Those who fly Southwest...

[MeetingMickeyin2006]

When do you book for mid-March? (Spring Break) We're going in '08. Do you book right when the dates open or wait for a better fare?

 

[Kim&Chris]

Next time I book airfare, I'm waiting for the rates to go down.

I booked for May when SW released their dates & rates a few weeks ago, then they lowered the fares to $49 each way...now I have $350 in ticketless funds that will expire in a year if I don't use them. Now, granted, we'll probably use them, but who knows?

Anyway, my advice is to wait.

 

[AllesonWonderland]

I booked our Spring Break trip the day the dates opened. We scooped up $49 one way tickets. By later that same evening everything was unavailable. So, if you have time to sit by your computer to wait for the release...may as well look. If they are higher than you were hoping you can always wait. Have fun planning your trip!

 

[I'mNoPrince]

We alway book right when they open .

We also fly at least 2 times a year so the TTV is no big deal. I just uused up a $400 one for our June and Aug trips.

 

[jjarman]

I booked right away which happened to be the week of Thanksgiving. Here is my story. I had a $400 budget for flying to Orlando from Jackson, MS. Anything much more than that and it would be cheaper for drive and stay partway on a hotel. We had plans to travel to my inlaws for Thanksgiving leaving Wednesday night after work. The rates opened up I believe on that Tuesday. I quickly booked our flights and got 2 round trips for about $400. I was happy. Well, I am a paralegal and a dream job for most paralegals is to be a court administrator (basically you handle the court docket for your judge). The pay is good, benefits are great and the jobs are few and far between. At least around here the only way to get one of those jobs is to be working for an attorney when he gets elected. Well, my sister-in-law's brother was running for judge and there was more than a good chance he would hire me to work for him. They 2 girls he had working for him had very little legal experience and I have 17 years. He was in a runoff with the sitting judge but had gotten many more votes than the incumbent in the general election but not enough to win so there was the runoff. We figured he would win. I found out I might get that job right after I had bought my tickets. If he won and he hired me I would have to postpone our trip to WDW so you see my problem. I cancelled the great priced tickets (you can do that within 24 hours) and waited until Wednesday for the election returns. Well, my guy did not win. No great job for me but I get to go to WDW. A fair tradeoff. Only now the prices have gone way up. I watched and watched the SW website and the prices kept going up and down. Finally, I bought the tickets at about $500 roundtrip. More than I wanted and more than I budgeted but DH felt it better for us to fly so we did it.

My advice, buy the SW tickets the minute they open up your schedule.

 

[MeetingMickeyin2006]

Thanks everyone! I am SO hoping for the $49 fare, but the $99 would work too.

 

[tomshortridge]

I fly SW a lot. Book as early as possible.

Unlike many other airlines, I dont see SW lowering rates. Most of the time, if you do not book early, you will NOT get the cheapest internet rates.

This may not be the case on the BIG airlines though, My United ticket went down by $250 from the time I booked 4 months ago. Even with the cost to change my ticket, I still got a return for part.