** update-sale posted 7/12 Southwest fares open tomorrow, 7/7/2016 for travel thru March 7/2017

[BillPA]

Travel Tools


We are currently accepting air reservations through January 4, 2017. On July 7, 2016 we will open our schedule for sale through March 7, 2017. This date is subject to change! Please check back frequently.

 

[Mrs.Milo]

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[cmarsh31]

Any idea what time they'll go live?

 

[Dean Marino]

Best of luck to all others - living in MI? We ditched SW.

This had to do with the SW elimination of direct flights.... all MI-Orlando flights, going & coming, now go thru Midway in Chicago. 2.5 hour flights are now 5+ hour flights. And if one is "dumped" at Midway? Good luck getting home.

We switched to Delta, thru Detroit. STILL one stop, both ways - but if we get dumped in Detroit? Going, we have options. Returning? Rent a car one way, drive home. VERY important when the weather gets even marginal.

The whole affair was a pity, as SW had a VERY lucrative, full plane every time, business out of Flint MI. They dumped it. No problem, not my company . In our area? I see SW is having trouble selling tickets. Fortunately, we NEVER fell for the "airline miles" head fake . Dumped SW & went with Delta - and will ignore any Delta "miles" garbage.....

All just what we did, all personal opinion - I'm not right, you aren't wrong....

 

[mickeyman]

What time do they go on sale?

 

[Splashboat]

I don't think I've ever seen them post fares earlier than Jetblue.

 

[mickeyman]

I don't think I've ever seen them post fares earlier than Jetblue.

Jet blue is already on sale until March 3rd I believe

 

[Splashboat]

Jet blue is already on sale until March 3rd I believe

Nope, Feb. 15

 

[keishashadow]

Any idea what time they'll go live?

Depends, usually by 7am in the past

 

[LisaS]

Any idea what time they'll go live?

The new schedule usually goes live between 6am and 6:20am eastern time. I make sure I'm logged in to my Southwest account by 6am and keep refreshing the booking page every minute or so until I see that the schedule has been extended.

Someone usually creates a thread on the Transportation forum about the schedule release so I also keep refreshing the last page of that thread as well since someone will usually make a quick post "Schedule is up!" to let others know.

 

[cmarsh31]

Guess I'll be setting an alarm for really early tomorrow!

 

[DebbieB]

Best of luck to all others - living in MI? We ditched SW.

This had to do with the SW elimination of direct flights.... all MI-Orlando flights, going & coming, now go thru Midway in Chicago. 2.5 hour flights are now 5+ hour flights. And if one is "dumped" at Midway? Good luck getting home.

We switched to Delta, thru Detroit. STILL one stop, both ways - but if we get dumped in Detroit? Going, we have options. Returning? Rent a car one way, drive home. VERY important when the weather gets even marginal.

The whole affair was a pity, as SW had a VERY lucrative, full plane every time, business out of Flint MI. They dumped it. No problem, not my company . In our area? I see SW is having trouble selling tickets. Fortunately, we NEVER fell for the "airline miles" head fake . Dumped SW & went with Delta - and will ignore any Delta "miles" garbage.....

All just what we did, all personal opinion - I'm not right, you aren't wrong....

For me, Southwest's biggest plus is no change fee. Delta will slap you with a $200 change fee. I like the flexibility.

It is a tough choice, nonstop is always better.

 

[Anal Annie]

Uggg. And it's after 12:30 when I see this and I'm still up!! Now must be sure to check early. I have been watching for better prices on our Jan. 3rd date for WEEEEEKS and thought for sure something would drop with that before the schedule was extended to buy our return flights. Crossing my fingers it's worth getting up early for.
THANKS for the heads up!!

 

[cmarsh31]

Up and waiting...

 

[Sunday]

Waiting too!

 

[cmarsh31]

Well that completely sucked. I lost multiple flights while checking out. One sold out completely. Gaah.

 

[kimj88]

I got my flights but they were higher than last year at the same time for sure.
Plus the Early Bird check-in went up as well ;(

 

[Anal Annie]

Well I got our return flights home on Jan. 10th @ 6:20 pm for $89 each. That means we can have until 3:20 before having to be back from the parks for the DME bus. Was sorta hoping for a $69 but every single non-stop for the day was @ $89 - had my pick.

Meanwhile still no change on our departing flights going down so I didn't do anything about those yet & will try to watch & wait them out. Not sure what to do. I am trying to maximize our time in FL and want an early departure. I missed opening hour on those but not by much and the 2nd flight of the day (@ 7:10) was @ $86 when I searched. But I only searched with 1 seat. When I went to BOOK it would only let me buy 1 seat for that price - the other 2 were $103 so I bought the one & decided to wait on the others for some price movement. The only thing they did was go to $106. And there they've sat since. The FIRST flight of the day (@ 6:05) however is at $89. DH keeps saying he doesn't want to go that early (it's January and we live a good hour from the airport and with needing to allow time to get there for security etc DH is quick to remind we'd have to leave home by 3:00 or 3:30 to allow time for parking & the shuttle etc.). The next non-stop is actually perfect @ 9:10 but is also at $106. Crossing my fingers they have a quick price drop one day soon & I can snag them. I really like the idea of the 9:10 flight...

Good luck everyone!! And thanks again for the heads up - I hadn't expected the release yet!!

 

[Anal Annie]

OMG I can't believe I did this (and that I'm admitting to you all) - I booked the WRONG date!! DOH!! I went back up to lay back down in bed and as soon as I closed my eyes I saw an image of the calendar in my head and I bolted up and realized that I needed to book Jan. 9th not the 10th!! OMG. So I quickly did a search and the same flight on the 9th was already up to $106 as was the next earlier one but the NEXT later flight direct at 7:55 was still at $89 so I did a change. Uggg. Yes, that gives us more time @ Disney but we don't land until 10:05 and we're an hour away so I'd have preferred a smidge earlier landing (esp in the winter). I guess I will keep watching to see if there's ever any drops on that 6:20. Glad I was able to save my price in the end - and THANK GOD for no change fees on SW!!! Whew!!!

 

[cmarsh31]

Thank goodness you remembered! So jealous of your rates. I just paid $300 one-way for our return flights (even tried just 2 tickets to see if I could get 2 cheaper).