and my tickets are non-refundable!!

 

[disneyfreak7]

I think any fare is able to be rebooked at the lower price. I booked in June for our Sept trip and I have cancelled and rebooked 3 times already! Our first fare was $99 each way, then it was $92 each way, then $83 each way and finally $69 each way. When buying 9 tickets, every little bit helps. I was even able to put back on my credit card instead of travel fund! Right now we are at $155 RT. Last Aug we paid $115 RT. I am still hoping for a $39 DING from Chicago to Orlando.

 

[tracys2cents]

If those $89 tickets are southwest, and they are now $59, you can go in with your reservation number and cancel your tickets. They give you a credit and a confirmation number. you then go in and book the new $59 tickets using the credit that you received.

Something like that.

Anyway, you can get the lower priced tickets. You will not get a refund but you will get the difference on a southwest credit to use for a year.

 

[mybgirl]

If those $89 tickets are southwest, and they are now $59, you can go in with your reservation number and cancel your tickets. They give you a credit and a confirmation number. you then go in and book the new $59 tickets using the credit that you received.

Something like that.

Anyway, you can get the lower priced tickets. You will not get a refund but you will get the difference on a southwest credit to use for a year.

Just called SOUTHWEST , YES credit ,not money. I may do it

thank you

take care
GOD BLESS

mary

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Hey, just consider that credit a deposit for your next trip to WDW!

 

[alicenwonder99]

I noticed my SW tix are less now, too! I am really not sure how to change everything, but I'm going to try to figure it out.

If I am successful at this, then I will post how I did it.

BTW, my original ticket prices were $65 down there, and $85 on the way home, flying out of Midway.

Mary

 

[Debbie]

Click HERE for instructions on how to get the cheaper fares (not DING).
For DING instructions click HERE Both are very clear. HTH

 

[alicenwonder99]

I noticed my SW tix are less now, too! I am really not sure how to change everything, but I'm going to try to figure it out.

If I am successful at this, then I will post how I did it.

BTW, my original ticket prices were $65 down there, and $85 on the way home, flying out of Midway.

Mary

OK, I just got dinged at work for a $55 airfare for the dates of our trip (it comes to $135.60 round trip per person including tax and fees). It was a little bit confusing, but I was able to figure out how to delete my old reservations and purchase the new Ding ones.

If you follow the directions from the links in the above post, that's pretty much what I did. The only difference is that it gave me the option of having $55 of my $838 credited back to my credit card. So, I opted for the $55 credit on my card. Now I have a $105 balance in my SW account.

The only thing different is that my going home flight was for earlier, and now our flight going home is not until 6:15pm. I called dh and he said that was fine, maybe we can visit a park that morning???? I'm not sure what we'll do, we always just get up, pack, check out, and go home our last day. Thank goodness it's so cheap to add another day on our MYW park hoppers!!!

Mary

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Thank you for those links Debbie! Now I just hope I get to use one of them.

 

[kcashner]

OK, off topic here but I'll try....how do you use DING!? I downloaded it, but don't know what I'm supposed to do with it.

 

[3princesses4us]

It was a little bit confusing, but I was able to figure out how to delete my old reservations and purchase the new Ding ones.

If you follow the directions from the links in the above post, that's pretty much what I did. The only difference is that it gave me the option of having $55 of my $838 credited back to my credit card. So, I opted for the $55 credit on my card. Now I have a $105 balance in my SW account.

Mary

Mary,
This is the only part that confuses me. How did you delete your old reservations and did you have to do that first before you rebooked?
I just walked through the process and no where did it ask me if I wanted money credited back to my card. I'm too scared to lose my old ressies without knowing how to rebook first. Can you explain further?
Thanks.

 

[3princesses4us]

Never mind! Thanks to Debbie's link I was able to rebook and now I have $140 in my SW account! Anyone know how this works? Is it under my name and next time I go to book airfare it will automatically credit me the $140?
Thanks for this info!!!!

 

[tracys2cents]

The credit can be used for anyone, not just the original ticket holders. So, if you have, say, a co-worker who wants to travel Southwest, you could book the ticket for him using your credit and he could pay you back in cash.

I have also seen people selling their "credit" on EBAy. I saw a $220 credit and the current bid was $245! I don't know what THAT is all about!

 

[tracys2cents]

If your fare DOES go down on Southwest, I guess the easy way to do this is to book the new fare. When you get to the payment page, you tell them that you want to pay with an old unused e-ticket. You can plug in the number of your old reservation, and pay for your NEW reservation with your old reservation number!

OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT!!!!

 

[Debbie]

The first link above will tell you to go into the travel centre and then "change reservation". You won't need to cancel and rebook with two windows, the way that the DING works. You keep the same confirmation #, too.

My DBIL just used my credits this week. He needed to know my confirmation # and the NAME on the credit card of the original ressie. No problem. I think that you can use a number of "ticketless travel" confirmation #'s, too. Is that right?

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Okay...I think I just learned first-hand about purchasing the tickets as one-ways. My outbound went down by $20, but that fare was only good thru the day we were leaving for Orlando, not the day we were coming back (which is actually now higher than what we paid). Had I read this thread before I booked my tickets, I could have just saved $80! Oh well, I'll just keep watching it as right now there is still availability on every flight of the day (in every category too), so I am hopeful that I can still get a lower fare.

 

[kcrew]

You are all fortunate. Just a warning that I got the shaft from SW vacations. I had never used them before and booked a package a few months back including airfare, room, free DDP and tickets. I figure I paid about $180 for each of the 6 plane tickets after subtracting out the other components. I am a newbie and at the time I thought it was a good deal because all airlines were well over $200....Well you know how this story ends--airfare drops to $59 OW so about $50 less per ticket. SW Vacations said oh well, too bad, no price reductions. I am soooo mad.

 

[alicenwonder99]

You are all fortunate. Just a warning that I got the shaft from SW vacations. I had never used them before and booked a package a few months back including airfare, room, free DDP and tickets. I figure I paid about $180 for each of the 6 plane tickets after subtracting out the other components. I am a newbie and at the time I thought it was a good deal because all airlines were well over $200....Well you know how this story ends--airfare drops to $59 OW so about $50 less per ticket. SW Vacations said oh well, too bad, no price reductions. I am soooo mad.

You know what? I was in your shoes for our last trip in December. I booked a NONREFUNDABLE flight with American about 6 months in advance. I thought I was getting a great deal at $77 one way. Then, of course, 7-8 weeks before our trip, everyone on the DIS board was getting incredible $39 one way deals through SW. I couldn't cancel with AA unless I took a huge penalty, so I just kept our flight and now I know better...lol.

Mary

 

[Debbie]

I think that it is just like booking a room at WDW. Book what you are comfortable paying, and don't worry about the next guy or second guess yourself.

My DSis and I were in that boat last year. SW was $99 and we knew (or felt sure) that they would go down. But the waiting and checking was getting on both of our nerves. Air-Tran came out with a $79 and we were happy getting that. The airfare was booked at a price we were both happy with. Yep, SW came in a little lower on the DING, but there would have been no guarantee that "our" flight was not booked (it wasn't). Regrets...I've had a few...but we were able to live with our original decision.

I've never flown SW, so this will be an experience for me!