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

[klk77]

Please wait. I have never ever booked this route opening day. We are looking for dec 28th and back jan 5th. Last year the 5th was $79 in Oct. I didnt book cause they will drop. Xmas has been cheaper for me then March the last 4 years.

Buying flights is so nerve-wracking! I know it's hard to compare flights from other departure cities, but I feel I never see these great prices. Below $150 maybe (not this year, though, for August), but never less than $100. Maybe I don't check enough or at the right times.

We've never gone at Christmas before (except when I was a kid, and we always drove), so I don't know what to expect. However, for this "extra" trip (for marathon weekend), I was really hoping to keep costs at August prices or lower. Maybe that's unrealistic. May never convince my DH to do this again, if I don't find cheaper prices.

Flight times aren't the greatest either.

 

[Pennstate6411]

Where are you guys flying from that prices were "insane" - we got round trip with early bird check in and it was under 1200 for 3 of us- that wasn't horrible considering the way prices were from BWI to ORL were most days in the prior schedule- we were thinking we would have to pay 1500 or more. Also, checked back today and me and my family have already saved over $200 by booking first thing- prices have climbed by $25 a seat down and $35 a seat on the way back

 

[Lisa0620]

I was checking out the November flights Southwest (finally) released today. The Sunday after Thanksgiving has two flights to Denver, neither at a desirable time. I flipped through times on other days, out of curiosity, and there are days when Southwest adds two other flights. Flights that depart at reasonable times!! Why, Southwest?!? Why have extra flights mid-week on a Tuesday but not on the Sunday after Thanksgiving? Hello, busiest travel of the year! Especially from Orlando! Now we're left to make the decision of whether it makes more sense to pay slightly more for flights on United (the Southwest prices are high!! I'm really not liking it. $900 cheapest for only one person) that work for us. Ugh. I'm very disappointed.

This is our third TG flying SW to MCO and I've noticed the same thing, fewer flights than at non busy times. I guess just because air traffic everywhere is so heavy that coverage to MCO gets thinned out. The first year I thought they might add flights, but I haven't seen it happen. I do expect the price to drop but it usually happens piecemeal, where I have to rebook (on points) one direction/one person at a time over non consecutive days and eventually end up with a decent price. In 2014 they had good prices the first day that immediately went up, would have been nice if they had followed that model again this year instead of crazy high right out of the gate!

 

[pooch]

Where are you guys flying from that prices were "insane" - we got round trip with early bird check in and it was under 1200 for 3 of us- that wasn't horrible considering the way prices were from BWI to ORL were most days in the prior schedule- we were thinking we would have to pay 1500 or more. Also, checked back today and me and my family have already saved over $200 by booking first thing- prices have climbed by $25 a seat down and $35 a seat on the way back

Yup, 1200 for 3 people, that would be insane for me. I have been traveling BDL (Hartford CT) to MCO every year since 2006 and I expect under $100 each way NON-STOP. I was able to get that ($98 - 5600 points) for the way down but the return flight is like $187 - 14000+ points. That is insane in my book. I still have 80,000 to use but I need 7 tickets. I will watch and wait.

 

[Pennstate6411]

This is our third TG flying SW to MCO and I've noticed the same thing, fewer flights than at non busy times. I guess just because air traffic everywhere is so heavy that coverage to MCO gets thinned out. The first year I thought they might add flights, but I haven't seen it happen. I do expect the price to drop but it usually happens piecemeal, where I have to rebook (on points) one direction/one person at a time over non consecutive days and eventually end up with a decent price. In 2014 they had good prices the first day that immediately went up, would have been nice if they had followed that model again this year instead of crazy high right out of the gate!

BWI to MCO wasn't high out of the gates- Most flights were under $200 one way, but by 9:00 many were up into the $180s and mid $200s

 

[Pennstate6411]

Yup, that would be insane for me. I have been traveling BDL (Hartford CT) to MCO every year since 2006 and I expect under $100 each way non-stop. I was able to get that ($98 - 5600 points) for the way down but the return flight is like $187 - 14000+ points. That is insane in my book. I still have 80,000 to use but I need 7 tickets. I will watch and wait.

We expected $1500 mainly because we will only fly non-stop and there were limited times we were willing to take this trip as our DD will still be 4 months shy of 3 when we fly. We also have to drive from Harrisburg to Baltimore that day so extremely early morning flights were out for us with the DD. Since we will then have an 1 1/2 hour drive home the following week we didn't want late night flights either. So we paid I think "decent" prices for the times we selected and being picky of non-stop.

I miss the days of AirTran where we could just fly out of HIA and pay $200 or so per person round trip.

 

[rileyz]

Where are you guys flying from that prices were "insane" - we got round trip with early bird check in and it was under 1200 for 3 of us- that wasn't horrible considering the way prices were from BWI to ORL were most days in the prior schedule- we were thinking we would have to pay 1500 or more. Also, checked back today and me and my family have already saved over $200 by booking first thing- prices have climbed by $25 a seat down and $35 a seat on the way back

I'm flying PVD to MCO on 11/17. Wanted to return 11/26 but flights were $484 pp so we switched to 11/25 7:40pm flight. Our total for 3 ppl is $1550. We had points to cover $250 of that.

 

[crazywig]

Where are you guys flying from that prices were "insane"

Providence. At open all flights on my dates of Nov 17-24 were $212 each way. That is double the usual price and I've been flying this route on SW for about seventeen years.

I moved our dates to the 16-23rd and saved hundreds (paid cash on some tix, points on the rest).

 

[JadeDarkstar]

mine were sold out when I checked this morning now im scrambling to get a different airline. meaning my gift cards are going to be for the return flight

 

[monarchsfan16]

Manchester prices and options were ugly too. We're going down Veterans Day weekend, and half the "wanna get away" fares were "sold out" when they opened up for the return trip. And coming home, my return flight options were to leave by noon or to leave at 10:25 PM. Uhhh.... And $300 one way for a nonstop? I'm used to paying about $350 roundtrip (I travel during school breaks), so I wasn't expecting $59 but I also wasn't expecting a roundtrip caliber price for a one way.

I'm hoping they will add more flights, because those return flight options are absurd. There used to be a 6 pm nonstop back, and that was perfect. 10:30? Not so much.

 

[BGinCali]

What a nerve-wracking day! Just adding my disappointment in prices - no "wanna get-away" fares offered for my Thanksgiving weekend return to LAX (either Sat or Sun). Not expecting a price reduction (currently over $600 per person for return leg), but will keep checking!

 

[Pennstate6411]

I'm flying PVD to MCO on 11/17. Wanted to return 11/26 but flights were $484 pp so we switched to 11/25 7:40pm flight. Our total for 3 ppl is $1550. We had points to cover $250 of that.

Thankfully we have the Venture card so 950 of our 1200 is covered with our rewards points.

 

[Lisa0620]

Where are you guys flying from that prices were "insane"

Sat-Sat Thanksgiving week from Flint was $636/pp rt when they first opened; same outbound flight is now $53 more and return flight is "sold out" for wanna get away fares.

 

[rileyz]

Thankfully we have the Venture card so 950 of our 1200 is covered with our rewards points.

The insane thing is I just checked now and it would cost me $900 more to book the same flights. I guess getting up at 6 was worth it, although I'd bet I see some reduction before the trip.

 

[Lynne G]

Hoping me too. At least I could use the vouchers I got last year, when our flight that was to leave at 10pm, left at 1:30am. Not fun, as by the time we got to our hotel, it was after 2am.

But, crazy as I thought the price was, we paid about the same as last year. Only thing is, the flights were significantly less in number, and even less in number of direct flights. Either you leave way before dawn, or left late in the afternoon. Last year, we got a direct 7pm flight, this year, the latest direct home is 6pm. Not happy, but US Air is the only other real contender, and well, about the same price. I will say, prices have risen quite a bit today. Hoping adding a flight or two, and yes, I will continue to stalk.

At least this part of the trip is now set, and paid for.

Here's hoping everyone gets a fare they can live with. And ha, I don't think I've ever paid less than 97 dollars one way on SW.

 

[DisMommyTX]

Sounds like some of you might have experience with this. I usually book flights on points for me and the kids together, which means we get one confirmation number. This morning, I needed to cancel one of the three flights but wanted to keep the other two, and it wouldn't let me. I could only modify or cancel all three vs. one at a time. I know I have done it in the past to get a single flight 'cheaper' (fewer points) without altering the other two. I ended up canceling all three and rebooking two for a couple hundred extra points each . At least I got my 12,000 points back to book the Christmas flight I needed, but now I am worried about how this might affect changes in the future.

Has anyone else tried to change a single flight on a multi-flight confirmation number? I'm pretty sure it worked for me before... though I am a bit sleep deprived and am not positive of anything at the moment. I'm hoping this was just a glitch, because it is going to be a problem for me. Sometimes they only have one or two 'seats' available on the lower points and other times I need to cancel one of the kids but not all of us. I don't want to have to cancel everything to change a single flight. If that is a new 'feature' I may have to start booking everything individually, but checking in everyone one at a time is a pain as well.

Has anyone else tried this lately?

 

[PSULion]

BWI to MCO wasn't high out of the gates- Most flights were under $200 one way, but by 9:00 many were up into the $180s and mid $200s

The shock for me came in comparison to last year... non stop from BWI to MCO, Saturday to Saturday, bought on release day last year cost us $688 ($86 pp/each leg). This morning the exact same week, practically same flight times would have cost us $1360. Almost double!

So maybe compared to other airlines or other airports the initial prices at BWI weren't bad, but compared to the same time of year last year they are substantially higher.

After seeing prices this morning, driving down has come back into the conversation. Bleh.

 

[stinkpickle]

$88 one way to/from STL.

 

[ColoradoMom12]

Where are you guys flying from that prices were "insane"

Denver. Round trip the cheapest I can get per person is $900. There are no "wanna get away" fares available for the return on 11/26. Once in a while, more of those fares become available later, usually on a Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday. IDK about TG (this year will be a first for us), but I got a wanna get away fare a few years ago for late August. There was nothing when they first made the flights available, but I waited about 6-8 weeks and more became available. I'd find it really hard to believe that all of the wanna get away tickets for every single flight were sold out (as SW claims) before I checked at a little after 4:30 this morning! I know for a fact there are extremely few people who get up as early as I do! I'm going to wait a few weeks and hope more wanna get away fares are released. Otherwise we will need to look at changing our travel plans to hopefully get cheaper tickets traveling on a Saturday or our budget to make $3600 in plane tickets (at times that don't even work for us) a reality. Yikes. I'm really frustrated!

 

[ibob52]

On the SWA release date prior to this one ... I was online early (PST) to get my Flight Reservations .. I struggled to purchase our Flights (at a time and price that was not ideal)

Later that same Day the Flight time and price (that was more favorable) was available.