SW Ding Rates

[TiggerCat]

If anyone is interested, tonights Ding rate is $88 Buffalo or Albany to Orlando. I actually got a $162 return from 12 - 20 Aug 05. This is a heck of alot cheaper than the $643 on AC or $474 on Westjet.

TC.

 

[riu girl]

Tiggercat: Thanks for posting. We are waiting for SWA to release 12/05 and can only hope for a price like this. We are travelling over Christmas (12/17-12/31) and so far (on other airlines) fares look very pricey. Any sort of SWA Ding fare will be great for us.

 

[grover]

What is a ding rate??
G in W

 

[StuartMI]

I don't know why Air Canada/Westjet can't see this.

Oh well, how much of that $600-ish was departure taxes? Last time I flew out of YYZ I think I was going up to Montreal for the day or something and the taxes were just crazy.

 

[mbb]

I don't know why Air Canada/Westjet can't see this.

Oh well, how much of that $600-ish was departure taxes? Last time I flew out of YYZ I think I was going up to Montreal for the day or something and the taxes were just crazy.

Our last trip, our airfare from YHZ-MCO was $900 CDN...which is great! However, once we added taxes...aarrggh.. another $500-600 dollars. That's a lot of Mickey Bars!! LOL

Grover, the "ding thing" is a free downlaod from SWA that makes a bell like chime when SW releases a great rate for your home airport. It's a special that's only valid for a certain period of time, though. THere have been some reports of really great rates

HTH!!

 

[TiggerCat]

StuartMI,

I concur. I don't know how this can be lost on them. But it really isn't the carriers fault, it falls into the lap of the government(s) and the GTAA who have imposed major fees onto the airlines. For instance, I flew YYZ to MCO last year on Skyservice. The return fare was $79 each which was a great rate but with all the taxes and fees added on, the fare went to $258 each. That is ridiculous. This years fares have gone through the roof. So while I hate to take my business elsewhere, I find it an economical necessity. Oh yeah, and Southwest's policy for changing flights/fares is much better than the Canadian carriers. Go figure.

Grover,

Ding is software that you download from the Southwest website which alerts you to various specials that the airline runs throught the day. They usually have about two "Ding" specials per day giving you a couple hours to react. Last nights special saved me about 30% off the normal rates which was good for me.

TC.

 

[princess aurora]

88$ is a good deal. How did you get $162 return? Is that US funds?

We're planning to go in November and reservations have not been extended out that far on SW yet but I was not going to pass up a good deal for October if it could be had. Guess I missed this one though. I was hoping to get $89US or less, with an emphasis on the less making it $178 round trip and $221.98 CAD but then there is taxes with SWA tickets right? Gosh I hate that.
I love expedia.ca that books in CAD $ and includes the taxes. Not always the cheapest flights though but way more managable in my opinion....heavy sigh.
Still looking for those magical cheap flights to take us back to the World. Just not sure how long to wait. I'm sooooo impatient

 

[TiggerCat]

Hi Princess Aurora! The Ding special was for $88 USD each way but when it came back with the price, the adjusted fare before tax was $81.40 USD. With the tax, each leg came out to $96.20 or $192.40 usd roundtrip. So I don't know where they got $88 but hey, I'm not complaining!

TC.

 

[princess aurora]

Hi Princess Aurora! The Ding special was for $88 USD each way but when it came back with the price, the adjusted fare before tax was $81.40 USD. With the tax, each leg came out to $96.20 or $192.40 usd roundtrip. So I don't know where they got $88 but hey, I'm not complaining!

To me though that still seems high. Bummer . Maybe we are just spoiled. On our last trip we booked end of Jan early Feb for end of April 2005 and we were able to $645 CAD for 4 on Delta. Our trip in 2003 was $756 CAD on SWA. SO I was really hoping anything under $200 CAD but really I guess that's still amazing considering flights out of Canada are crazy expensive.
Anything under $1000 for a family of 4 is quite good but as I said maybe I'm just spoiled now especially after hearing there are magical $49 deals!

 

[riu girl]

I think I can only dream of a $49US deal for our dates (Dec 17-Dec 31). I would be very happy with an $88US each way ding fare.

Does anyone think that about $200 US each round trip (BUF-MCO or BUF-TPA) would be a decent price? Christmas prices from YYZ seem out of this world from what I have seen so far so I think 200 each US from BUF would be fine.

Anyone have any suggestions for getting a decent price for my dates?

Suzy V.

 

[CharlesTD]

My in laws flew 59 each way on SWA out of Detroit and 49 each way out of Buffalo.

 

[princess aurora]

My in laws flew 59 each way on SWA out of Detroit and 49 each way out of Buffalo.

Greats deals when did they fly? What dates?

 

[princess aurora]

I think I can only dream of a $49US deal for our dates (Dec 17-Dec 31). I would be very happy with an $88US each way ding fare.

Does anyone think that about $200 US each round trip (BUF-MCO or BUF-TPA) would be a decent price? Christmas prices from YYZ seem out of this world from what I have seen so far so I think 200 each US from BUF would be fine.

Anyone have any suggestions for getting a decent price for my dates?

Suzy V.

That IS a good price meaning about $1000 for a family of 4 in CAD $. That's great in my book. When is anything in Canada $250 or less to fly that kind of distance?
As I stated before though I'm spoiled now from getting a few deals and feel like I'm being gipped somehow if I don't get a lesser flight but the only question is how long do I wait? My only suggestion is download the DING! software from SWA and watch the deals. I'm checking how things pan out for October flights and seeing as it gets closer to those dates what deals show up. But we were not planning our trip until beginning of November so I'm hoping to gauge things by what's happening now. If there is another $88 DING! deal I guess I'll jump on it.
Another thing is to wait. I've been told by one person on the boards that they got their special $49 deal about 5 weeks out from the dates they were flighing. That's cutting it a little to close for me though. I'm still unsure of what to do.
We haven't booked rooms yet b/c we're waiting on flights. Anyone else waiting on flights first before booking their trip with Disney?

 

[cabmom]

When we got our $25 each way for January/2005, I booked those the first week in December/2004. We flew out Jan 4th and returned the 12th. That was Buf to Mco. I then booked accomodation.
Hope this helps.

Marilynn

 

[CharlesTD]

These were last Nov and Dec rates

 

[mickeys_girl]

Can Westerners fly on SWA? Right now we are looking at about 3750 CAD for my family of 5 adults, and one of these "ding" deals would be great if it could save us any amount of money.

 

[dennise]

Does anyone know if SW flies out of Halifax? I wish we had access to some the great rates some of the other airlines offer. The lowest price that I can find for next April is $604. We paid $400 for same flight this past April. Thoses prices are taxes included.

 

[StuartMI]

Does anyone know if SW flies out of Halifax? I wish we had access to some the great rates some of the other airlines offer. The lowest price that I can find for next April is $604. We paid $400 for same flight this past April. Thoses prices are taxes included.

Sorry

http://www.southwest.com/travel_center/routemap.html

 

[princess aurora]

These were last Nov and Dec rates

Was there supposed to be a link? There was nothing in your post But I'd love the info.

When we got our $25 each way for January/2005

Okay that is just insane! You paid $50 per person? That is the best deal ever and it was about a month out also your dates were for Value time so I'm sure you felt confident you'd be able to get accomodations for your dates?