Southwest opening flights on May 18th.......................

[BYC]

...........................Does anyone know what time they open up? Is it at midnight, or in the morning, or when? Thank you!

 

[Disneylover99]

In the morning. Sometimes as early as 5:30am, though in February (when new dates opened) I think it was after 7:30am, cause I remember I had to abandon my search and go to work.

 

[BYC]

In the morning. Sometimes as early as 5:30am, though in February (when new dates opened) I think it was after 7:30am, cause I remember I had to abandon my search and go to work.

Thank you! Also---Am I likely to get a reasonable price booking right away? I am so nervous not to book....because I really want particular flight times, and we are 7 people. Do you think the prices will be jacked up on day one??

 

[Disneylover99]

Thank you! Also---Am I likely to get a reasonable price booking right away? I am so nervous not to book....because I really want particular flight times, and we are 7 people. Do you think the prices will be jacked up on day one??

A couple of years ago I would have said yes, prices are almost always the cheapest the day they open. I always check the prices of SW out of Buffalo to Orlando the day they open for my August and December trips. But recently, for me anyways, I've found opening day prices too high to book. As an example, my August dates were going to cost me over $300 round trip per person. When I checked in April, my same dates were down to $188 round trip per person!

I'm sure it depends on time of year, flexibility of dates and the airport you fly out of.

If I were you, I'd just book at a price you're comfortable with and keep checking to see if you can get a credit should prices drop. Good luck!

 

[buzzrelly]

My opening day price was kind of high…$174 BDL to MCO…I booked it anyway and checked the website almost daily. Two weeks ago I saw the same flight for $134 so I called and got a $40 travel credit. I'm super excited because now I can use that to book my return flight when they come out May 18th

 

[greenclan67]

We find they are all over the map. I book Buf to MCO or TPA. We are going in December around 25 to 28 and returning on Jan 4th or 5th. We are a little flexible because we own a timeshare, and I have booked Dec 23rd to Jan 5th, so I can take and add a day if need be, but because we are going again in March, I know that if I book and it drops, I can get the credit to use in March. That being said, I have done the last 4 years at Christmas, and last year the 3rd, 4th and 5th of January last year ran at $79 a few times, so I won't be booking that flight unless it comes out at $79. because I believe it will drop to around the $80 mark. Going down, I am booking when I see it get to where I am comfortable, around $140 to $170 so if it comes out that low, I will book it. I have $45 credit I can use on the way down, from a March trip that I booked in Jan. So I will use that credit for my flight down, but won't use for flight home as it's after the 1 year date. Hoping for good prices, but I have notoriously seen them drop between Sept/Oct. for Christmas.
March this year, there was never a good drop and paid more then I usually do. But I stalked the site like a crazy person, and ended up with $132 down, (only 1 flight that dropped to that price) and that is where I got the credit for. They were all over the map. I check JetBlue as well, they are only open to Jan 3rd, but I have already seen them drop some. $209 down and $150 ish home. Do what you feel comfortable with.

 

[Shanti]

Thank you! Also---Am I likely to get a reasonable price booking right away? I am so nervous not to book....because I really want particular flight times, and we are 7 people. Do you think the prices will be jacked up on day one??

I booked SWA for last year's spring break on opening day and the prices were outrageous. I've since booked multiple SWA flights for other popular times (Christmas vacation, summer) far after opening day, and never encountered such inflated prices as I did the one time I booked on opening day.

 

[BYC]

Thank you all for your replies. I still don't know what to do...but I have more to think about!!

 

[Shanti]

One other issue I've experienced when booking early via SWA is that if the initial price does drop, then you have a somewhat more limited time to fly using your savings, in relation to the originally scheduled trip. Since the credit is only good for a year from the booking date, that requires you to fly again closer to the original trip than if you'd waited longer to book the flight.

 

[Dean1953]

I've planned a Christmas trip to Disney for about a year. We now have 77,000 RR points and I'll book one ways for 6 people starting Monday until the points run out. If the point total needed goes down, I'll contact SWA to have the excess points returned to my account. The way fares from MCI to MCO have been going, I don't expect to have enough points to book all 6 round trips.

 

[pooch]

Booking 7 RT from BDL to MCO 11/11 - 11/18. I currently have about 116,000 RR points to use. I hope to have enough to book them all on Thursday. It usually runs about 11,000 for me to fly down & back but I fly mid week. Hoping the Saturday to Saturday isnt wildly higher!!

 

[PCFriar80]

Here's one other factor I'll add. Sometimes Southwest only has a certain amount of seats for a certain price and in your case where there are 7 people flying you may not see the lowest [wanna get away fare]. As an example, you may see a $100 fare for your date/time but when you enter 7 in the reservation you get a different price. If you lower the number of passengers to whatever the threshold is you may get the advertised price.
It may be 2 or 4 or 6. So, my suggestion is to book as many as you can at the advertised price under one ressie and the rest on another. It sounds complicated but it really isn't .

 

[pooch]

An excellent suggestion! I will do that.

 

[Lothlórien]

I have seen them released as early as 3 in the morning and as late as 7.

 

[yankebabie]

We booked air on SWA as soon as window opened for our June trip. Got $89 each way going and coming back out of Albany, NY to MCO. I have not seen the price ever come down that low again as I keep checking

 

[GPC0321]

Anxiously awaiting the 18th as well. If they don't release until 7am or so, I'll have to wait until I get home from work. I've got 53k RR points and about 4500 UR points that I can transfer if needed to cover 3 round trip tickets from RDU to MCO. Historically, this should be enough, but we'll see what things look like when they are released. If I don't have enough to cover it right away, I'll just keep plugging away with my Chase cards to earn more UR and watching SWA's site to hopefully see a drop in fares. I'm thinking we should be good though with the points I have available.

 

[Lothlórien]

We booked air on SWA as soon as window opened for our June trip. Got $89 each way going and coming back out of Albany, NY to MCO. I have not seen the price ever come down that low again as I keep checking

Awesome deal.

We went to Disneyland last year and we paid $41 each way to and from LAX. We kept waiting for them to say "just kidding" when we checked out. Lol

 

[klk77]

We've never gone at Christmas before, so I don't know what to expect for flight prices. JetBlue has a one way out of Buffalo to MCO on December 31 for $209 with no bags. It's a later flight than I'd like (late afternoon), and I don't know if that's a reasonable price.

I'm hoping that there will be a better timed flight and a cheaper one when southwest schedule opens. Is that unrealistic? I couldn't find flights below $200 one-way for our August trip either. Maybe I've got bad timing this year.

What prices do people generally pay around Christmas?

 

[greenclan67]

I saw the $209 from Buf on jetblue as well. I am truly guessing here. But we have done xmas the last 4 years. It has been cheaper then March for us. I know that the 4th/5th I am expecting it to be around $80 thats what it was coming home the last 2 years.
Going down i think i got it for $157.00 but i went earlier last year. SW will have more times at least.

 

[klk77]

Wow! I never see prices for less than $100, I must not be flying at the right times. I'd like to get flights for less than $200 one way, and would be ecstatic if I could get them for less than $100! I feel like booking flights is a gamble, that I rarely win.

I guess I should hold off in the JetBlue flight, although the summer ones still haven't dropped. I ended up buying southwest, but for more than I'd paid before. Crappy Canadian dollar isn't helping either...