Southwest booking until 10/28 now!

[Magical-Memories]

Just checked SW's website and they are now accepting ressies until 10/28. Course I'm flying in November..grrrrrr. Hope that helps someone!

 

[Cara]

Well, the rates are out, but my three RT tickets from Nashville would be $718. That is just too much for my budget. I am going to try to hold out for a sale.

 

[Magical-Memories]

UGh..Yeah..for the heck of it I plugged in similar type dates in October (that we would be needing for November)..and it wasn't any great deal.
How do they typically run sales? Any idea?
I have a Mac and I cannot download DING..so I miss out there :-(

Thanks!
Ginny

 

[Cara]

The latest DING sales I have found have not been that great.

In March I did book travel to MCO at a special rate of $96 RT. I don't know if that rate, or anything even close, will come back around before October. I am considering driving.

 

[crazywig]

woo! got my 7 tickets PVD to MCO sept 23- oct 1st. $79 each way.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

Yeah my flights came out and I booked em! Any time I can fly from Chicago for less than $200, I consider that a great fare.

Thank you SWA

 

[Rpsemont]

Well I bookd for 1/2 of us, but not thrilled with the price. Booked BIL and DD to fly BDL-MCO 10/7-10/12. Got the $79 for the reurn, but had to pay $109 for the outbound. Did anyone here succeed in getting a $79 fare to MCO for the Friday of Columbus day weekend from anywhere in the northeast? Not sure if I missed them or they were never offered. I hate to pay the extra, but DD cannot miss a Friday at school, it's always test day and leaves too much work to make up. Meanwhile, DH and I are hoping to go a couple days earlier, so I'm thinking a Wed-Wed ticket probably won't be a problem and I'm going to wait to do ours.

Anyone know about what time it opened?

 

[anna1111]

Well I bookd for 1/2 of us, but not thrilled with the price. Booked BIL and DD to fly BDL-MCO 10/7-10/12. Got the $79 for the reurn, but had to pay $109 for the outbound. Did anyone here succeed in getting a $79 fare to MCO for the Friday of Columbus day weekend from anywhere in the northeast? Not sure if I missed them or they were never offered. I hate to pay the extra, but DD cannot miss a Friday at school, it's always test day and leaves too much work to make up. Meanwhile, DH and I are hoping to go a couple days earlier, so I'm thinking a Wed-Wed ticket probably won't be a problem and I'm going to wait to do ours.

Anyone know about what time it opened?

I Booked at 11:30. Not sure what time it opened up. It must have been
between 9 and 11:30. I was returning on 10/8 and everything was open,
I checked 10/9 and some flights were not available at the $79 rate at 11:30.

 

[bjakmom]

Wow - threw me into a tizzy !!! I checked this AM and the new dates weren't up - good thing I checked again because the lowest fares for our return flight on 10/10 were already gone - booked a fun fare at 107.91 - still over $100 less apiece than Spirit - I did get the 73.49 fare for the trip down - every little bit helps when so many are travelling - and I will only book SW with a group because I can recoup my $$ for those who cancel and use the $$ to travel myself ! OK, now we're all set !!!

 

[3DisneyNUTS]

FInally!!! We just booked for the whole family!!! We got $79 each way for all 9 of us from Islip to MCO. WOOHOO one less thing to worry about!

OMG the trip is starting to feel real!

 

[brettb]

When we were planning our trip for December '04, PHL->MCO->PHL fares were $79 each way. They dropped to $49 each way, but we took too long to make up our minds and ended up booking at $79 each way. ($530 for 3 of us R/T including fees.)

Then the fares dropped (briefly!) to $39 each way. We cancelled and rebooked and the 3 r/t tickets ended up costing about $290 total, or about $97 per person including fees. (At $49 each way, the total with fees was $350, if I recall correctly.)

When we cancelled our original reservations, we received a small portion as a "cash" refund (to our credit card) which I suspect was for the security fees or taxes. The rest remained as a Southwest credit. Unlike other airlines, there's no actual fee for changing the reservation. (Last I checked, Continental's change fee was something like $100, which would put a massive dent in any fare reduction you'd be likely to see.) So you can use any leftover credit for future travel, or, if your itinerary is exactly the same and you call customer service, you may be able to get the full amount of the credit put back on your credit card.

I guess my point is that if you make your booking at some reasonable fare level (I consider $79 each way reasonable for PHL->MCO->PHL) and then fares drop, you may still be able to take advantage of them. (Of course if everybody books their seats the the higher fares this probably reduces the likelihood of lower fares later on.....)

Brett

 

[Rpsemont]

I guess my point is that if you make your booking at some reasonable fare level ...and then fares drop, you may still be able to take advantage of them.

This is why I love SWA! An now you can just change and don't have to cancel and rebook (unless you're trying to use a ding fare)

While I probably won't do any better for the friday night of Columbus day weekend trip down, I am still hopeful that our Wed AM return will go on sale for $49 instead of $79.

And if I can book DH and I RT at a $49 fare, the 4 tickets will average just over $150 each (all fees included) and that's not so bad.

 

[zurgswife]

Just booked my phl to mco $79 each way....YIPPEE!!...

 

[mookie]

Yeah my flights came out and I booked em! Any time I can fly from Chicago for less than $200, I consider that a great fare.

Thank you SWA

Hey there! From Chicago here too, but don't normally fly SW. Got a ressie on hold for 175 pp RT. (Fees, taxes, and everything..I'm assuming that's the 79.00 each way fare?) There are 3 of us going. So, you think that's a good deal for Chicago to MCO flight, or should I try to hold out for a ding? Since we don't know if we'll be able to travel again in the next year, a credit might not be the best thing for us, since we have to use it within a year, so I'm trying to be cautious in choosing just the right fare. Thoughts?

 

[riu girl]

Mookie,

I dodn't know you could put a SWA fare "on hold" . Can you (or anyone else) please explain to me how you do this?

Thanks
Suzy

 

[mookie]

When I called, she put a complimentary hold on it for me until tomorrow night to secure the flight times and fare. If I don't book by tomorrow night, the hold will fall off.

BTW, I just called SW again to find out about teh "credit" policy. For anyone else that is new at this, she explained it to me like this:

Once you book your fare, you are free to shop around for better offers. If you find one with another airline, and you decide to cancel w/ SW, you can receive full "credit" to be used on a future flight. This credit expires not one year from the day that you booked the flight for (ex. for us, Sept. 25) but rather one year from when you originally purchased the ticket (if we book the one on hold, it will be May 13).

If you get a Ding fare or find a SW fare cheaper from when you originally booked, the same rule applies. You can change your SW flight times, or if you find a lower fare, switch your ressie to that fare, however, no matter how many times you book or rebook with Southwest, your credit is only valid one year from when you first booked the flight originally.

Hope this helps some of you newbies like me and I didn't confuse you any further!

 

[vossjemi]

WE got $99 one way out of STL to MCO. Happy, but still hoping for a better deal.

 

[blessedmama!!]

Very excited to see the Southwest fares came out for early fall.
We'll be at The World from 9/27-10/02. Southwest fares out of Cleveland are $153 EACH WAY. That's as much as the Continental fare right now. Ugh.

We might jump on a USA3000 fare. Cleveland to MCO for $59. Then St. Petersburg/Clearwater to back home for $79 each way. Makes me nervous though because they only have ONE flight every other day!

 

[Brian Noble]

I was excited too, until I checked my dates for a September weekend from DTW. More than $350 PER PERSON. Not only isn't that a good deal, it's actually more expensive than EVERY OTHER AIRLINE.

No "LUV" for Detroit, I guess.

 

[Rpsemont]

your credit is only valid one year from when you first booked the flight originally.

And to further clarify, the travel must be taken within one year of original purchase date. So for your example, you must use the credit for a ticket purchased where you TRAVEL before 5/13/06