Southwest Airlines

[Dakota731]

It’s such a crapshoot when to book. Flights are $49 for April and May but $169 for when we need in August. Ugh!

 

[bookwormde]

Actually SW is generally consistent in that from about 3.5 to 1 month out they have the lower fares There are certainly exceptions but it is a good starting point

So look in May for lower fares in August.

If there are limited flights you may need to keep checking often to make sure you do not miss the best fares

 

[LadybugsMum]

There's an all things SW thread here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/post-all-sw-questions-concerns-etc-here.2500174/

 

[Dakota731]

Does Southwest still allow you to rebook if lower fares are offered a few months after I buy tickets?

 

[starry_solo]

Does Southwest still allow you to rebook if lower fares are offered a few months after I buy tickets?

Yes, but you don't get a refund for the difference. You get a travel funds voucher that is only good for one year from the original date of purchase.

 

[Dakota731]

So if I use points would the difference be put back in my account?

 

[lcc2]

So if I use points would the difference be put back in my account?

Yep!

 

[DVCSunDevil]

Does Southwest still allow you to rebook if lower fares are offered a few months after I buy tickets?

YES!! We used points to book our Easter trip back when the schedule was first released. My wife is really good about constantly checking SW to see if fares change after we book tickets. The price dropped three times since we originally booked. We changed the reservation each time and the points was refunded to our account. Very easy to do.

 

[_19disnA]

With any airline, it partly depends on when/where you are traveling. Demand for popular destinations means that more people are looking for tickets to those places. Sales are often to less traveled locations. Holiday travel books up fast and then the prices jump to the next higher fare. You are unlikely to find discounts on travel days when the regular demand uses up all available seats. That thread referenced above started in 2010 and is now over 400 pages. I don't find older threads with hundreds of pages to be of any particular value on most topics. Too much old/out-dated info to pick through to find information of value. Clearly with covid, a lot about air travel has changed and more recent threads would likely have more useful information. I suspect airlines will add back more flights once we are past covid and more people are again flying. However, no one knows at this time when that will be.

 

[DebbieB]

I have flights April 18-25 to Orlando. They were high when they came out, I booked with points. They have finally started dropping. I got 1500 points back each way in the past week.

 

[MomOfDisneyPrincess]

I think it's just Southwest doing their thing to make money. In April and May, kids are still in school, so fewer people are flying and they discount fares in order to encourage travel. In August, many people are flying, so they don't need to offer discounts. It's just like Disney and their hotel prices. It's cheaper to travel in the off season.

 

[Dakota731]

Yes I found that out waiting for prices to drop Christmas week our last trip, and they never did! Unfortunately the only two times we can travel are Christmas and summers and it seems prices are always up!