Southwest new in our area, question

[tlenzendorf]

Southwest just started flying out of Milwaukee to Orlando today! Yay!
Right now the flights seem kind of expensive, $651 for 2 people roundtrip. We are going from March 5 or 6 to the 12 or 13th.

Should I expect the prices to come down? Its cheaper to book our flight thru the Disney website using the same Southwest flights than going direct thru their site.

Addition:
The price has come down to just a little under $600 for 2. But it was down to $560 and bounced up just this morning. Is this common? Should we keep waiting or jump on the prices? I'm just really nervous its going to get unaffordably high.

 

[bellemeeko1]

Definitely go through their site...its always cheaper than even talking to customer service....go to Southwest.com and download DING.....this is something that alerts you to specials and good deals on airfare from your city to different locations, I usually get a DING once a day! Then even after you book your flight if you notice the prices went down, you can change your flight to get the cheaper price and the credit will go towards another time you purchase tickets through them, usually good for a yr! Also SW does not assign seats but they now have something called Early Bird Ckin, this is $10/person one way but instead of cking in 24hrs before you fly out, SW cks you in 36hrs before hand at the 24hr mark you can go and print out your boading passes....this is a new feature from SW!

Right now that price seems high, but it is considered spring break time so I couldnt tell you if they will go down or not......just best to watch them all the time esp at midnight, prices seem to go down then and then back up in the early morning/afternoon hrs...

 

[Poohbug]

I think that prices will come down. We are flying out of MKE in January and are paying $880 for five RT tickets including all taxes and fees.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

When we flew in March of this year, prices seemed to come down in January. I had tons of SWA credits to use because the price kept going down from when I originally purchased the flights.

 

[bookwormde]

The best fares are typically 100-60 days from your flight and you have the best chance by checking early in the morning (6am or before). Weekends are always more difficult to get a good fare but if you fly out early friday and return on a late friday fight you should get much better prices.

bookwormde

 

[backyardponder]

It seems to me that SW raises their fares over the weekends and lowers them early in the week. Check their website daily and keep an eye on the fares.

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

I live in Milwaukee, and I am constantly checking for deals. Nothing too exciting right now......

 

[DonnaL]

I agree with the above posters who all say prices will come down. We've been flying SWA exclusively from PHL to MCO for the past six years (very soon after they started flying from PHL) and I've always found my best prices about 60 to 80 days out..........it pays to check their website daily.......I've got many, many credits for future flights that way. I usually wait and book a price I'm comfortable with....... which is usually more than I end up paying by the time the trip rolls around.....and then I simply save whatever credit I've got from rebooking at a lower fare for the next trip. One thing to keep in mind, however, any credit you receive will need to be used within one year of the ORIGINAL BOOKING DATE NOT THE DATE OF TRAVEL. Warning: It does promote more frequent trips when you have $100/$200 of airline credit which is just begging to be used!!! We just love SWA!!

 

[tlenzendorf]

Thanks, guys. I heard that SW is flying from Rockford direct to Vegas and we are going there in September(hopefully!), so we could use our credits for then

 

[MrMarv]

Allegiant Air offers nonstop service to Las Vegas from Rockford; Southwest isn't starting service to Rockford anytime soon, having added service to Milwaukee & Minneapolis to their list of destinations, with service to Panama City, Fla. starting early in 2010.

They do fly nonstops between Milwaukee & Las Vegas.

They've also stopped adding any more aircraft to their fleet, and have consequently become extremely selective in picking new destinations.

 

[tlenzendorf]

Allegiant Air offers nonstop service to Las Vegas from Rockford; Southwest isn't starting service to Rockford anytime soon, having added service to Milwaukee & Minneapolis to their list of destinations, with service to Panama City, Fla. starting early in 2010.

They've also stopped adding any more aircraft to their fleet.

Thanks, my coworker came back the next day and told me it was Allegiant. I was like dork, thats who I flew with to Vegas last time I am pretty excited they are starting service to Panama City as thats where my grandma and her boyfriend winter and we have an open(and free) invite to stay! It definitely makes it easier to visit instead of flying to Pensacola!

 

[tlenzendorf]

This sure is hard to wait. The flight there jumped up by $35

 

[Microcell]

Also make sure you have signed up for their "click and save" emails too..

 

[jennyleettu]

I agree to wait it out and be sure you sign up for their emails and DING. I was about to book ours 4 weeks out because they hadn't gone down, it was going to be almost $700 for DH and I but then they ran a promo and I got them for under $500.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

This is all good advice about watching and waiting but it depends on a few big factors:
1. Are you traveling at holiday time? If yes, I wouldn't wait. Airlines incl. SWA have cut back # of flights per day and during peak times like Christmas, Easter, etc. you may be stuck.

2. How flexible are you with dates and times? If it's no big deal to return Monday instead of Sunday afternoon then wait a little. If you have school age kids and really must have certain dates/times don't wait too long.
Flexibility is the key to getting a great deal.

3. How likely are you to use credits for future flights? If you rarely fly, the idea of credits wouldn't be very appealing. If you know you'll be back within a year, you might be more inclined to go for it now and watch for price drops.


I totally agree with the pp who said having credits promotes more trips. My dh makes fun of me for booking more trips just to use old credits. I just can't help it. Our March 3 nt cruise is the result of 2 Rapid Rewards + $200 in SWA credits, all expiring in Apr. That's airfare for 3/4 of us. Would be crazy to lose it. Then DCL threw in 'kids sail free' dropping the price we already had by several hundred $.
By then we'll be desparate for sunshine so it will be $ well spent.

 

[tlenzendorf]

We are going March 5th or 6th and returning March 13th. Thats about the only flexibility we have since we want to have a week long trip but do have to return home for the kids eventually... this trip is just going to be the 2 of us

We are going to Vegas next September, and then WDW the following October(2011), so we could accumulate credits to use.

I don't think that its spring break time, according to the touring plans website spring break season starts March 13 for WDW, which is our return date, but I'm not sure what airline companies consider the start of spring break season?