SW Ding! Question

[ericamcl]

are fares found on DING any cheaper than fares found when going to the SW website?
I was thinking about downloading it to the computer at home (can't download it to the one at work) but DH thinks it will be a waste and that DING just notifies you of the sales we already get emailed to us...

TIA!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

DINGs are fares that are lower than published for sale ares on the internet that are only offered for a specific period of time For instance a DING may only be available for 4 hours on any given day. After that, the opportunity is lost. So no, DING does not notify you of already published prices. Click-n-Save is the method by which SW emails you with sale information etc.

 

[HLAuburn]

We ended up booking an internet sale fare of $59 each way and the lowest DING I've seen for our flights is $89. So it is possible DING won't be the lowest fare, but definitely worth having! The fares are sometimes much better than any sales fares you hear about from emails.

You can always remove the program after you've flown, but worth downloading IMO!

 

[strmtroopr96]

We ended up booking an internet sale fare of $59 each way and the lowest DING I've seen for our flights is $89. So it is possible DING won't be the lowest fare, but definitely worth having! The fares are sometimes much better than any sales fares you hear about from emails.

You can always remove the program after you've flown, but worth downloading IMO!

I have been noticing too that the DING fares haven't been that great for the last year or so. I have been flying Southwest since May 2005 and back then I was seeing $49 each way ($115 roundtrip) fares quite a bit for our route.

We booked an Internet Fare for this trip at $69 each way (still not too bad especially now that those are sold out and only much higher priced seats are left) and I still have yet to see a Ding go below that. Actually, it is very rare to see an ALB-MCO fare even show up on DING anymore. If it does, they now seem to have more restrictions like only certain days or flight numbers.

 

[ericamcl]

I tried to download DING at home last night and got an error message. Is it NOT compatible with Vista??

BTW...checked fares online last night and they've gone up considerably ..does anyone think they'll come down again in the next couple of months or should I just book it now?

 

[HLAuburn]

I tried to download DING at home last night and got an error message. Is it NOT compatible with Vista??

BTW...checked fares online last night and they've gone up considerably ..does anyone think they'll come down again in the next couple of months or should I just book it now?

Not sure about Vista.
Your trip is almost 5 months away? I'd definitely wait! Try to download DING and look out for internet sale fares. I'd determine a price you would be happy with and if it comes up, book it. You can always get a (transferable) flight credit or sometimes a credit card refund if the price goes down.

 

[ScottNBecky]

If DING! comes up with a better/cheaper price than a current reservation you have how do you go about getting the better price?

Do you have to purchase the DING! price through the internet, then they would credit you the $ for your other flight? Or is there a way to bring up your old reservation and then they deduct off of it! Does that make any sense?
Thanks

 

[HLAuburn]

If DING! comes up with a better/cheaper price than a current reservation you have how do you go about getting the better price?

Do you have to purchase the DING! price through the internet, then they would credit you the $ for your other flight? Or is there a way to bring up your old reservation and then they deduct off of it! Does that make any sense?
Thanks

Here's what you do. You actually can go on the SW website and cancel your existing reservation. It depends on what fare you booked, but you'll probably get a "ticketless travel credit" for the full amount. You then go ahead like you're booking the new cheaper flight, and when you get to the payment section, it will give you an option for to use ticketless funds. (It will ask for your old conf # and your name). You can save what's left over for use on a later flight, or, depending on the type of fares, you may be able to have SW put it nack on your card. That didn't work for me since I was actually going from a DING fare to a Internet fare, but since the ticketless funds are fully transferable, I sold them on eBay for nearly the full value.

Hope this makes sense!

 

[vacation dreamer]

are fares found on DING any cheaper than fares found when going to the SW website?
I was thinking about downloading it to the computer at home (can't download it to the one at work) but DH thinks it will be a waste and that DING just notifies you of the sales we already get emailed to us...

TIA!

If you don't get on your computer all the time you will miss Dings. I have found that airfares go up and down without you ever getting a Ding

 

[byoung]

I tried to download DING at home last night and got an error message. Is it NOT compatible with Vista??

BTW...checked fares online last night and they've gone up considerably ..does anyone think they'll come down again in the next couple of months or should I just book it now?

Using Vista and have no problems with ding.

 

[bumbershoot]

Here's what you do. You actually can go on the SW website and cancel your existing reservation. It depends on what fare you booked, but you'll probably get a "ticketless travel credit" for the full amount. You then go ahead like you're booking the new cheaper flight, and when you get to the payment section, it will give you an option for to use ticketless funds. (It will ask for your old conf # and your name). You can save what's left over for use on a later flight, or, depending on the type of fares, you may be able to have SW put it nack on your card. That didn't work for me since I was actually going from a DING fare to a Internet fare, but since the ticketless funds are fully transferable, I sold them on eBay for nearly the full value.

Hope this makes sense!

I did this process, going from a sale fare to a Ding fare. Very nerve-wracking, wondering if the Ding fare was going to sell out AFTER I cancelled, but I worked fast and it was fine.

Once you cancel the first flight, those funds go right onto your account, available for use immediately for the Ding. After doing it to each of our flights (I booked each flight separately so I had to go through the process three times, once for each of us), and then booking the flight back on a Ding (using up the leftover $45 in ticketless funds plus a bit extra), I feel like an expert.

And I just noticed a Ding for $3 less, per flight, but it's going to a different airport (an hour away), so I'm not going to waste my time to get $18 back onto my ticketless funds...now if it were to the SAME airport, then yes.

My rambling is just to say that Ding is valuable, and it is simple to switch once you've booked.

 

[ScottNBecky]

that was my concern that if I cancelled my ressie and then tried to rebook fast with the DING price what would happen if the DING offer got sold out during the time it took me to process the new ressie? Then I would be out of luck right??? Im not sure I can take that chance.

 

[HLAuburn]

that was my concern that if I cancelled my ressie and then tried to rebook fast with the DING price what would happen if the DING offer got sold out during the time it took me to process the new ressie? Then I would be out of luck right??? Im not sure I can take that chance.

I think the risk of it selling out in the one minute it takes to cancel and rebook is very, very small. I guess you would have to wait and see if a lower rate comes out and if so, if its enough money to take the "risk". For us, it saved $180, so there was no question whatsoever. I've done it just about everytime we've flown SW and never gotten "burned".

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I think the risk of it selling out in the one minute it takes to cancel and rebook is very, very small. I guess you would have to wait and see if a lower rate comes out and if so, if its enough money to take the "risk". For us, it saved $180, so there was no question whatsoever. I've done it just about everytime we've flown SW and never gotten "burned".

I agree. In fact, our cable modem died in the middle of it too! I had cancelled the old ressie and was on the phone with a SWA agent walking me thru it since it was my 1st ding when I lost my internet connection. I was freaking out (not at the agent) and quick drove to my parents house about 2 miles away, downloaded Ding and booked our flights. All turned out well in the end.

 

[bumbershoot]

that was my concern that if I cancelled my ressie and then tried to rebook fast with the DING price what would happen if the DING offer got sold out during the time it took me to process the new ressie? Then I would be out of luck right??? Im not sure I can take that chance.

Well, it's just how I was feeling, not that it was the reality.

So I opened two windows, and had Ding in one window, all ready to go (got the fare, chose the flight, went through to *right* before you book it). In the other window, I found where you cancel things (actually I did this BEFORE getting to the Ding part). Cracked my knuckles, took a deep breath, and canceled the flight, it gives you the cancellation code (same as reservation code, FYI) to plop over in the "ticketless travel funds" area of the Payment area of the Ding booking. Copied and pasted that code, went to the other window, did what I needed to do.

It sounds SO much more complicated that it really is.

And it's actually one of the reasons I booked our flights totally separately, b/c if for some reason there had been only one or two seats left, I'd rather have one or two seats at a lower fare, than none. BUT I think that's faulty thinking too, b/c I *think* you can cancel one off a reservation and not have it change the others, so even if you booked more than one on one reservation, I don't think you're in trouble.

Also, for me, when i get a Ding it tells me how many hours I have. I can click on the wing icon and get the list, and I can close it, and later on open it again, and see what's 'left' (though I've never noticed a difference in the list, honestly). Since I have checked Dings obsessively for months, long before they were available for my dates, I noticed how long the fares stayed up...

So it wasn't a really strong, based in reality, worry, but it was worrisome enough that I did the two browser window thing.