Southwest to MCO/DCL? Just released their airfares through April 2022

[Girl of the South]

Just a heads up, for people looking for airfare to MCO . . . I've been waiting for this as my cruise isn't until the end of January.

 

[Husker Mike]

For our April cruise, Southwest's fares mostly look higher than other airlines

 

[Girl of the South]

I think air fares are higher anyway but I like Southwest as they have nonstop flights both ways (to/from Nashville) and then there's the free baggage allowance AND the option to cancel and not lose all your money ( you can use it for another flight). You can also keep an eye on it, rebook at a lower fare and "bank" the savings.

Oh, I sound like a commercial! Sorry. Just wanted people to know they had released more dates. Suspect there will be a sale coming up soon? The fares to/from Nashville are 'reasonable' for me at the price they are now. Not great but not bad!

 

[Kwami]

I think air fares are higher anyway but I like Southwest as they have nonstop flights both ways (to/from Nashville) and then there's the free baggage allowance AND the option to cancel and not lose all your money ( you can use it for another flight). You can also keep an eye on it, rebook at a lower fare and "bank" the savings.

Oh, I sound like a commercial! Sorry. Just wanted people to know they had released more dates. Suspect there will be a sale coming up soon? The fares to/from Nashville are 'reasonable' for me at the price they are now. Not great but not bad!

Careful, though. I always fly SW non-stop, too. But this time, they changed all of our flights to significantly worse flights at inconvenient times with layovers. SW and Delta both keep changing their flight schedules too much lately.

 

[justafigment27]

I just booked SWA flights with less than ideal times (and a layover in Midway each way - ugh) for our cruise in March because I have so many SWA points leftover from all of our cancelled 2020 plans. I also booked a pre-cruise stay at the MCO Hyatt on points as well. I still don't know if we will actually take this cruise, so SWA on points works well b/c the points just go back into my account if I cancel. If this were non-Covid times and I was sure this trip was a go, I think I would have taken one look at the newly released schedule and went "no thanks' and forked over the cash for non-stop flights on another airline.

 

[ItsOnlyMoney]

Careful, though. I always fly SW non-stop, too. But this time, they changed all of our flights to significantly worse flights at inconvenient times with layovers. SW and Delta both keep changing their flight schedules too much lately.

Yes, but will they do that with the new schedules for Jan-April ??? (I don't know, just wondering before I book -- I think the cost from CT at the end of Jan is quite high and only 1 non-stop flight each day. For a 2-3 hour flight I really don't want to have to switch planes 1/2 way there. )
Jet Blue is even more expensive and charges for baggage.

 

[TheBigErn]

For our April cruise, Southwest's fares mostly look higher than other airlines

They all have to make up for all of that lost revenue.

 

[Malestrom Troll]

Keep checking for price decreases on SW. Earlier this week I saved $100 a ticket on our departure flight in Nov. I got $307 in travel funds by rebooking.

 

[Girl of the South]

Well done! That's a lot of savings . . . pays to keep checking and Southwest makes it easy to cancel and rebook.

 

[Pooh93]

Lol...their cutoff is April 24th and I need April 28th.....Seems like I am always a few days outside the window. Story of my life.

 

[mcd2745]

We need the next round that will open up as well (May). They usually state when it will open up, but not this time. Probably will be sometime in November.

I don't get a lot of what they have been doing lately with changing and cancelling so many flights. They did it to us for our flights last month. We had a non-stop down to Florida (TPA) from LGA around midday booked. A few months earlier, they canceled the flight and put us on a flight that left 8am for St Louis with a long layover, before going to TPA. As soon as we saw the email, we called and they were able to switch us to the only other nonstop to TPA that day (7am). Not sure where they are re-routing all their flights, but it seems they are removing flights between FL and the rest of the country like crazy. Doesn't seem to make sense. What destination is more popular?

 

[Girl of the South]

Like a lot of companies (such as my local restaurants who don't have enough servers . . ) it's a staff shortage. They lost some flight attendants and ground crew to other professions when they were furloughed. The ones that stayed put in a ton of overtime and now are suffering from burn out. And some find the job risky due to the number of people they interact with in a given day. Southwest cut down on the flight schedule while trying to hire more staff. I don't think it's only SW. I sent my niece to Boston recently, first time on JetBlue. Although her flights were perfect, the online reviews had me 2nd guessing my decision. Cruises got cancelled just like flights did.

 

[anneeb]

We just had a November direct flight that was canceled and they automatically changed us to a flight with a layover. However they do allow you to rebook the same flight one time to the flight of your preference at no additional cost. It worked out great for us because I could change us to the mid-day direct flight I had wanted in the first place but hadn't booked because of the price.

 

[DisTXMom]

Prices are so high for March flights to MCO. Like $700-$800/ticket where they would usually be $300-$400. I know some have said prices could go up, but we will wait to see if prices come down and take that chance .