SW rates are up

[disneyfan2]

The cheapest internet fares are $89 each way, do you plan to wait it out or book now?

 

[jenkh]

The dates I'm looking at don't even have Internet fares, just promotional fares starting at 175 a way!!!! The last trip I paid less then that round trip. So I am waiting and very upset. These fares are higher then ALL the competition. But none of them go N/S so for now I'm waiting.

 

[Diz Kids]

I am trying to decide. We just paid $69 each way for our September trip and I think last January we paid $59 each way. I know that $89 each way isn't bad and would hate to end up paying more, but I was hoping for the $69 each way.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

I booked my flights from PHX to Orlando at the Promotional Rate. I am hoping that a good sale will come down the road between now and March.

 

[disneyfan2]

i cannot see the rates go up before they go down. I am going to wait it out. $20-30 each way is not a big deal but we are booking for 6 so $40 -60 pp return, is a abig savings. Think i will hold out til next week. What a waste of day waiting for cheap rates. We book around Black friday(nov for $59 each way) so i will hold out for cheaper

Plus i won't have a need for the credit difference as i don't plan on travelling for a couple years

 

[HeatherC]

Finally got decent rates for President's Week trip!!! Worth the wait all day...at least for our trip. Hope others get lucky too.

We booked nonstop rt for $228 a person from PVD. ($104 each way plus tax.) That's great compared to JetBlue and Airtran from Boston.

We are flying Feb. 13 - Feb. 25. (Kids will miss 3 days of school...but I do that every year) Wanted to come home on Sunday the 24th, but the rates were outrageous. So.... I AM VERY HAPPY AND GLAD TO BE DONE WITH IT!!!

Good luck to all the rest of you.

HeatherC

 

[grimley1968]

You can always hold out for Dings later on. But those Dings are much, much more restrictive in their days of travel, etc. than the Internet One Way fares. You might possibly save $20/ticket with a Ding, but you'll likely not get the exact flight you want.

 

[MrMarv]

$180.00 R/T from Toronto/Buffalo to Orlando is very respectable. I'd grab the fare, and keep your ears open for the Ding fares.

 

[LovesHauntedMansion]

I booked SW from N.O. to Orlando for $308.80 a person round trip. When the dates came up only the most expensive fare was available. All of the other fares were unavailable. It's a good thing that I didn't wait because the flight that I wanted sold out in no time.

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

I booked mine, but no they were not cheap at all. The cheapest flights were Promotional Fares for the low cost of $165 each way. I have never spent that much, until now.

 

[jenkh]

$180.00 R/T from Toronto/Buffalo to Orlando is very respectable. I'd grab the fare, and keep your ears open for the Ding fares.

Round trip would be reasonable, but this was one way... For now I've grabbed going down there, as it's a great flight time (there by 10am) and non stop, but were holding out for deals before we by the way back. The important thing is we can get down there with the flight we really want, and if need be we'll grab a cheap connecting flight back, but I do have hope that southwest will lower their fares, it just sucks they've chosen to go this super expensive route to open it up with.

My flight in december is Buf-Las Vegas-San Diego-Buf and only cost 220 total with southwest, so the fact that is almost the cost of one leg to Oralndo is horrible.

But i just need to vent as I was hoping to have the whole flight thng done today, but apparently not.

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

You can always hold out for Dings later on. But those Dings are much, much more restrictive in their days of travel, etc. than the Internet One Way fares. You might possibly save $20/ticket with a Ding, but you'll likely not get the exact flight you want.

I am new to this whole SW thing, so correct me if I am wrong. SW only offers DING on Flights that they are trying to fill up? For someone like me travelling during school vacation, do I have a slim chance to none getting a DING for school vacation week?

 

[grimley1968]

I am new to this whole SW thing, so correct me if I am wrong. SW only offers DING on Flights that they are trying to fill up? For someone like me travelling during school vacation, do I have a slim chance to none getting a DING for school vacation week?

You may be new to it, but you hit the nail on the head.

Yes, SW is trying to fill specific flights with Dings. They offer them by day of week of travel, but offer varying numbers of Ding fares on different flights each day, to make sure they are filling up the least popular flight times.

I'm not saying it's impossible to get a Ding during school vacation weeks. If you can be flexible and are willing to possibly take your kids out of school an extra day, or possibly go in the middle of your vacation week, you can get some great deals this way.

But we took our DD out of school (1st grade) last year for one week to go on a Disney cruise, and we regret doing that (not the cruise, but going for less money and having to take DD out of school). We've resolved to try to never take DD out of school again for vacation.

Basically, what SWA will do is offer extremely restrictive Dings first. Something like travel on Tuesday or Thursday, maybe. Then closer to the time you need to go they'll offer less restrictive Dings as far as day of travel, but they are not quite the discount of the earlier Dings, and they are often so late in your planning cycle that it's very difficult to jump on them.

Dings definitely favor the flexible passenger. With 2 school-aged girls now, we are simply less flexible than we used to be, and SWA just isn't offering the kinds of discounts they have in the past.