Southwest Has Opened Its Schedule Thru 01/04/16

[G719]

The dates my friend was trying to book were 11/14, Pittsburgh to Orlando, first flight of the day. Anytime fares were gone in minutes.

The flights are available again and at the same price as they were before 7 am. $141 for the 5:30 am or 8:15 am nonstop. We booked the 8:15 this morning right after they opened online.

 

[tookydo]

The flights are available again and at the same price as they were before 7 am. $141 for the 5:30 am or 8:15 am nonstop. We booked the 8:15 this morning right after they opened online.

Thank you! I just sent a message to my friend.

 

[Scottishbrit]

Im havent flown southwest yet and am planning a trip in sept/oct. I was going to do Alaska but for the coming home flight it was an extra $48 plus $25 in bags. Ridiculous! So as of now SW is the cheapest plus Ive always wanted to fly them. Flying from CA to Orlando is so expensive so Im trying to get the best rate. Do their prices every go down and when do you think is the best time to buy? Right now it's $398 and I was hoping for $350 at the most.

 

[kathy884]

I had called SW to find out when fares were opening up for Thanksgiving, knew that was today, and was on at 5:30 a.m. to book flights. I HATE traveling at peak times with airfares jacked up so high and little to no flexibility on when we can travel (school schedule and not wanting DS to miss college classes). There are just too many people competing for seats and I knew even being on at opening day I was not going to get what I consider reasonable prices. DH and I aren't going, but my brother and his family and my parents are going to be in Orlando Thanksgiving week and invited any or all of us. We thought it would be fun and really special for DS 19 to go and see his 21, 24, and 30 year old cousins (special thing to do and now that everyone is grown we just aren't planning trips together the way we used to.) He attends community college and lives at home, otherwise we'd go too just to see him or all stay home.

Unfortunately DS with his school schedule only has Wed/Thur/Fri and the weekend off. I knew flights would be high and was willing to pay up to $600 round trip, way more than what I can usually get to Orlando. I can usually get a round trip to Orlando during spring break for about $160 each way (round trip around $320), but to fly out Wed. at 9:30 a.m. before Thanksgiving it was $239, and to fly back Sat. at 7:40 p.m. after Thanksgiving I paid $279. So my round trip cost was about $518. I was OK with this trip and these flights as they were under my $600 max and still give enough time for a quality visit. I really wanted a Sunday return, but was not willing to go that high price wise. A flight back from Orlando to St. Louis was $445 one way for the cheapest one. So doing that would have brought my round trip cost to $684 -- OUCH. On other airlines those days (wed. and Sunday) (and no direct flights like I can get on Southwest) fares were over $800 and those were awful times.

Traveling over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holdiays to popular vacation destinations is just horrible in terms of bang for the buck. I really try to avoid holiday travel and do spring break and summer trips and family visits instead for that very reason.

 

[kathy884]

Im havent flown southwest yet and am planning a trip in sept/oct. I was going to do Alaska but for the coming home flight it was an extra $48 plus $25 in bags. Ridiculous! So as of now SW is the cheapest plus Ive always wanted to fly them. Flying from CA to Orlando is so expensive so Im trying to get the best rate. Do their prices every go down and when do you think is the best time to buy? Right now it's $398 and I was hoping for $350 at the most.

We fly Southwest a lot and they have a very refreshing change policy. If fares come down, you can just change to the lower fares and use the extra fund on the first booking for any travel within a year of original booking. There are no change fees. For this reason if it is a price we can live with, we book immediately and then just look for the potential of lower prices.

 

[hsmamato2]

I was online at 6...b/c I am weird that way.... we ended up flying into Fort Meyers for a few days first, but I booked to Orlando first thing(points) before that, I needed 3 seats,by the time I booked 2, the lowest fare was gone (from around 6000 to around 9000 points) Wow! and the flight home from Orlando, I booked 2 yesterday,not too bad at 6 a.m.- I booked one today for same flight is was at least 5000 more points than yesterday for getaway fares.... This is for mid November flights......One thing I noticed starting last year was the lack of nonstop flights all over the place...... that contributes to the rush I think.... I canceled my original flights into MCo so that's 2 more seats for someone!

 

[hsmamato2]

I think things will settle down in a bit..... frenzy of just released fares and all (except for the holiday fares....ugh!) SWA is great with changes if flights go on sale later so that's good....

 

[marthachick]

I was on at 6 a.m. and got our flights from RDU. Checked them later and the return flight had gone up almost 1500 points each. Checked again later and they were back to original "price".

Last year we flew to Las Vegas and returned from Denver. I was checking our flights on a Saturday night and they had actually gone down in points. So there is no set time that they will, for sure, be cheaper. Just keep checking when you think of it.