Southwest Fares Here and Gone!

[can]

Here it is only 8 am and all the $99 SWA airfares from Chicago to MCO are gone already! Current fare for one way is at $245, Spring Break may not be a possibility with these fares. :-(

 

[phred52]

SW knows when Spring break falls, or any holiday for that matter. They probably didn't offer any $99 fares.

 

[Psychodisney]

That's what I think, too. I went ahead and booked it. You won't find lower fares on another airline (especially with bags). I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they drop a little. Even RR flights were gone for hte flights I wanted at 8am!

 

[Jestocost]

Last year our Spring Break fares were $400 PP RT on day one and only went up from there. This year they were $400 again and I'm not expecting prices to come down.

And there were NO Rapid Rewards tickets available for my dates even at 6:00 a.m. CT.

 

[Inkmahm]

Here it is only 8 am and all the $99 SWA airfares from Chicago to MCO are gone already! Current fare for one way is at $245, Spring Break may not be a possibility with these fares. :-(

Come to Milwaukee and fly Airtran while you can. I have $105 down and $127 back at the moment for spring break but I'm watching for them to drop more to get credit to my Airtran account. There are even some $69 fees on Airtran at the moment for MCO.

 

[bdink921]

And there were NO Rapid Rewards tickets available for my dates even at 6:00 a.m. CT.

I know--I had 2 standard awards and had to switch them to a freedom award that I was able to use for 2 of our flights down ($229). I paid for one outgoing flight and for the return flights which were nicely priced at $84 .

 

[Procrastinate]

At least you got discounted fares. Saint Louis doesn't have any discounts that run past 12/14. Now I have to watch weekly to see if any deals are offered or we won't be going.

 

[Goofygirl17]

I know--I had 2 standard awards and had to switch them to a freedom award that I was able to use for 2 of our flights down ($229). I paid for one outgoing flight and for the return flights which were nicely priced at $84 .

How did you get an $84 flight?

 

[bdink921]

How did you get an $84 flight?

We're flying out on Friday ($$$$), but we're returning on Thursday 4/21. Our return is now up to $109 or so but there are still some $84 flights left early in the day.

P.S That's to/from BDL

 

[May74]

I booked $79 going down on a Sunday and $103 coming home on a Friday! I wish I knew they were coming out today, I would've checked earlier.

 

[Goofygirl17]

The flights I booked at 6:45 this morning for a little over $1400 for the four of us are now about $900 higher!! Good thing I read the disboards and got up early!

 

[can]

What is discouraging is that right now the SWA "Wanna Get Away" fares from Chicago to Orlando are now at $211-$335 one way. When you are on a budget, those airfares just doesn't make us "wanna get away", we will need to think of something else.

 

[Goofygirl17]

I booked Wanna Get Away and it was not cheap. We already have our hotel reservation, I teach and the kids are in school so I can't play with the dates either. The cheapest I could find was over $1400 for the 4 of us round trip. Not Cheap.

 

[can]

Ditto, I work in a school too and our DD is a freshman in college, so we are restricted with our dates also. DH is a tradesman in the construction field and it is so unpredictable here, we just need to watch our pennies. We have always traveled during Spring Break each year; so while I do expect fares to be higher because it is a peak season, just felt the higher price of the airfares totally blindsided many. I almost put a deposit down on a condo last week, but decided to wait until we booked airfare. Glad I didn't, being that we may not be able to travel down to WDW, we would have lost the condo deposit. Ugh!

 

[rlahansler]

I booked at 9am and one way from Chicago to Orlando was $163. I did check at 6am and that was the same price. I do not think they every offerred $99 fares. I went back on yesterday afternoon and see that my flight going is now sold out (first flight out of Midway). The next scheduled flight raised its one way cost by $48. Need less to say I was not a happy camper at $163 on way but now I am glad I am booked and got my time I wanted!!!

 

[mjvans]

Well, I had no idea that sw fares for April travel were even going to be offered earlier than Oct 5th. I happened to log onto my computer around 8:30am (pst) and got a ding the day they first came out! I could not believe when it said flights were now open. I needed a one way from Orlando to Seattle for April 9th. (We already booked our flights down months ago on Alaska but at the time we were not sure of our return.) Anyway, I honestly thought the flights were a bit pricey. The lowest fare was $199 with 2 stops and a layover. YIKES
In the end, I just went with a fare of $214.00 that had a nice departure time and one layover in Chicago. I still could not believe I was paying $214.00 for a oneway but I do realize it will be spring break and we are traveling on a Saturday. Ok, so today, that same flight is $306.00 WOW! I am not sure those original flights were much less than $199 but so glad I did not wait as $306.00 is just not in my budget!

 

[jodifla]

In my recent experience, the best SW fares don't come on the first day.

I wait to book and have better luck.

 

[mousefan1972]

In my recent experience, the best SW fares don't come on the first day.

I wait to book and have better luck.

Not when it comes to school vacation weeks. At least not in the northeast, anyway. On Tuesday morning when the flights were released, I bought 4 round trip tickets from Manchester, NH to Orlando for Massachusetts school vacation week. Both segments are nonstop at good times. Inbound to Orlando I paid $217 per person. Outbound to Manchester, I paid $118 per person. The inbound flight is now sold out for the wanna get away fare, and the anytime fare is $340 per person. The outbound flight is now $287 per person. So the price of our tickets have nearly doubled in 3 days. The price will not come down, at all. I booked our flights last year for April vacation the day they came out, watched them almost daily, and the price never once dropped below what I paid the day the fare was released.

 

[mom2rm]

Can I ask what time the flights went on sale this past week for Southwest? We want to fly out in May (they go on sale on Oct 7) and want to get them ASAP to make sure we get a good deal.

 

[can]

Can I ask what time the flights went on sale this past week for Southwest? We want to fly out in May (they go on sale on Oct 7) and want to get them ASAP to make sure we get a good deal.

From what I have read on previous posts, the fares were posted as early as 6 am I believe. I would start checking around then. By the time I looked at 8 am the fares were up to $211 one way from Chicago to Orlando. I just booked our outbound trip on Air Tran and return trip on SWA. The fares really sky-rocketed in such a short time. Good luck to you!