Southwest opened their Spring schedule this morning, any stories good or bad?

[JasonDVC]

I was online this morning patiently waiting to buy Southwest airfare for Spring break. The schedule opened up at about 6:30am EST this morning and I grabbed non-stop flights from Providence to Orlando for $475/pp RT. Way more than I have ever paid but I am happy to be taking that vacation.

FYI...The flight I booked for the trip down was sold out in 75 minutes(Wanna get away fare)! WOW!!

Anyone else have any stories of their experience this morning?

 

[nolanboys]

I was debating about waiting to book on Southwest for our March trip because of the free bags. We got 6 tickets on Frontier, out of Milwaukee, non-stop for $1400 so I went with those. I just checked Southwest to see what their fares were and were unimpressed. Usually you can snag a pretty good deal the first day flights are open, but I was surprised to see that they were more money. Glad I jumped on the deal I got.

 

[Lenc324]

I heard Southwest is buying Air Trans. The flew to SC

 

[alldiz]

Just booked flights from long island to MCO for 3 people.

Dep 4/12....return 4/24(easter) Yikes....cheapest 1 way was $258....and the afternoon flights were already sold out. I am returning on the 7:45 flight. Will be a looooooong day.

Cost me $1213.20 for 3.

So I will be going to MCO about 4:30- 5:00 on Easter sunday That should be a quiet scene

Anyone know if I can add the 10pp to do automatic checkin for my return after I booked flight????
Thanks
Kerri

 

[Janis]

Anyone know if I can add the 10pp to do automatic checkin for my return after I booked flight????
Thanks
Kerri

Yes you can. I just did it yesterday.

 

[Psychodisney]

I booked for 3/27-4/1 out of Chicago. Highest I've ever paid! Also tried to use a reward ticket and all the reasonable times were unavailable, so we're coming home late. Keep checking, you never know....they might go down.

 

[Bouncin-Tigger]

Sw prices look to have skyrocketed, not to many $99 flights that r non stop anymore, unless they are at sunrise or at night. Driving seems to be a better option for us.

 

[alldiz]

Yes you can. I just did it yesterday.

Thanks I just called. I think this will be well worth 30 bucks for our returning flight on Easter. And I HATE having to plan that last day to be near a computer.

I booked for 3/27-4/1 out of Chicago. Highest I've ever paid! Also tried to use a reward ticket and all the reasonable times were unavailable, so we're coming home late. Keep checking, you never know....they might go down.

Don't know if i'll be going at peak times again....price And lets see if i can get on any rides.

Sw prices look to have skyrocketed, not to many $99 flights that r non stop anymore, unless they are at sunrise or at night. Driving seems to be a better option for us.

Seems cheapest fares are $125 now.

 

[TDC Nala]

I was online this morning patiently waiting to buy Southwest airfare for Spring break. The schedule opened up at about 6:30am EST this morning and I grabbed non-stop flights from Providence to Orlando for $475/pp RT. QUOTE]

PER PERSON? To Orlando? And it's not the Business Select fare? Holy crap.

I need a flight to California in May, so I'm still waiting - but I wouldn't even pay that to go to California.

 

[wildernessDad]

I got three RT adult tickets from BWI to MCO for dates in March and the total was $571.20.

 

[JasonDVC]

PER PERSON? To Orlando? And it's not the Business Select fare? Holy crap.

I need a flight to California in May, so I'm still waiting - but I wouldn't even pay that to go to California.

It was the most I have ever paid for airfare to Orlando but I got good flight times.

BTW...the flight I booked down is already sold out and the the flight home is already up $81. Looks like waking up early paid off...sort of.

 

[JasonDVC]

I got three RT adult tickets from BWI to MCO for dates in March and the total was $571.20.

Jealous!

 

[mickey&minniealways]

You said that you are flying out of Providence. Have you considered flying out of Logan instead. We are in southern NH. Boston/Manchester regional is about 8 miles from us. However even adding transportation to the airport we find that flying out of Boston is usually cheaper. Also, even if the flight for other airlines are are cheaper the extra charges for luggage and the rest add up. I would keep checking to see if their rates go down.

 

[dopeygirl76]

I got on at 7am and the flights out of Pittsburgh were $186 each way. We either fly Airtran or SW depending what is cheaper .....won't have that choice much longer. On SW website it discusses the buy out. No changes in the near future, they will keep SW bags fly free but also their crazy boarding.

We opted to fly down (Apr 16th) SW for $186 each (four of us) Airtran was $176 per person and then you all the choose a seat fee $6 plus 2 checked bags ....Coming home we changed to Monday April 25th - we were coming hime on Easter - 25th is DDs 7th bday and I wanted a chance to relax....but it was a significant difference - $90 per person. So we fly home AirTran at $135 each.

We actually considered driving because we have NEVER paid this much to fly but 15 hrs drive time with a 3 & 6 yr old (oh and me!!!) does not sound fun!!!

 

[JasonDVC]

You said that you are flying out of Providence. Have you considered flying out of Logan instead. We are in southern NH. Boston/Manchester regional is about 8 miles from us. However even adding transportation to the airport we find that flying out of Boston is usually cheaper. Also, even if the flight for other airlines are are cheaper the extra charges for luggage and the rest add up. I would keep checking to see if their rates go down.

Logan does not offer non-stops to MCO. I prefer to pay a little more to go non-stop. I also checked JetBlue and AirtTran out of Boston and both were equally as expensive.

I figured I'd stick with the shorter ride and shorter flight

 

[Simba's Mom]

Wow! I've been waiting for this as we wanted to fly April 21 or 22, and the fare was $109 each way. Well, today's fare was over $200 one way. Hopefully, this merger or buyout with Airtran will ultimately help us.

 

[kaitlyn0616]

Flying from Long Island on Southwest April 16th and returning the 22nd for 3 people 1060.00 and I booked as soon as they opened

 

[mousefan1972]

Good story... bought 4 tickets from MHT (Manchester, NH) to Orlando 4/15-4/22, nonstop both ways, good flight times, for $1700. Booked right when flights were opened early this am. How is that good, you ask? Came home from work and decided if the kids are going to miss school anyway on Friday 4/15, why not fly down the night before (5:35 pm nonstop so they can go to school the entire day on Thursday) and then have a full day on Friday, rather than landing at 2:40 pm. First called MS to see if there was a studio available at BLT for 4/14 (we have a 1 BR 4/15-4/22 but didn't want to use points for a 1 BR for the 1st night when we'll be getting there at 10 pm). Not only was there a studio, I had my choice of standard, lake or MK view.

So, booked a standard view studio for 4/14, switched flight to that night, price drops by $240. Now have travel funds for next flight, and an extra full day of vacation.

 

[quirty30]

Well this didn't pan out well for us - I could have booked Airtran MDW/MCO a few weeks ago for $238 a person RT on our desired dates (3/19 thru 3/23.) I hemmed and hawed and I checked again a few days later and it was up to $300 p/p. So I held out hope for SW. Even moving our flight up a day, the best I could do on SW was $283. Ended up back with Airtran and paid $256 a person; again, leaving a day earlier. We get in at 11:30PM and I have enough Hyatt Passport points for a free night at the airport Hyatt. And we can take DME to WDW in the morning and get there early. For what it's worth, this probably works out a little better for us as far as time to spend at WDW is concerned. And lesson learned, next time I see fairly reasonable fare for spring break, I will jump on it.

P.S. I live 5 minutes from O'Hare and flying out of Midway is a bit inconvenient - but the cheapest fares out of ORD for either departure date was at least $355 a person - so I can live with Midway.

 

[GrumpyPOTFH]

Just booked fights out of Chicago to Orlando for Feb 19 to Feb 26. We are going to spend 2 nights at BLT, 3 nights VB and 2 nights VWL. Got two round trip tickets for a total of $10.00. Yes that is correct, my DW fly's two weeks a month on Southwest and we have over 11 award tickets. Also because of how much she travels I fly with her on a companion pass for free, so it like having 22 round trip tickets.

We LOV Southwest. With their purchase of Air Tran we look forward to using our awards to some of their locations.