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[brenda1966]

I'm travelling Oct 27 through Nov 3. Since SW is only booking out through Nov 2nd I can't book my full trip. Does anyone have a guess as to when they will book further into November?

I understand I can book 1 way right now. My hesitation is that I know United will match or better the rate once they book out into November. I then have more flight choices on United.

What to do? Do I wait, keep watching the flights to make sure they don't fill up? Book the SW one way now and then I'm locked into them?
If I book a promotional fare both ways (booking for Nov 2) and then decide to change the flight, do I pay a penalty? I'm very leery of trying this.

Thanks!

 

[clkelley]

No penalties at all on Southwest!!

If you book the one-way now and find something better on another airline later, then you can cancel and have the credit good for one year from date of purchase and can be used for anyone.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

No penalties at all on Southwest!!

If you book the one-way now and find something better on another airline later, then you can cancel and have the credit good for one year from date of purchase and can be used for anyone.

You can also call before the credits expire and get a 6 mo. extension. They will then mail you a "Luv Voucher" which can be used by anyone and many vouchers can be pooled for 1 person's ticket.
The estimated date to extend the SWA booking calendar is June 28 but subject to change per SWA.
IMHO, I'd book the one way to MCO now and watch for dings/sales as it gets closer, then book the returning flight 6/28. SW always has great fall rates to MCO so I'd count on their current price to drop.
This is assuming you could use the credits. If you know for sure you won't be flying again soon, I'd wait it out a little more.

 

[illiniowl]

My understanding (see here) is that generally the airlines manage their revenue in 4-5 month cycles and so discount fares generally don't start being released until 4-5 months in advance. I have been monitoring airfare for a Sept. 21-29 trip from Chicago to MCO for a few months and just saw discount fares (although not great ones) starting to come online for that time frame about a week or so ago. I might add that Southwest's lowest available MDW-MCO fares right now for my dates are NOT very good, either ($129 each way is awful, actually). I guess what I'm trying to say is that even though some time in the next few weeks Southwest's 6-month booking window will be pushed out so that you can book a return flight on 11/3, and United might start matching Southwest's fares at that time, better discount fares might not come online until June or July.

If you want to be notified when Southwest changes the end date of its booking window on its home page, go to changenotes.com or some other similar webpage watching service and enter the URL of Southwest's home page; you will get an email whenever changes are made to that page.

 

[shelleyz]

This is what it says on the SW site under Travel Tools.

We are currently accepting air reservations through November 2, 2007. On June 28, we plan to open the schedule for purchase through January 16, 2008. This date is subject to change! Please check back frequently.

 

[SalandJeff]

We are in the same boat...coming home on 11/3. I am booking the flight down on SW. Will look for the return on 6/28 and will watch for the flight down to go down in price.

Also, we have gone to FL and traveled SW one way and Delta on the return. There are no discounts for round trip, so it doesn't matter if you book on different airlines.

 

[brenda1966]

Really, no discounts on round trip, not even on other airlines like United?! I guess i've never tried to book one way on anything but SW. Interesting....

I have booked tickets that flew into one city and out of another and there don't seem to be the penalties of the past. Thanks for the info!

 

[SalandJeff]

Really, no discounts on round trip, not even on other airlines like United?! I guess i've never tried to book one way on anything but SW. Interesting....
I have booked tickets that flew into one city and out of another and there don't seem to be the penalties of the past. Thanks for the info!

After your post I started thinking maybe it was just the airlines we've used that didn't discount for round trip. So I checked my dates/times on SW,Delta, United, Continental and the price was the same whether I booked one way or round trip - round trip was just 2x the one way fare. So it appears that most of the airlines don't offer any discount for round trip.