Prices on Southwest Airlines

[hrmkr]

Hmmm.  I may have made a mistake not jumping on the SW fare as soon as it came out.  We are flying from BWI to SJ on Nov. 30 and returning Dec 8. the original price for a non stop flight was $276 both ways.  Today, the outbound is $376 and the return is $319. For some flights, only a certain amount of seats are available and once gone, the price goes up.  Not al flight have seats available to purchase.

 

I am also looking at flights from DCA.

 

I have found on Delta an outbound that is comparable to the original price but not non stop.

 

Again, the odd thing was how 4/5 of their flights were showing as "sold out" 45 minutes after the fares were released.  Guess i need to keep checking

[Zach1213]

22 minutes ago, hrmkr said:

Hmmm.  I may have made a mistake not jumping on the SW fare as soon as it came out.  We are flying from BWI to SJ on Nov. 30 and returning Dec 8. the original price for a non stop flight was $276 both ways.  Today, the outbound is $376 and the return is $319. For some flights, only a certain amount of seats are available and once gone, the price goes up.  Not al flight have seats available to purchase.

 

So a couple of things:

 

1) When you say not all flights have seats available for purchase...do you mean at all (as in all three categories are unavailable) or do you mean only Wanna Get Away (the cheapest column on the far right)? I'm searching for flights around Christmas and New Years and every flight has something available, but only some have Wanna Get Away available. I would be truly shocked, this far out, if any flights were completely unavailable across the board.

 

2) You don't really have any way of saying that once a "certain number of seats" are gone, the price will go up. They may release more seats at the same price, a different price (up or down), or not at all. But just because it says "3 left", doesn't mean it's true...that just means they have three left at that current fare bucket, but the fare bucket may be added to, or changed, rather than just flat out "sorry folks, parks closed, the moose should've told you on the way in".

[bbtondo]

Flyertalk:  Yes I know that RSW is Fort Meyers.  When I typed SWF I meant Southwest Florida, not RSW.

 

 

[waterbug123]

3 hours ago, Globaliser said:

As Southwest has just opened another booking period, I thought we could try an experiment

 

Cool idea; it will be interesting to see what happens!

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, bbtondo said:

Flyertalk:  Yes I know that RSW is Fort Meyers.  When I typed SWF I meant Southwest Florida, not RSW.

 

Except that Southwest Florida International Airport IS RSW.

 

https://www.flylcpa.com/

Edited June 3, 2019 by FlyerTalker

[hrmkr]

3 hours ago, Zach1213 said:

 

So a couple of things:

 

1) When you say not all flights have seats available for purchase...do you mean at all (as in all three categories are unavailable) or do you mean only Wanna Get Away (the cheapest column on the far right)? I'm searching for flights around Christmas and New Years and every flight has something available, but only some have Wanna Get Away available. I would be truly shocked, this far out, if any flights were completely unavailable across the board.

 

2) You don't really have any way of saying that once a "certain number of seats" are gone, the price will go up. They may release more seats at the same price, a different price (up or down), or not at all. But just because it says "3 left", doesn't mean it's true...that just means they have three left at that current fare bucket, but the fare bucket may be added to, or changed, rather than just flat out "sorry folks, parks closed, the moose should've told you on the way in".

Sorry.  The Wanna Get Away seats were sold out.

 

I know I am around 6 months out.  Still have time to grab something.  Supposedly, the sweet spot to book air is aorund 90 days out.

[Zach1213]

52 minutes ago, hrmkr said:

Sorry.  The Wanna Get Away seats were sold out.

 

I know I am around 6 months out.  Still have time to grab something.  Supposedly, the sweet spot to book air is aorund 90 days out.

You’ll find a lot of us here who live out of suitcases, myself included, that put zero faith in the “90 day rule”, so don’t count on it. 

[hrmkr]

The part that is going against me is that we are flying to SJ the Saturday just after Thanksgiving.  The airlines almost always jack up the prices during the holiday travel time.

 

I know a price point I am trying to get around.  If it hits near there at any time,, I will pull the trigger and book the lfights.

[Zach1213]

2 hours ago, hrmkr said:

The part that is going against me is that we are flying to SJ the Saturday just after Thanksgiving.  The airlines almost always jack up the prices during the holiday travel time.

 

Supply and demand, my friend. There’s a finite amount of supply (number of seats, which in then is based on number of aircraft and crews) but a huge jump in demand. 

[cruiselvr04]

Southwest is just easier for us and most of the time we think we get as good a deal as possible.  We’ve had to change flights 3 days prior for a cruise and it cost only $160 for 2 of us.  I can’t imagine what AA would have charged for instance. Change fees alone would have been $350 at least.  And if we could not have gone we could have cancelled up to an hour prior to the flight and rebooked for something later.  Free bags have us using them too as we often check a bag.  And last but not least in Dallas we can fly out of Love Field with non stops to cruises which is sooooo  much easier then DFW. All those “perks” are worth $50 a ticket or so to us. 

 

As long as SW doesn’t change their policies we will continue to pretty much use them exclusively domestically. We love how easy their Rapid rewards program works too. So easy to use.

[soonernstlouis]

On 6/1/2019 at 9:02 AM, FlyerTalker said:

Here's the first part of the "code".  Don't automatically wait until Southwest pricing is released.

 

Further instructions after you get that first part down pat.

I’m also from STL and and am glad I waited until

Southwest released their pricing before booking my SJU roundtrip a few months ago.

 

Delta/American was in the $450/pp/RT 8 months out.  Southwest was $306/pp/RT the day fares opened up.  I just checked both again today (now 3 months out SWA-$600+ & Delta still in the $450 range).  So with bags added, about a $200/pp difference.  

 

I think it was wise to wait then be ready quickly in Southwests major markets.  Wanna Get Away is usually very limited in quantity.

[hrmkr]

What is everyone's opinion on Spirit Air?

 

I know they nickel and dime you to death but if you can get a good deal including the baggage and seat choosing fees, is it a decent option?

[waterbug123]

17 hours ago, hrmkr said:

I know I am around 6 months out.  Still have time to grab something.  Supposedly, the sweet spot to book air is aorund 90 days out.

 

Sometimes 90 days out works great.  Other times, not so much.  There is no magic formula for when to buy flights to get the cheapst price.  If there was, then many would try to buy at that point, airlines would notice a HUGE increase in demand at that point and would then up their prices in response.

 

10 hours ago, soonernstlouis said:

I think it was wise to wait then be ready quickly in Southwests major markets.  Wanna Get Away is usually very limited in quantity.

 

It worked out well for you this time, so in hindsight yes, it was good to wait.  But hindsight is always 20/20, and Southwest is unfortunately NOT always cheapest if you wait. 

 

9 hours ago, hrmkr said:

What is everyone's opinion on Spirit Air?

 

I know they nickel and dime you to death but if you can get a good deal including the baggage and seat choosing fees, is it a decent option?

 

If the ONLY thing you are concerned with is the absolute lowest price, have at it.  But here are 2 big things to consider:

1. Their aircraft have some of the smallest seat pitch in the industry.  That means even normal sized people will find the legroom to be tight.....more so than on most other airlines.

2.  They serve the leisure market, and many routes are only operated once a day, or just a few times/week.  This means you have very limited rebooking options if your flight happens to get canceled or is delayed to the point that you would miss your connection or would miss an important event at your destination, such as boarding a ship.  And they don't interline with other airlines so there is zero chance of them putting you on another airline at their own expense if this happens.

[Zach1213]

11 hours ago, hrmkr said:

What is everyone's opinion on Spirit Air?

 

I know they nickel and dime you to death but if you can get a good deal including the baggage and seat choosing fees, is it a decent option?

 

I've flown them a few times for weekends in Vegas with my friends...for what they are, the were fine. BUT, as waterbug points out, there are some caveats that are important:

 

1) Vegas was the vacation...so while we wanted to get there on time, if something happened it wasn't the end of the world. Missing a cheap guys weekend in Vegas is different than missing a cruise, especially when we were all together anyways

 

2) I always pay for the "big front seat". Always. I refused to spend even a couple of hours in 28" seat pitch. It's not worth it to me. Their prices are usually pretty fair for the larger seat.

 

3) In these cases, since it was just a weekend in a warm location, I could get away with a personal item and didn't pay for any luggage, checked or carry on. Of course, on any guys trip to Vegas (as is law) we purchased on-board alcohol. But otherwise I had a water bottle, pre-filled after security, with me to sip on.

 

4) Spirit's crews have consistently been  friendly, welcoming, and humorous. Maybe I've just been getting lucky. Also lucky, all of my flights have been on-time or early (one even arrived in Vegas 40 minutes early).

 

I don't know if I would take them to a cruise, and I would never take them to a cruise the day-of departure (though that can be said for any airline, for me at least, but Spirit even more so). But for what the are, I've had decent experiences.

Edited June 4, 2019 by Zach1213

[hrmkr]

At first I was going to sit and wait a little bit and watch prices but as Zach stated, "supply and demand" so I started looking at different options thinking that the prices may continue to rise.

 

Well, we booked our flights last night.  I played around with the dates and it is definitely going to work out for the best. 

 

Here is the scenario:

If I would have booked the original flights i looked at yesterday (outbound on Saturday 11/30 and return Sunday 12/8) on SW, it would have cost me $673 per person.  The cheapest price on the day that SW released their schedule would have been $550 per person.

 

Now, I booked the outbound leaving Friday and returning Monday for $500/per person. I was able to save $173 per person and now have 2 extra days of vacation in SJ. With having to pay for 2 extra nights, we still come out +$100.  that will go toward food.

 

Thanks everyone for your help and opinions.  it helped. Trying to book air fare is a big game and sometimes you just need to get lucky and find a good price or when to decide to pull the trigger and book the flight

[hapster85]

Gotta love it when a plan comes together. Glad you were able to work something out to your benefit. [emoji106]

[josh.vincent.180]

We are returning from SJU on December 1st from Freedom of Seas. I booked Southwest as soon as it came out as the return flights on Delta and American are just horrible times.

 

When the flights came out it was instantly SOLD OUT on all Wanna Get Away.  The Anytime price was $705 and the Business Select was $733.  So I booked 2 of the $733 flights from SJU to Pit at 12:20 to 5:30.  Why because they are refundable but with Southwest we use the no change fees also.
 

The 737Max8 is killing Southwest right now on long flights, also causing issues with American.

 

Lately we have sailing frequently out of San Juan and with American on first class we have been getting really good deals when you account for bag fees, drinks, and dinner.


Last few years we have flown out on Thanksgiving to Cruise the week following, the airport is pretty easy to get threw, usually you get perks on flight, this year with it being late caused issues so we are going over Thanksgiving.

Edited June 4, 2019 by josh.vincent.180

[hrmkr]

1 hour ago, josh.vincent.180 said:

We are returning from SJU on December 1st from Freedom of Seas. I booked Southwest as soon as it came out as the return flights on Delta and American are just horrible times.

 

When the flights came out it was instantly SOLD OUT on all Wanna Get Away.  The Anytime price was $705 and the Business Select was $733.  So I booked 2 of the $733 flights from SJU to Pit at 12:20 to 5:30.  Why because they are refundable but with Southwest we use the no change fees also.
 

The 737Max8 is killing Southwest right now on long flights, also causing issues with American.

 

Lately we have sailing frequently out of San Juan and with American on first class we have been getting really good deals when you account for bag fees, drinks, and dinner.


Last few years we have flown out on Thanksgiving to Cruise the week following, the airport is pretty easy to get threw, usually you get perks on flight, this year with it being late caused issues so we are going over Thanksgiving.

Josh,

Take good care of the Freedom of the Seas.  We are getting on when you get off. 😀

 

 

[Zach1213]

1 hour ago, josh.vincent.180 said:

The 737Max8 is killing Southwest right now on long flights, also causing issues with American.

 

 

MAX makes up 4.5% of Southwest fleet as of right now. It's an impact, but I wouldn't say it's "killing" and airline of 750+ aircraft.

 

MAX is less that 2.5% of American's fleet as of right now. Again, an impact, but far from "killing".

[slidergirl]

Now, DO NOT LOOK AT AIRFARES ANYMORE!!!!!! 😉

 

The MAX is having a little issue on some longer routes for WN.  They couldn't pull some other craft off those yet, especially when they were hoping to add some routing using those other craft.  May not affect you on an existing route, but could mess up a new route or a less-serviced airport.  Remember - they are counting on the MAX for that new Hawaii run.  Right now, they had to pull some -800s from somewhere to fly the route in the meantime.  Those -800s weren't just sitting around.

Edited June 4, 2019 by slidergirl

[travelplus]

Southwest has their Anniversary Sale and I was able to book us on  a One Way from TPA-SJC after our cruise for $206 per person vs AA's $186 or $152 in Basic Economy that is without bags. 

 

You can apply for the Chase Credit Card and get $200 off your ticket via statement credit. 

 

I value SW over other airlines to avoid Basic Econ(but do fly Delta and others in Main Cabin or Comfort+) and will gladly pay a few $$$ more than AA for 2 free checked bags and open seating. I prefer open seating to assigned middle seat where you don't know where you will sit. I always checkin 24 hours before our flight to get the best boarding position.

 

The SW and AA flight had the same times and connecting cities of PHX so if you add $20 more for checked bags its a great deal.

 

I have learned to wait a few days after the sale opens.  Please remember that to compare SW one needs to look at legacy carriers like Delta or American and then add up the cost of the flight and extras. 2 free bags per person is $60 each x2 =$120.

 

Also SW gives me 4 free drink Coupons which is equal to $6-$8 per flight. So it works out well.

 

What do you consider expensive? Compared to what?  Remember book only when you know that its a price your wiling to pay and do remember Southwest is very generous without change fees and they will give you a refund in travel credits if the fare goes down to use for a future flight.

 

Southwest beats Allgeent or Spirit both airlines add for seat assignments, bags etc.  SW or Basic Economy which one wins?

 

 

Edited June 5, 2019 by travelplus

[FlyerTalker]

38 minutes ago, travelplus said:

Southwest beats Allgeent or Spirit both airlines add for seat assignments, bags etc.  SW or Basic Economy which one wins?

 

I've always been a fan of Air Namibia.

[slidergirl]

6 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

I've always been a fan of Air Namibia.

Never gets old.  Flies over the head of most, though... 😉

 

[Ashland]

Not a Southwest flyer but would appreciate knowing when the flight times for May 2020 will be released? Taking 10 family members from LAX-MCO and it might be worth a look when paying for that many of us.

[Zach1213]

1 hour ago, Ashland said:

Not a Southwest flyer but would appreciate knowing when the flight times for May 2020 will be released? Taking 10 family members from LAX-MCO and it might be worth a look when paying for that many of us.

They haven’t announced. I’d expect at least September.