SW airlines sky high fares for decmeber: will they come down?

[anabelle]

I was hoping for cheaper prices for Southwest. We are going Thanksgiving week and the Saturday flight back is outrageous. I guess we are driving. Yuck.

 

[ibob52]

Flying PIT-MCO 12/5 to 11. Flights $141 + $123, not too bad. Didn't buy - kind of early.

Buy now ... sub $300.00 RT

Buy later ... + + $400.00 RT

 

[disney world dreamer]

well looks like they were temporarily insane.
prices are already dropping lol.
the flight home went from $247 to $231. not a big decrease but enough to tell me that its probably gonna keep going down.
and we might be able to take the 3:30pm flight down since we'd just do carry on luggage so all we'd have to do is go through security and to the gate.
that price went down to $131 (i think it was $159 earlier but i was looking at a later flight earlier that was $210 and still is)

 

[cheerful chickadee]

I think anything near a holiday is going to be more expensive, it depends on how close to the holidays you'll be flying. I say keep checking but be prepared to buy if something pops up.

I was looking for Dec 2 out of Rochester to MCO. Southwest has a non stop flight leaving at 1:10pm, it's $133
Back to Rochester on Dec 11th, the non-stop leaves at 7:05pm and that is also $133. RT $266 (without EBCI). Starting around Dec 17th, the prices start going up for those same flights. Not sure how much they're going to drop if they drop at all.

We're flying down on JetBlue, we got a great price ($121/pp) unfortunately there is a layover at JFK but we still get to MCO at around 11am. JB is our favorite airline, we don't mind a layover on the way down, we'd prefer a nonstop on the way back though so we must use SW. Got our tix for $133pp for our nonstop flight home this morning on SW.

 

[conniehar90]

$500 from Chicago. I have a lot of points so I booked it but will be watching for them to drop so I can hopefully get some points back. If they don't drop may very well cancel.

 

[MapleGirl]

My flight from Orlando to Rhode Island dropped today by about 425 points. Not sure of the conversion rate, but I think that's only something like $6. Still, I rebooked and saved myself almost 1,000 points for our next trip!

I ended up booking our flights from RI to Orlando with Jet Blue. Instead of being somewhere around 7,000 points, the SW flights on 11/29 were 42,000 points! I paid cash with Jetblue - $130/ticket. Not too bad, but I really wish I could have gotten both flights with SW since they have that excellent change/cancel policy.

 

[robinb]

Wow. I looked last night when the dates were released and it was expensive, but not horrible. Today I checked and my return date of Sunday January 3rd is $346! ONE WAY. We picked up the SWA Visa card last month and we're going to get 50K bonus points. We fulfilled the charging obligation, but we need to wait for them to credit our account. Ugh.

 

[JodyTG]

I wanted to fly SWA now that they fly non-stop out of Dallas, but I'm glad I didn't wait for their fares. I got a super fantastic deal flying non-stop with American so I grabbed them thankfully. SWA would have been almost $300 more. I had to tweak my dates so we're arriving & leaving an day earlier but that was worth it. Even out original dates were over $300.

 

[elaine amj]

Good to hear they are going down. i will check again. I checked yesterday and nearly gagged at the price of Christmas flights.

I think we may have a change in plans for our Christmas trip. I just can't quite stomach the high fares. And like someone pointed out, Wanna Get Away fares to Orlando are sold out for many slots already.

I wonder if Southwest is now pulling the old "bait and switch" on us. They got me hooked on flying with them and now prices are just going up, up, up. Then again, I know flights as a whole have gone up in price across all airlines.

 

[dmank]

Good to hear they are going down. i will check again. I checked yesterday and nearly gagged at the price of Christmas flights.

I think we may have a change in plans for our Christmas trip. I just can't quite stomach the high fares. And like someone pointed out, Wanna Get Away fares to Orlando are sold out for many slots already.

I wonder if Southwest is now pulling the old "bait and switch" on us. They got me hooked on flying with them and now prices are just going up, up, up. Then again, I know flights as a whole have gone up in price across all airlines.

The wanna get away fares aren't sold out for tg weekend-- they were never even released for our route on the Sunday after tg.

 

[kydisneyfans]

I'm looking at a Sunday in July from Chicago to Louisville and SW is $214 for a 45 minute, 260 mile flight.
American has a flight that leaves 3 hours earlier, but flies to DC, then to Louisville with the same arrival time for $103.

Or option #3, make the 4 1/2 hour drive for about $40 in gas. It's likely just as quick anyway.

 

[trishdee]

The prices are crazy!! we are planning to go in early dec fron newark or the ny area,.. last time they were around 300 round way for a similar time..but this year $528!! theres no way we can do that,.. im so disappointed.

 

[emily94]

If you book now and the price does go down, SWA will give you the credit ($ amount difference) on your account!

 

[disney world dreamer]

I'm looking at a Sunday in July from Chicago to Louisville and SW is $214 for a 45 minute, 260 mile flight.
American has a flight that leaves 3 hours earlier, but flies to DC, then to Louisville with the same arrival time for $103.

Or option #3, make the 4 1/2 hour drive for about $40 in gas. It's likely just as quick anyway.

for my family anywhere that takes 12hrs or less to drive we usually do.

If you book now and the price does go down, SWA will give you the credit ($ amount difference) on your account!

i know but i just rather now spend the extra money to begin with and i never know when i'm flying next.

 

[emily94]

i know but i just rather now spend the extra money to begin with and i never know when i'm flying next.

Totally understand! Airfare Watch Dog is a good resource when looking for deals! http://www.airfarewatchdog.com

 

[DebbieB]

Buy now ... sub $300.00 RT

Buy later ... + + $400.00 RT

What I meant by kind of early is if I have to cancel the trip, the credit would only be good until next May. I usually buy about 3 months out when I'm sure.

 

[conniehar90]

I just checked my flights to see if they had dropped. All Wanna Get Away fares on the 19th are now sold out and there are only 3 flights on our return on the 26th that are not sold out. So, I thought the $500 I paid was bad - right now they are over $900!! Holy cow!

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

the prices just came out today and it would cost $210 from BUF to MCO and $247 from MCO to BUF!
$457 for a round trip???
are people really buying up the seats or is SW just being crazy and the fares will come down next week or next month?

I booked December despite high pricing to ensure I get time of flight I want even though it was ridiculously high from PIT to MCO as well. When we traveled in November 2014, we paid in points and it was also quite high so I booked since it was Thanksgiving week. As time went on, our flight time became sold out relatively quickly for Wanna Get Away Fare so you were stuck with higher price tickets through waiting. Some people disagree, but I've never experienced my flight cost going down the longer I wait especially for holiday season.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I'm looking at a Sunday in July from Chicago to Louisville and SW is $214 for a 45 minute, 260 mile flight.
American has a flight that leaves 3 hours earlier, but flies to DC, then to Louisville with the same arrival time for $103.

Or option #3, make the 4 1/2 hour drive for about $40 in gas. It's likely just as quick anyway.

You're right. I'd drive that rather than fly as well.

 

[Flynnismine]

At 6am on the the 14th, our flight (non-stop WGA fare, Dec 19th-24th) from Louisville to MCO was going to cost over $700 rt for 2 of us. I didn't book it because I think that price is insanely high. I checked again this evening and both flights are even higher now than they were on the 14th. I'il probably scrap a December altogether unless fares REALLY come down a lot, which I don't forsee.