Southwest Unavailable Flights

[minniemomof3]

If most of the lower cost flights on the southwest schedule for my dates (MLK weekend) already show "unavailable" , is this a good indication that there will not be any dings or sales for those particular dates.

Does "unavailable" mean the flight has been sold out?

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm a Southwest "newbie"

 

[salmoneous]

Think of the plane as having 50 seats SW will sell at the cheapest price, 30 at the next cheapest, 20 at the next, etc. (It doesn't work exactly that way, but close enough). What you are seeing is that all the cheap seats are sold out, but that there are still seats on the plane SW is hoping to sell for a higher price. So the plane isn't sold out, but there's a good indication you won't see a Ding or super-sale on that flight.

 

[Lewisc]

If most of the lower cost flights on the southwest schedule for my dates (MLK weekend) already show "unavailable" , is this a good indication that there will not be any dings or sales for those particular dates.

Does "unavailable" mean the flight has been sold out?

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm a Southwest "newbie"

Is every fare showing as unavailable or just the discounted fares?

SW is doing a better job, from their perspective, of limiting the number of discounted seats on flights that would otherwise sell. SW is less likely to offer deeply discounted seats on a flight that is only show full fare availability.

For a holiday weekend you run the risk of the flight being sold out.

You can try to reserve increasing number of seats, up to 8, and that will give you an idea if the flight is close to being sold out, or even oversold.

edited to say I just read the previous post, on flights that are likely to sell out SW may allocate ZERO 0 seats at the lowest fare category.

 

[minniemomof3]

Thanks everyone.

Only the lower fares are showing unavailable. Given the fact that I need to purchase 5 tickets, I don't think I stand a good chance on great ding or sale for that date.

My return flights seem wide open, hopefully I'll get a great price coming back.

Should I book by departure tickets now and hold off on the return tickets?

 

[Lewisc]

Do you have any flexibility with your day and time of your return flight? If you don't I'd book NOW and hope for a credit. It's possible a DING won't be available for your exact flight and the lower fares might start selling out.

Compare the current SW price with what you'd have to pay if you fly from Canada. If you're saving enough $$$ book and hope for a credit.

Thanks everyone.

Only the lower fares are showing unavailable. Given the fact that I need to purchase 5 tickets, I don't think I stand a good chance on great ding or sale for that date.

My return flights seem wide open, hopefully I'll get a great price coming back.

Should I book by departure tickets now and hold off on the return tickets?

 

[riu girl]

Sorry a small hyjack, does "unavailable" ever become available again?

We have the choice of flying home on two different days from 3 different Florida airports (MCO, RSW, TPA). Right now, two (RSW, MCO) of the three airports are showing unavailable for the lower end fare categories for both days on all flights, leaving us with just one airport (TPA) . That particular airport still has availability on both days but not ideal flight times plus stopovers etc.

I don't really want to book now at $145 since if the price goes down, I would not have the opportunity to use the credit.
Just hoping that some of the unavailable becomes available again. Or is this not a possibility?


Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

 

[lawgs]

riu girl

yes they do become available....case in point...

our november 19 return was showing unavailable for the cheapest "buckets" for the longest time ( the best we could find was 167 per person one way )

about two weeks ago, the lowest fare showed availability so i went and tried to book it, when we tried for two seats, it once again showed unavailable, but when we choose one seat we were able to book it at the 69$ fare ( took one since one is better than none )

after i did that transaction, i looked again and expected to see the lowest fare "bucket" ...."unavailable"....but lo and behold it was showing for the 69$ ...so i booked the second one separately ......

it might just be a quirk in the SW website, but just because it says it is not available for "2", does not mean it is not available for "1" on two separate bookings ( once again we have to "play creatively" with rates )

smilawgs

 

[deltachi8]

Check back often, it can change. I just booked a trip to Vegas on SW. Initially, on Monday, I only booked one way for a lter than i wanted flight to get the $79 fare. The $79 returns were listed unavailable.

On Tuesday, The earlier departure now was available and the retunr I wanted was as well, so i rebooked (no penalty, gotta love that) for the flights and fares I wanted.

 

[minniemomof3]

I've booked by flights going down with Jet Blue for $59 from Buffalo (connecting out of Boston).

Since I'm a little more flexible with my return date and it doesn't fall on a Holiday weekend, I'm going to wait for Southwest to lower their fares and hope to get a direct flight back.

 

[riu girl]

Thanks for the info. everyone. I guess I will just keep on waiting!!!

 

[mtemm]

if I had it to do over again, I would book the different ways separately. Its easier to convert one ding that way, at least as I understand it. when we did book our october flight, one way showed the first 2 or 3 cheapest fares as unavailable, while our return flight showed wide open. I was able to get a great ding on the return, but never did get one on the way out.

 

[Maxwell]

Every time I have entertained using SW and I am ready to book the exact day and time that flights become available without fail the cheapest rates are ALWAYS unavailable. Granted we leave on Sat and Sun from PVD but come on they couldn't have possibly sold out the cheap fares in 1 minute. We are sold on Jet Blue now.