ARGH. SW is driving me nuts!!!!

[PrincessDreams4P&B]

Okay so we are booked on the Caribbean Princess for October 21, 2006 and SouthWest just DING'ed me with a flight from Birmingham AL (we are in GA about an 1hour 15 minutes away) to Ft. Lauderdale for $39. each way, that means that I could fly my family of four, for $320. RT. but the dates are only good until MAY.

 

I know I have plenty of time but wow $320.00 for all of us that would have been such a great deal.

 

Does anyone know about how far out SW books? Have you ever caught a deal like that before? Am I needlessly driving myself insane?

 

Thanks

[KLV2cruz]

SW has deals all the time, just keep looking. Their bookings are 3-6 months out depending on the time. Start looking around Aug-Sep for deals and let them keep E-mailing you promotions. I flew my family for $320 to Calif last year just happened to catch it. But I looked daily and also watched my mail. You can get a booking sometime 14-21 days for a sale. Good luck.

[zqvol]

Okay so we are booked on the Caribbean Princess for October 21, 2006 and SouthWest just DING'ed me with a flight from Birmingham AL (we are in GA about an 1hour 15 minutes away) to Ft. Lauderdale for $39. each way, that means that I could fly my family of four, for $320. RT. but the dates are only good until MAY.

 

I know I have plenty of time but wow $320.00 for all of us that would have been such a great deal.

 

Does anyone know about how far out SW books? Have you ever caught a deal like that before? Am I needlessly driving myself insane?

 

Thanks

Keep a close eye out for those types of deals. They are load controlled and not available on every flight and of course seats are very limited.

[hdawson]

I would check AirTran from Atl and get on their email sale list.

[PrincessDreams4P&B]

I didn't even think about Air Tran and they would be so much closer!! Thanks for the tip.

[hdawson]

AirTran is my line of choice. They are the #2 carrier in Atlanta and ranked

2nd in service for 2004. That other line in Atlanta ranked 11th. Very new airplanes. All Boeing.

[PrincessMelody]

Airtran also is the best as far as luggage losses. They are a great airline IMO, and I fly them whenever possible.:)

[funcorn]

I agree about AirTran begin very good from Atl. Also if you ever listen to Clark Howard--on Thursdays (I think) he has a show about air fare deals and when to book or start looking etc.

[PrincessDreams4P&B]

Thanks for the tips everyone. Is everyone else in the ATL area getting flooded like we are (in Douglasville). Should I start building an arc?

[Hoyaheel]

SW "Ding" deals are usually quite short term, whereas if you book something as soon as the dates become available you can often get the cheapest "internet only" rate. The nice thing about SW is that if a cheaper fare DOES become available (say, through a "Ding") you can cancel your existing reservations, use that money towards purchasing the cheaper flights, and have a credit on SW with the leftover money. Of course, this works best if you fly SWA quite often and like to make last minute trips, but it's nice that at least one airline lets you easily do this (it can all be done online with only your rapid rewards account number)

 

We'll fly Airtran too. We'll fly whatever is cheapest and has the best itinerary to our destination:p