southwest ticket prices for December Wait or purchase????

[figment301]

I need advice. Southwest finally opened up the dates for December. But the tickets are $100 more each ticket than I expected. I don't know if I should wait and see if any deals come out or if I should book now to lock in the non-stop flights/times that I want. I won't be flying again before a credit would expire if I were to book and then get a price adjustment if the price went down.

What are the odds that they will come out with a deal? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Mrs. Charming]

I booked ours today. I figured it's more likely that they'll go up and a slim chance they'll go down. They were $100/way, which was just about the threshhold of what I'm willing to pay. I do have to admit, there was a BIG ol sticker shock when I got the total. I hope you get a good answer!!

 

[tinkmom2]

If the flight looks like the seats are filling up I book it. However I could have saved us $500.00 if I would have waited for the summer sales to book.

 

[slappy1974]

You can download the Ding! program from Southwest.

It usually has lower fares available than the usual southwest.com website.

 

[powelweb]

Wow- our tickets have gone up $35 each since I booked earlier today.

 

[Psychodisney]

I'd say it depends on when in December. If it's the two weeks around Christmas, I'd say jump on it now. It always seems that the holiday periods are excluded from any sales.

 

[figment301]

The flights are $157 each way each and I had figured the most would be $100 each way. I am traveling the first two weeks of December.

 

[encinc]

I'm asking myself the same thing. I couldn't book this morning at $129, because I was getting too many "oops" messages. The fare for the flight we'd prefer is now at $154. Jetblue is sitting at $139. I'm going to hold out a little longer and hope they don't go up any more. We're traveling December 1 (or 2nd depending on available flight times), so not a peak time. If I'm going to have to pay that much for a ticket, I'd rather not give the airlines my money this much in advance. I hope I'm not making a mistake.

 

[mrsklamc]

I say, book if you can live with it, and will fly again w/in the next year. They'll give you credit if the price goes down and you call them.

 

[SGMCO]

book now because I booked our tickets on the 1st day they were relisted
for Sept. and they since have gone up $110.00 each.
SW is the only airline that doesn't charge for luggage so I take that into
account whenever I'm comparing other airline prices.

 

[figment301]

I just got an email offer from Air Tran. But I can't remember if this is the airline that was mentioned here and that it was not a good airline???? Help I am trying to save money, but don't want to travel with a bad airline. Thanks

 

[dr&momto2boys]

You can download the Ding! program from Southwest.

It usually has lower fares available than the usual southwest.com website.

I have downloaded it--about 2 weeks ago--and I don't understand it. When I click on it to book a flight it just takes me to the SW website. Are special offers supposed to just pop up? How often do they do that?

 

[mdsd8700]

We are going to Orlando Thanksgiving Week, leaving on Tuesday November 23rd and returning on Sunday, November 28th. Now I know this the one of the busiest if not the most busy week to fly. I purchased tickets the morning SW extended the calendar to include these dates. The Tuesday flight was reasonable the Sunday flight outrageous (at least to me). It came to $350 pp round trip (I did have a $30 credit coming). I just checked SW a few mintues ago, the Tuesday flight went up $40 each and the Sunday flight was sold out. Again I realize this is a very busy week to travel and other weeks that are not as popular may not end up with the same outcome, but I thought I would share the information anyway.

 

[SFRN97]

I booked our flights also the first day the calender was extended. We are going Nov 3 to 14. While trying to purchase I received a oops message and the price went up $30 for the Sunday MCO to PVD so I tried to book the the Monday and again got an OOPS message and that price went up so I decided to stick with Sunday and booked it today I checked and it went up another $25 so I was happy I had already booked. I have been watching the fares and from my area PVD to MCO have not seen any real movement in prices

 

[Psychodisney]

Airtran is a fine airline. However, there are a few HUGE differences between Airtran and Southwest.1.Airtran frequently change their schedules. So even if you start with a nonstop, it may be changed sometime before your trip. 2. The other big thing is they charge for bags. Consider this when you are looking at their fare vs. Southwest.

If you ask this on the Transportation board, you'll be given lots of examples.

 

[CookieGVB]

Airtran is a fine airline. However, there are a few HUGE differences between Airtran and Southwest.1.Airtran frequently change their schedules. So even if you start with a nonstop, it may be changed sometime before your trip. 2. The other big thing is they charge for bags. Consider this when you are looking at their fare vs. Southwest.

If you ask this on the Transportation board, you'll be given lots of examples.

We originally had a non-stop return flight in mid-afternoon with Air Tran - just got an email a week or so again saying we'd been switched to a flight leaving two hours earlier and making a stop.

 

[figment301]

We originally had a non-stop return flight in mid-afternoon with Air Tran - just got an email a week or so again saying we'd been switched to a flight leaving two hours earlier and making a stop.

Sorry to hear of that happening to you, that is what I thought I had heard about them. Thanks

 

[JaneBanks]

Thank you for this thread!

I didn't know that Southwest had opened up December. We went and checked the prices and just jumped on them while we could. We were afraid the prices would go up and/or the flight would fill up.

 

[Mrs. Charming]

Thank you for this thread!

I didn't know that Southwest had opened up December. We went and checked the prices and just jumped on them while we could. We were afraid the prices would go up and/or the flight would fill up.

I did the same thing-- I booked knowing that they're going to go up. They *might* go back down a little bit, but they'll definitely go up. They were at the max of what I was willing to pay anyway... so I jumped on it!

 

[cinderella'smommy]

Since we are talking about Southwest, I have a question too. I don't use them very much b/c I am a United frequent flyer, and live close to O'Hare in Chicago, so driving to Midway for SW is a hassle.

But, we are going to WDW the first week of April. United and the other major carriers are already showing some steep fares. I am considering grabbing what's left using miles, but kind of want to see what pops up with respect to SW.

Just wondering if SW will have fares that are comparable to what was released now when they release their APril dates; or will they be charging a premium b/c its April/Spring Break, etc.?

Thanks for any insights--
K.