What would you do? (Southwest)

[jack'smom]

We are headed down to Disney for the Marathon weekend in January and Southwest opened up their flight schedule today so I could book for the flight down (not return).

There are 6 in my family (4 kids, 2 adults). Searching for 6 showed the flights were $400 for a one-way flight, but for 5 they were $110. So I booked the 5 and hoped that when I went back to book the 1 ticket, it would be somewhat close to $110. Nope! That flight is sitting at $400 (the wanna get away says it's sold out). Would you book the $400 flight and just concede that it averages out to only $158 per flight, or would you wait and see if it goes down? This is my husband's ticket, by the way.

Why does Southwest make it hard to book 6 seats? All flights for 6 travelers tell me that the wanna get away fare is unavailable.

 

[DisDadDVC]

They only release WGA fares in buckets. In this case, it sounds like 5 per bucket. So, a couple of points:

1) If you book the $400 flight, it is fully refundable.
2) More WGA fares will likely get released. When they do, change your $400 flight to a WGA and you will get refunded the difference.

 

[JediBonas]

We had the same thing happen to us last year. We booked three at the cheap fare, one at the stupid expensive one and just kept an eye out. It finally went down and I called and was refunded the difference on that one ticket (nearly $500).

 

[jack'smom]

They only release WGA fares in buckets. In this case, it sounds like 5 per bucket. So, a couple of points:

1) If you book the $400 flight, it is fully refundable.
2) More WGA fares will likely get released. When they do, change your $400 flight to a WGA and you will get refunded the difference.

So, if we cancelled that Anytime fare because a WGA fare was released, we can get a refund instead of a travel credit?

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

So, if we cancelled that Anytime fare because a WGA fare was released, we can get a refund instead of a travel credit?

If you book a refundable ticket, you'll get a refund, not a travel credit.

 

[jack'smom]

If you book a refundable ticket, you'll get a refund, not a travel credit.

Are Anytime fares fully refundable or is it just business select?

 

[DisDadDVC]

So, if we cancelled that Anytime fare because a WGA fare was released, we can get a refund instead of a travel credit?

Yes. You can do it is a cancel/rebook or as a change flight. Just make sure you select option to refund. I do not believe it is the default.

 

[DisDadDVC]

Are Anytime fares fully refundable or is it just business select?

They are fully refundable. Having said that, I would book a BS over anytime because usually diff is only $15 or so. The A1-15 boarding and free drink are worth $15 IMO.

 

[jack'smom]

They are fully refundable. Having said that, I would book a BS over anytime because usually diff is only $15 or so. The A1-15 boarding and free drink are worth $15 IMO.

The business select is sold out for that flight.

 

[DisDadDVC]

The business select is sold out for that flight.

Weird....I can't believe they sold 15 BS flights today. I assume that will open back up too. But in all likelihood, you will end up with a WGA fare anyway.

 

[mom2elle]

I had the same thing happen to me! We are a family of 6, travelling on Dec 31 (returning in Jan 7 so I can't book that yet). I could only book 5 of us with the WGA fares on the flight that we wanted. In the end I only booked 4 of us, and I instead booked my husband and son on a flight that leaves 1.5 hours earlier @ the WGA rate. It seems like only 5 WGA seats were released. It's annoying but I am hoping more WGA fares are released and I can rebook onto our flight.

 

[jack'smom]

Weird....I can't believe they sold 15 BS flights today. I assume that will open back up too. But in all likelihood, you will end up with a WGA fare anyway.

Well, now the Business Select fares are back, but not the WGA.

 

[jack'smom]

I had the same thing happen to me! We are a family of 6, travelling on Dec 31 (returning in Jan 7 so I can't book that yet). I could only book 5 of us with the WGA fares on the flight that we wanted. In the end I only booked 4 of us, and I instead booked my husband and son on a flight that leaves 1.5 hours earlier @ the WGA rate. It seems like only 5 WGA seats were released. It's annoying but I am hoping more WGA fares are released and I can rebook onto our flight.

Frustrating! That probably would have been a good idea...send hubby and 2 year old together and I would have taken the other 3. Now, the other flights for that day are sold out of the WGA fares. We are also flying out on Dec. 31, the price for the 5 tickets was surprisingly low. I hope that releasing 5 WGA seats doesn't become the norm, otherwise I won't even feel comfortable booking them for my family and I may have to choose other airlines.

 

[jack'smom]

Thanks for everyone's help. I think I'm going to go ahead and purchase 1 of the higher fares for my husband and stalk the site to find a WGA fare and rebook.

 

[jack'smom]

They only release WGA fares in buckets. In this case, it sounds like 5 per bucket. So, a couple of points:

1) If you book the $400 flight, it is fully refundable.
2) More WGA fares will likely get released. When they do, change your $400 flight to a WGA and you will get refunded the difference.

Thanks for your advice on this thread. I checked again this morning and more WGA fares were added, so my husband's ticket went to $217. We booked it! When I averaged out our fares, it came to $128/per person/one way for non stop. We are happy with that!

 

[DisDadDVC]

Thanks for your advice on this thread. I checked again this morning and more WGA fares were added, so my husband's ticket went to $217. We booked it! When I averaged out our fares, it came to $128/per person/one way for non stop. We are happy with that!

Not bad! Keep checking it periodically. You may be able to refare and get some travel credit. Not sure how often you fly, but maybe you could put that towards your next trip...

 

[jack'smom]

Not bad! Keep checking it periodically. You may be able to refare and get some travel credit. Not sure how often you fly, but maybe you could put that towards your next trip...

I will for sure. We still need to buy our return flight when that gets released.

 

[sam_gordon]

Why does Southwest make it hard to book 6 seats? All flights for 6 travelers tell me that the wanna get away fare is unavailable.

I just wanted to point out, all airlines do this. There are so many seats at certain price points. Once those seats are gone, the price jumps up. They all price the seats according to the most expensive you'd have to pay.