Southwest price ?

[mymankeith]

We are going to Orlando Sept 22-28th this year. We bought our flight down when Southwest had their huge sale and got tickets on a Monday flight for $99, but our flight back the following Monday from Orlando has NEVER WENT DOWN. Its always either $183 or $201. I check everyday,(few times a day) LOl, and I know $183 from Mco to Stl is still high. For people who fly a lot on Southwest, its it normal for certain tickets to never go down in price? I have flown a few times on Southwest from Florida to home, and have never paid more than $121. I'm just getting nervous cause I have never waited this long to buy airfare. We only fly once every few years, so its not worth it for me to buy now, and then get a credit if it goes down. Thanks for any info

 

[Jestocost]

We fly STL-MCO several times a year and, believe me, $183 for a one way is not high for the times of year we travel. It may be for some of the off seasons.

As to your question, we usually never see a reduction in price for our tickets after we book. That's typically during holidays, spring break, summer or other peak times, however, so not unexpected. I think maybe 2-3 times over the past 5-6 years we may have had a slight price reduction

 

[ironz]

We are going to Orlando Sept 22-28th this year. We bought our flight down when Southwest had their huge sale and got tickets on a Monday flight for $99, but our flight back the following Monday from Orlando has NEVER WENT DOWN. Its always either $183 or $201. I check everyday,(few times a day) LOl, and I know $183 from Mco to Stl is still high. For people who fly a lot on Southwest, its it normal for certain tickets to never go down in price? I have flown a few times on Southwest from Florida to home, and have never paid more than $121. I'm just getting nervous cause I have never waited this long to buy airfare. We only fly once every few years, so its not worth it for me to buy now, and then get a credit if it goes down. Thanks for any info

I'm seeing $168 right now for MCO to STL on 9/28. .

 

[mymankeith]

I'm seeing $168 right now for MCO to STL on 9/28. .

I know, but the problem is, I need the last flight out, and right now, that one is $201

 

[mdsd8700]

Yes I would say that sometimes a price never goes down. It definitely has been that way for us in the past. However there are times when it does goes down and this year we had that happen quite a bit.

I booked 4 trips this year 3 to MCO (January, June and September) and one to LAX (November). We fly SW out of Midway 95% of the time, typically we book as soon as the schedule opens and for the most part that is generally the best price. Although there have been times when fares have gone lower and I have gotten a credit. This year however all but one of the flights (June) has gone down a lot in price. For June the price only increased however with the other flights I was surprised by the amount of times I re-booked. I got one way flights as low as $49 for MCO and $99 for LAX. Of course they are more off peak months and many are not weekend days. The September flight has only gone up in price since the last time I re-booked in early June. September is getting closer and in general I have found that our flights will only begin to creep up as the date gets closer. If you find a price that you are okay paying, it may be best just to get them.

 

[cbellasmomma]

Book it! If the price goes down you get a credit.

I booked my flights when they first came out and then my husband's a month later. They have never been cheaper than my tickets or the price I paid a month later (and it is now 5 months later). I think SW is cheap on the front end only.

 

[Yellowjj]

With a little multi-ticketing, you can get it for $148.

The downside is you arrive about 2 1/2 hours after the nonstop flight

 

[emilymad]

We are traveling around the same dates in September and Southwests prices haven't moved in weeks. We rebooked in June to a good rate but the price has gone way up since then. I would book now before the price increases.

 

[TravelMommy]

We actually just rebooked our hotel, and changed our travel dates, because our airfare was $1400. more than we were willing to pay I am horrified at how much our school vacation airfare is!..... We generally have always booked right when flights are released and have only needed to get a credit once out of our last 10 flights.

 

[PlutoPony]

Have you looked at other airlines? SW isn't always the cheapest option any more

 

[ruley3]

I am struggling with the same dilemma :/

 

[SnipsNSnails]

Check nearby airports too. We are saving $80 pp ($320 total) just by flying into Tampa instead of Orlando. You would have to figure out alternative transportation to DME but if the savings are enough it can be worth it. We weren't planning on DME because we're flying in a day ahead and my parents who winter in FL are picking us up and we'll spend one night with them, so it was really worth the extra 20 - 25 min in the car to save the $$ for us! We're still flying out of MCO on the return because it was cheapest.

 

[Dentam]

I got a roundtrip fare on SW for $325 from DEN to MCO for Sept. 5th-12th. I kept hoping it would go down but prices have in fact gone up by about $30 since I booked a week or so ago.

 

[barbliny]

We use Southwest to many destinations, and yes it is normal for some tickets to barely move in price, and some just seem to go up, and at least in the markets we use the 'wanna getaway' fares sell-out on some days particularly around the holidays. (But, just to add to the confusion, I have had tickets drop substantially after I booked and wound up with credit).

Have you tried checking airfare for the 29th? Sometimes the extra hotel night is less expensive than the difference in airfare for the entire party.

Also, make sure you check the fares one by one. Sometimes, there is only 1 or 2 tickets left at the lowest price. If you put in a number higher than the number of lowest fares left, you will unfairly see the higher price for all of the tickets you are trying to book. It's a little more annoying when checking in, and more than one person will need to be at the ready exactly 24 hours before the flight.

I basically pick a price I'm comfortable paying and if it gets close to that I book. If I see it doing nothing other than going up, that also causes me to book even if the fare is more than my target area.

 

[mymankeith]

I did end up buying my flight home this morning. It was $183, but I was scared to wait, and about 2 hours later, it was back up to $201!!! I did check 1 ticket at a time, and I did think of flying home the next day and staying an extra night, but we are already flying in a day early and then changing hotels, so I didn't want to do that to my family again. lol. We are renting points at Beach Club, so its not like I could just add another night. Thanks for all the suggestions. I have never paid more than $129 for our flights to MCO and back, so it is crazy the flights home never really went on sale( and i have been checking for 6 months0. LOL . They had some cheaper flights earlier in the day, but we wanted the last flight out so we could have an extra park day.

 

[pooh4evr]

flying out of STL in Mid October $183 is decent. Ours are much higher.

 

[Aurora0427]

We are in Houston and just booked our October trip for $924 total for 3 people. The fare was $154 each way. I've only gotten a flight to Orlando for $99 once, and it was last December. $183 doesn't sound too bad.

 

[KikiFan]

I'm in the same spot. I found a get away fair going to MCO from Dallas for only $54 so I snatched that up. But return flights are $200. I'm so frustrated - wondering if there's any chance the price will come down. Or should I just go with another airline? (unfortunately that's going to mean flying in and out from different airports)

 

[Dentam]

$254 doesn't sound bad to me!

 

[KikiFan]

$254 doesn't sound bad to me!

Dentam, I've never paid that much going from Dallas to Orlando! The highest I can remember paying is $200. Most times I managed to get fares of around $125-150.