Tell me the In's and Out's of Southwest

[Magic4UsZ's]

I lost Airtran that was only one hour from my house. So now it looks as if SW is my best bet out of St Louis. (2hr drive now)

I'm looking for this early June vacation.
Any tips appreciated,such as when I might see a sale,what you consider what a good fare is.
If I buy and it goes on sale what if anything can I do?
Just anything you might think is helpful.

Thanks everyone

 

[Huff]

Southwest bought AirTrans last year although AirTrans is still operating under their own name for now. They're a great airline!

Things to note. Southwest has no baggage fees for the 1st two pieces of checked luggage. With their lowest fare class they are non-refundable but you can change flights, dates etc. and pay only the fare difference. If you change to a cheaper flight, or change because fares drop for existing flight, or you cancel your flight, your funds are credited to you and may be used towards another flight for up to one year from date of purchase. Seats are non assigned. Instead SW issues numbered boarding passes. To get a lower (1st to board) pass, check in online right at 24 hours prior to departure or pay $10 extra each way to be automatically checked in 36 hours prior. I generally check in at 24 hours and everyone in our party is able to get a seat together.

 

[Magic4UsZ's]

Thank you!!!

Does anyone have any thoughts on how far out it is do they start having sales.

I see that now the sale is thru feb15h.

I'm looking at may 31 to June 9th ish.

I look everyday,but was wondering if anyone knew what the history of sales would be,example at 90 days is when you see prices increase/decrease.

 

[gmeh1]

Thank you!!!

Does anyone have any thoughts on how far out it is do they start having sales.

I see that now the sale is thru feb15h.

I'm looking at may 31 to June 9th ish.

I look everyday,but was wondering if anyone knew what the history of sales would be,example at 90 days is when you see prices increase/decrease.

Southwest is accepting reservations through 8/10/2012- Their sales usually come out on Tuesday.

 

[Huff]

Thank you!!!

Does anyone have any thoughts on how far out it is do they start having sales..

Theres no set time/date for such. Sales for a given route are based on bookings for a given day. For our upcoming Jan. trip I booked flights in early Nov. roughly 65 days out. Anywhere from 60-90 days is the best time frame to see a sale. For ours, it ran for only 3 days then the price shot back up so keep checking daily and also watch for ding fares. A few rare times I have seen last minute sale fares 14-21 days out but thats a big risk to take as they generally skyrocket then.

 

[MrBill64]

I always book one way fares with Southwest. It gives you more flexibility if you want to make changes.

 

[Huff]

I always book one way fares with Southwest. It gives you more flexibility if you want to make changes.

In what way? I book round trip and can change individual legs of my trip without issue.

Does the lowest fare class require roundtrip, meaning a one way ticket would cost more?

 

[disneyfaninaz]

In what way? I book round trip and can change individual legs of my trip without issue.

Does the lowest fare class require roundtrip, meaning a one way ticket would cost more?

No, SWA does not require round trip purchases, and the fares are the same for each leg regardless if one way or roundtrip.

Yes, you can make changes to invidiual flights even if you book a round trip. The only time this becomes an issue is if you want to take advantage of a DING fare, in which case, you would have to cancel our reservation in order to get the DING fare.

 

[MrBill64]

No, SWA does not require round trip purchases, and the fares are the same for each leg regardless if one way or roundtrip.

Yes, you can make changes to invidiual flights even if you book a round trip. The only time this becomes an issue is if you want to take advantage of a DING fare, in which case, you would have to cancel our reservation in order to get the DING fare.

I did not realize you could make changes to each leg of a round trip ticket without rebooking the entire ticket. I always thought you needed to rebook the entire ticket. So if one leg of the trip went down but the other leg of the trip went up you didn't get the savings you would have gotten by only rebooking one leg. Thanks for that tip.

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

I would also recommend paying the $10 extra dollars (each way- per person) for the Early Bird Check In. That gets you a much higher boarding number (first to board- A group) and you get the pick of the plane on where you want to sit. I paid for EBCI for both legs of our flight and we were A boarding 17-21. I was the 17th person to get on the plane. I like to sit close to the front of the plane so I can get off much faster once it lands. In a perfect world I would sit on the exit door row in the middle of the plane so if the plane crashes I will be right by the exit door but it is just too far back and takes way too long getting off the plane having to wait for everybody else in front of you to get their overhead bags and deplane.

I got lucky and got our fares during the Southwest's 40th anniversary sale. I kept checking fares and went about a week without checking and read some where on the internet, maybe even on here, that there was a sale on SW fares ending THAT DAY. SO I went and priced out our flights and couldn't get the sale fares to come up for our flights... We were leaving on a Friday and coming back the NEXT Sunday. Well, since Friday and Sunday are the most popular days to fly, those days were not included in the sale. So I shifted our dates of our trip to leaving on a Thursday and coming back on a Saturday and the sale fares came up for us. We got $80 each way fares plus the EBCI fee. I called Disney first to make sure I could change the dates of my reservation and once they did that, I got online and bought the flights. They were WEB ONLY fares.

I bought our tickets about 60-70 days out.