Southwest Flights....

[browniemtb]

Holy Price change Batman

First missed booking Jet Blue for my family of 6 for a little over $1500 round trip from Ct. Then waited and used my free SW ticket and booked 5 for the family with Southwest for $1800. 12 hours later those same 5 tickets are $3082....did I miss something in the news???

 

[ToddyLu]

Yep, our tickets went up $97 EACH yesterday flying with SW. I had to pat myself on the back and let DH know "see I told you I knew what I was doing" when we bought our tickets for Oct a couple of months ago.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I talked with a SW agent one time about their flight pricing and it was explained to me this way:

x tickets at x.xx price. when they sell all of them then the price goes up to the next level: x tickets at y.yy price. When they sell all of them it goes up again.

I'm not sure how correct this is but I've watched flights carefully over the past few years and it seems to be very accurate. So thankful you were able to get yours at the lower price!

 

[mommyrosa2]

Let the airfare games begin!! Back in April, as soon as I rec'd my "ding" on SW for October fares, I booked our flights (a family of 4) and paid like $1157 total (direct flights from Prov to Orlando). Within an hour after I booked, I went back in to see the fares and they had gone up by $200 each person RT. I learned the hard way last year to not gamble with airfare. When I see a fare that I'm willing to pay, I grab it right away.

 

[Jestocost]

Holy Price change Batman

First missed booking Jet Blue for my family of 6 for a little over $1500 round trip from Ct. Then waited and used my free SW ticket and booked 5 for the family with Southwest for $1800. 12 hours later those same 5 tickets are $3082....did I miss something in the news???

Despite popular conception, what you have seen is not a "price change." SWA has not come around and increased their ticket prices. What has happened is that a certain number of tickets were available at the lower price and all of those tickets were purchased. Now, what's left at this time are tickets in higher-priced fare buckets. It's possible, of course, that SWA could decide to offer some of the remaining seats at some sort of discounted price between now and the travel date, but that's a gamble.

 

[brenda1966]

For the dates I was watching, SW took a huge blanket jump on all flights over night. So, no, this wasn't a matter of lower priced seats selling out on certain flights. The price range has jumped over $100! It really makes little sense that SW has now priced themselves higher than United. I expect those fares to lower at some point to be more in line with what the other airlines are charging. Strange strategy by SW. I'll watch and wait!

 

[katallo]

I've been helping friends watch rates and it seems to be an across the board increase. There is very little difference in Wanna Get Away fares and Regular fares on weekends. Dates range from September through December. Our friends finally booked with another airline. I'm not sure what is going on. Hopefully, it will adjust soon for future travelers.

 

[Julma]

I agree SW prices are high going into the fall. I booked JetBlue less than $500 direct from Boston to FLL for 2. SW was $1100 for the same dates out of Providence. I'm smack in the middle of Bos and Pvd, for $600 I'll head to Boston. Plus I had a several more direct flights to choose from. I thought they would be much closer in price.

 

[Scrappygrrl]

Between Tuesday and Wednesday, SW airfares went through the roof! We are traveling Nov 4-11. I bought 4 one-ways from PHL to MCO on Tuesday at 4pm for $163 each and the return flight 89 each. When I checked airfares Wed am, the outgoing flight had jumped to $287 and the return to $215. Seriously $500 for PHL-MCO round trip????? BTW, these are Fri-Fri flights and almost all the other major carriers are running under 300. Craziness!

i sort of wonder if there is something crazy going on with their website - I was using RR points (the new ones) to book 2 of the airfares (round trip) and it kept miscalculating the amount of points needed for the 89 leg (kept saying Oops that fare is no longer available!) but everytime I went back in it was still $89 - so they were willing to sell it to me for $89, but not 89x 60 points. I emailed to complain, and then realized could book three one ways on my points (the more expensive leg) and then paid cash for one of the $163 flight and all of the $89 flights. The whole thing felt very "bait and switch" to me, but I am hoping they are just having computer glitches.

Someone I work with said SW always drops lowest on Tuesday afternoons, so those of you still looking for SW might want to wait until next Tuesday.

Also the flyertalk forums are spreading rumors of a 40th anniversary sale along the lines of $40/$80/$120. But it is all speculation.