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Any Soutwest Airlines experts out there? Advice for Nov booking needed.

happy cruzer

By happy cruzer,
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happy cruzer

happy cruzer

Posted
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Hello,

 

Need some advice.  We will need to fly on Thanksgiving or the Friday after (cruise does not leave until Sunday) and then return Sat. Dec 4.

 

Dallas to Miami, roundtrip.

 

We do like Southwest; I know many do not. 🙂

 

Any advice on when to book?  Right when the fares are offered?  Any day better to fly - Thursday, Friday, or even Saturday?

 

There are probably other things to consider but that all I can think of now.

 

Thank you in advance.

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waterbug123

waterbug123

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All of Thanksgiving week will be a madhouse in the airports, but if I had to guess, Thanksgiving Day is probably the least crazy since most will try to travel before or after.

As for best fares, your guess is as good as anyone else's.  Airlines use complicated algorithms to determine when to offer seats in various fare classes and trying to second guess them is a fool's game.  But when you see a price you can live with.

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snowballs mom

snowballs mom

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I always book Southwest as soon as the fares open up. Rarely have they been lower as time progresses. If they do fall you can rebook and receive a credit towards a future flight with them. I believe they recently changed their policy and the credit does not expire.

 

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aungrl Excellent Advice! Rare

aungrl

Posted
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2 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Have flown a couple of times on Thanksgiving day. Some of the most pleasant airport experiences in my 40+ years of flying.

Agree.  Thanksgiving day itself is always, in my experience, the least expensive and the least crowded.  Any other day that week will be some of the worst travel days of the year.

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NMTraveller Holiday Sharing Rare

NMTraveller

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Did you wake up early and book your Southwest flights this morning?  I was up at 5 AM and missed out on one of mine.  I had a return flight that should have been a non-stop but had to book a 1 stop as all of the inexpensive fares were already booked at 5 AM.  Lesson learned.  Next time I will wake up at 4 AM.

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NMTraveller Holiday Sharing Rare

NMTraveller

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Posted (edited)
7 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

Why do images of Black Friday "campouts" spring to mind?

 

My sleep is more valuable than saving a few bucks on an airplane ticket.

 

 

It is more about getting a nonstop ticket.  SWA is the only one that has nonstops to the destination I am going...  Otherwise I would chose other airlines 330 days in advance.

 

I took a peek at other airlines around Thanksgiving and the points/fares have skyrocketed...  

 

I remember years back we had to camp out for Delta 🙂 in order to get a few Award seats to Honolulu.

Edited by NMTraveller
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CruiserBruce

CruiserBruce

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2 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

It is more about getting a nonstop ticket.  SWA is the only one that has nonstops to the destination I am going...  Otherwise I would chose other airlines 330 days in advance.

 

I took a peek at other airlines around Thanksgiving and the points/fares have skyrocketed...  

 

I remember years back we had to camp out for Delta 🙂 in order to get a few Award seats to Honolulu.

The non-stop sold out, or the cheapest fare sold out?

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NMTraveller Holiday Sharing Rare

NMTraveller

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1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

The non-stop sold out, or the cheapest fare sold out?

The non-stop cheapest two fares sold out (probably within an hour).  You can book Business Select...  The next fare is double.  I have flown Business Select,  but I just don't get the value.  However I rebooked for a Monday morning at non-stop.  I don't like travelling late on a holiday weekend.  Delays, delays, and delays.  Mornings are better.

 

Now I have two non-stops in the morning.

Edited by NMTraveller
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NMTraveller Holiday Sharing Rare

NMTraveller

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3 hours ago, 6rugrats said:

Other airlines have been selling these tickets for about five months, so the lowest fares are long gone.

Agreed.  It is just when I saw the number of points they were in the range of a flight to Europe when booked early at low fares...

 

Holiday flights are highly booked this year...

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jsglow

jsglow

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1 hour ago, cruiselvr04 said:

Alway book Southwest the day they open.  If the price goes down you can get a credit. 

Yep. One can always re-price. We just booked our Christmas travel. It's simply a place holder for the moment. We'll see what actually happens. The good news is that we can be super flexible. And BTW, I disagree with the other poster that the initial price is always the lowest. We've often re-priced significantly cheaper in the weeks leading up to our actual travel. 

Edited by jsglow
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cruiselvr04 Great Review Rare

cruiselvr04

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3 minutes ago, jsglow said:

Yep. One can always re-price. We just booked our Christmas travel. It's simply a place holder for the moment. We'll see what actually happens. The good news is that we can be super flexible. And BTW, I disagree with the other poster that the initial price is always the lowest. We've often re-priced significantly cheaper in the weeks leading up to our actual travel. 


I’ve often repriced flights too but almost never into FLL and MIA especially cruise days.

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jsglow

jsglow

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1 hour ago, cruiselvr04 said:


I’ve often repriced flights too but almost never into FLL and MIA especially cruise days.

I'm guessing it depends where one is coming from. Access to Midway can't hurt. 

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happy cruzer

happy cruzer

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Posted (edited)
16 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

Did you wake up early and book your Southwest flights this morning?  I was up at 5 AM and missed out on one of mine.  I had a return flight that should have been a non-stop but had to book a 1 stop as all of the inexpensive fares were already booked at 5 AM.  Lesson learned.  Next time I will wake up at 4 AM.

I should have. Buttttt -

 

I got anxious about booking around a holiday and looked at AA before SW opened their bookings.  Found good times and good price on first class going out  (their website is nice in that it lets you easily look at first class pricing by flight vs. round trip) and booked that.  Based on price alone SW now would be better.  Will look at it harder this weekend to see if I want to make any changes.

 

I got what I wanted at the price that was a value - so all good.  But patience would have paid off 🙂

Edited by happy cruzer
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