SouthWest mistake in my favor

[RweTHEREyet]

When I got to thinking that I had booked just about everything for our October trip except for airfare, I started checking things out. I had been hoping for a great Ding fare, but I am not brave enough to not have something booked before they start offering Dings for my timeframe. So some Dings then popped up for Tampa, but nor Orlando. O.K., never flown into Tampa when going to Orlando, but mentioned it to hubby and he didn't have any issues with driving from Tampa.

Then, yesterday at work, I just decided to see what time the flights were to Tampa, since the one from Raleigh was not until 8:50, and I would like a little earlier. There was an internet special with a time better than the ones to Orlando, and the site listed the base fare as $79. I decided to click to see total with taxes, etc, and the fare came out to $54 and some change. I thought that has to be wrong. I went out, came back in and it came up again. So, I decided to book on the spot. Then booked a flight for hubby, got the same thing. We are still a little up in the air about our return, but I went ahead and booked from Tampa, got the same fare, knowing that it is so easy to reschedule with SouthWest.

So, I got our round trip flights for $108. I am tickled to pieces as that is about half what I was expecting. Still need to book son and girlfriend, but he doesn't have his class schedule finalized yet.

This morning, I checked again, just to see what would happen, and the $79 fare actually priced out at $90 something. So, I feel it was just a fluke in their system. Have you ever had this happen?

 

[dznyacct]

A friend of mine at work has an aunt who has a beautiful vacation home in Tampa. My friend has invited me and two other friends from work to go to her aunt's for a 5/6 day "girls only" trip in October . We are kicking around dates and my friend went to the SWA website to price out flights. She had the exact same experience as you! One way flights were lsited as $79 + taxes/fees, but RT ended up pricing out at $108 ! Unfortunately, we couldn't book our flights yet as my friend needs to talk to her aunt to make sure that the dates we have been discussing are OK. I'm hoping that once we have firm dates, a DING! will come out for Tampa again. I believe there was one for Indy - Tampa last week for ~$89 RT NS. Now that would be a cheap flight !

 

[RweTHEREyet]

Wonder if we were checking flights on the same day or if this happens often with Southwest?

Hope all works out for you in getting your flights to Tampa at a great price.

 

[mareed]

I saw that too when I was checking Houston to Tampa. Tampa was their featured city this week, and I booked our tickets Wednesday at a little over $100 round-trip. I think the special officially ended Thursday night and when I checked Friday morning out of curiosity, the listed price was higher like you saw, but when I actually selected the flights and priced it out, it was the same at just over $100. I think they were in the process of updating their system, and the special hadn't quite been completely removed. So, it sounds like you got in on the special just in time! Good for you!

It looks like car rental is a bit higher from Tampa instead of Orlando, but I'm still hoping to lower my rate.

 

[dznyacct]

I hope that we can get one of those great SWA deals for our "girls gone wild" trip ! It was Friday when my friend stumbled upon the low fare. I LOVE flying SWA and do hope that we fly them in October (plus the fact that I have $56 in ticketless travel funds because of a great DING! that came along for our September WDW trip doesn't hurt ).

 

[RweTHEREyet]

I saw that too when I was checking Houston to Tampa. Tampa was their featured city this week, and I booked our tickets Wednesday at a little over $100 round-trip. I think the special officially ended Thursday night and when I checked Friday morning out of curiosity, the listed price was higher like you saw, but when I actually selected the flights and priced it out, it was the same at just over $100. I think they were in the process of updating their system, and the special hadn't quite been completely removed. So, it sounds like you got in on the special just in time! Good for you!

It looks like car rental is a bit higher from Tampa instead of Orlando, but I'm still hoping to lower my rate.

My rental car rate was the same in Tampa as in Orlando, but I am hoping they will come dome some.

When I checked SW on Friday, the fare also priced out higher, at the rate that it showed. So, it seems I really did just get in under the wire.

Anybody know the driving time from Tampa to WDW? I was remembering that it is around 45-60 minutes, is that correct?

 

[mareed]

My rental car rate was the same in Tampa as in Orlando, but I am hoping they will come dome some.

When I checked SW on Friday, the fare also priced out higher, at the rate that it showed. So, it seems I really did just get in under the wire.

Anybody know the driving time from Tampa to WDW? I was remembering that it is around 45-60 minutes, is that correct?

Mapquest shows from Tampa airport to the AK area at 76 miles and about 85 minutes, so it sounds like it's a bit longer than you remembered. I still think it's worth the slightly longer drive for the savings!