Southwest "unavailable"

I have been searching for flights home from my upcoming cruise and keep checking Southwest for our return date and can't find anything but a late 9:15 flight.

Most flights say "unavailable" while a few say "sold out". Does the unavailable just mean it's not open and they are trying to sell the "more expensive" seats like business class first (since that's all that seems to be open for ALL of the other times)? I mean the flight can't be full if they are still offering all other categories other than the "Wanna get away" category. :confused:

When I was looking to book my flights there, it was showing nothing available. Then one day someone on here posted that a bunch of flights just opened up and I was able to book a great deal going there. However, I never paid attention to see if they previously said "unavailable".

Any thoughts? I'm still trying to decide what to do...book that late 9:15pm flight, which won't put us home until around midnight, or book for the following day and my child misses school and I miss work that day.

If all but the Wanna Get Away fares are available, then it means the number of tickets allocated to that fare bucket have been sold, and only the more expensive fare buckets for that flight are available.

Is there really no other airline that would be a possibility?

When is this flight?

In addition to the above, I've read that WN does not offer Wanna fares on all flights. That may be the source of "unavailable" as opposed to "sold out".

Does the unavailable just mean it's not open and they are trying to sell the "more expensive" seats like business class first

Southwest planes do not have a business class section. The entire plane is coach class. The "business select" tickets are not actually for business class, they are just priced higher and give you a drink coupon and guaranteed early boarding. The seat and in-cabin service is exactly the same as for every other seat though.

If this airfare is for your March 26 cruise, then I would guess you're trying to book airfare for the Sunday after Easter. That would be a huge travel day for what is likely the last week for spring breaks. I would imagine trying to find good flights for that day at this late date is not going to be easy.

I noticed that you have a cruise listed for March 26. If this is when you are looking for a return flight I would say it's because the wanna get away fares have been sold out. We are flying around the same time. I bought our SW tickets when they were released on August 11 and prices rose steadily, with the wanna get away fares selling out months ago. Because it's near Easter a lot of schools have Spring Break (at least this teacher does :) !)and I would imagine there is a strong demand.

If all but the Wanna Get Away fares are available, then it means the number of tickets allocated to that fare bucket have been sold, and only the more expensive fare buckets for that flight are available.

 

Is there really no other airline that would be a possibility?

So if there comes a certain date and these higher ticket pricing seats are not fullfilled, then will the "wanna" seats become available? I mean I'm sure they're not going to fly with empty seats if they can get "something" right?

Nope, no other airline...we fly for free, so has to be SW. :D

When is this flight?

In addition to the above, I've read that WN does not offer Wanna fares on all flights. That may be the source of "unavailable" as opposed to "sold out".

Hmmm, I have never seen no wanna fares on any flight I have looked at. Hopefully this isn't the case and they'll open some up. I was just wondering since it was saying no wanna fares for our trip there and then all of a sudden they opened up...the entire day opened. :p

Southwest planes do not have a business class section. The entire plane is coach class. The "business select" tickets are not actually for business class, they are just priced higher and give you a drink coupon and guaranteed early boarding. The seat and in-cabin service is exactly the same as for every other seat though.

I know this, I mis-worded the terminology I guess. But everyone knows what I meant. ;) We fly at least 6-10 times a year and only with SW. :D

If this airfare is for your March 26 cruise, then I would guess you're trying to book airfare for the Sunday after Easter. That would be a huge travel day for what is likely the last week for spring breaks. I would imagine trying to find good flights for that day at this late date is not going to be easy.

Yep, that would be it. I'm finding it not easy for sure. Sigh :(

I noticed that you have a cruise listed for March 26. If this is when you are looking for a return flight I would say it's because the wanna get away fares have been sold out. We are flying around the same time. I bought our SW tickets when they were released on August 11 and prices rose steadily, with the wanna get away fares selling out months ago. Because it's near Easter a lot of schools have Spring Break (at least this teacher does :) !)and I would imagine there is a strong demand.

Yep, that's the date and Spring Break. I was just really hoping it would open up like our flights there did a couple of weeks ago. I guess I'll have to make the decision to book the late flight home at night and have to try to find something to do all day after we get off the ship or just stay the night and come home the next day. :(

Oh, just wanted to post this as a follow-up just now...

I just went on to check again and 2 more "wanna" fares opened up. One in the early morning and another late at night. Neither are good ones, but hopefully this is a "sign". So there's a total of 4 open now.

 

I know this, I mis-worded the terminology I guess. But everyone knows what I meant. ;) We fly at least 6-10 times a year and only with SW. :D

If you are aware that business class and "business select" are not the same thing that's wonderful. But I'd bet there is someone out there lurking that did NOT realize that biz select on WN is not the same as actual biz class offered on other airlines. Now they know. ;)

Oh, just wanted to post this as a follow-up just now...

 

I just went on to check again and 2 more "wanna" fares opened up. One in the early morning and another late at night. Neither are good ones, but hopefully this is a "sign". So there's a total of 4 open now.

I'm a little confused. You said you only fly WN because you can fly WN for free, but you are insisting on finding fares at a particular price. :confused:

Do you just have a limited number of points to redeem or something?

I'm a little confused. You said you only fly WN because you can fly WN for free, but you are insisting on finding fares at a particular price. :confused:

 

Do you just have a limited number of points to redeem or something?

Yes, we have points to use and the companion pass. So even though we have tons of points, I still want to use the smallest amount so that I can fly more often because we have 2 other vacations planned this year. The real issue here is that there's nothing available to fly that day until late at night forcing us to either stay in a hotel that night and fly out the following day or spending the entire day at the airport until our flight leaves that night (which would probably be a good 12 hour wait or so). :)

spending the entire day at the airport until our flight leaves that night (which would probably be a good 12 hour wait or so).

Why??

You could very easily rent an SUV that will hold all your luggage and then spend the day being a tourist in SoFla. I'm seeing Dodge Durangos renting for $38 for the day, all in. Go to South Beach, out to the Everglades, down US1 to some of the Keys - lots you can see and do rather than just sit in an airport. Some airports are worth spending 12 hours in (Changi to wit), but FLL is not one of them.

But, if that's your view of your options....

Why??

 

You could very easily rent an SUV that will hold all your luggage and then spend the day being a tourist in SoFla. I'm seeing Dodge Durangos renting for $38 for the day, all in. Go to South Beach, out to the Everglades, down US1 to some of the Keys - lots you can see and do rather than just sit in an airport. Some airports are worth spending 12 hours in (Changi to wit), but FLL is not one of them.

 

But, if that's your view of your options....

I agree with FlyerTalker here...no reason at all to hang at the airport.

Our cruise last March had us flying home at 6:30pm after debarking. We took a taxi to the airport to store our luggage ($6/bag...so $18) and took the free trolley into town. We discovered the FLL St. Patrick's day parade was going on; found a restaurant open to the sidewalk that had bottomless Bloody Mary's and Mimosa's for $15 and had a great lunch, then wandered along the waterway park where a huge St. Patrick's celebration was going on. It was an awesome way to spend the day!

Went back to the trolley stop around 4pm for the ride back to the airport, collected our bags and headed to the flight.

I agree with FlyerTalker here...no reason at all to hang at the airport.

 

Our cruise last March had us flying home at 6:30pm after debarking. We took a taxi to the airport to store our luggage ($6/bag...so $18) and took the free trolley into town. We discovered the FLL St. Patrick's day parade was going on; found a restaurant open to the sidewalk that had bottomless Bloody Mary's and Mimosa's for $15 and had a great lunch, then wandered along the waterway park where a huge St. Patrick's celebration was going on. It was an awesome way to spend the day!

 

Went back to the trolley stop around 4pm for the ride back to the airport, collected our bags and headed to the flight.

Mitsugirly - here are the websites for all the activities that msmayor did in case you are interested:

• Luggage storage in each FLL terminal: http://www.bagstogo.net
  
• Free ride (weekends only) on the Sun Trolley Airport Link to/from downtown and cheap transportation ($1/ride or $3/day pass) once downtown: http://www.suntrolley.com
  
• Restaurants and shops along Las Olas Blvd: http://www.lasolasboulevard.com
  

I'll throw in two more:

• Info on Fort Lauderdale attractions, restaurants, transportation (in addition to lodgings): http://www.sunny.org
  
• The water taxi (most popular attraction and a means of transportation): http://www.watertaxi.com
  

No one should feel compelled to spend the day in the airport :eek:. Most airlines won't even take your luggage until a few hours before departure.

It might be because of the date you are flying but I had been waiting for our flights to open up for April 21st for quite awhile. When they finally were there the direct flight I wanted from Phoenix to Ft Lauderdale didn't have the Wanna Get Away available so I booked a different flight with a change in Dallas. I kept checking every day and about a month later the one I wanted was available so I changed it. So...maybe there is still hope. Keep checking.

I've read that WN does not offer Wanna fares on all flights.

Makes sense...would you "wanna get away" to Des Moines or Dayton? ;)

Mitsugirly - here are the websites for all the activities that msmayor did in case you are interested:

 

• Luggage storage in each FLL terminal: www.bagstogo.net
  
• Free ride (weekends only) on the Sun Trolley Airport Link to/from downtown and cheap transportation ($1/ride or $3/day pass) once downtown: www.suntrolley.com
  
• Restaurants and shops along Las Olas Blvd: www.lasolasboulevard.com
  

I'll throw in two more:

 

• Info on Fort Lauderdale attractions, restaurants, transportation (in addition to lodgings): www.sunny.org
  
• The water taxi (most popular attraction and a means of transportation): www.watertaxi.com
  

No one should feel compelled to spend the day in the airport :eek:. Most airlines won't even take your luggage until a few hours before departure.

Thank you so much for this helpful information. I have been checking out everything and did find something that might interest us.

Since the Sun Trolley can be caught at the airport, we would probably just take it to SW 2nd street and head to the Museum of Discovery. It looks like something similar to what we have here (COSI) and I know my little one would love it. Plus, it looks like that route is free?

Here's some problems I'm running into though...

The Museum of Discovery closes at 6pm on Sunday.

The Sun Trolley's last pick up back is at 4pm.

The Bag To Go also closes at 5:30pm.

I'm really not sure what time we would be able to get off the ship, then factor in our transportation from Miami to FLL airport. I'm "guessing" (hopefully) make it there by 11am. Once we figure out what to do with the luggage, catch the trolley to the Museum. I'm honestly not sure if there's enough time to actually enjoy all of the museum and the Imax theater. :confused: Plus factoring any wait times for the trolley, it kinda makes me nervous to not be sure if we'll make it back to the airport in time to get our luggage. Then we will still have about a 4 hour wait at the airport.

Any other suggestions on what to do with the luggage? Any other suggestions of places that might take it and hold it? Of course if the trolley stops running at 4pm, that still pretty much limits anything that can be done after that time period and we are still left sitting around waiting.

I tried to make plans like this once before, but when we came back from the cruise, it was pouring down raining and we had planned to walk around and see things, but after such a nasty day out, we ended up just staying at the airport and waiting...and that was only about a 4-5 hour wait (from what I can remember), which seemed like forever.

It might be because of the date you are flying but I had been waiting for our flights to open up for April 21st for quite awhile. When they finally were there the direct flight I wanted from Phoenix to Ft Lauderdale didn't have the Wanna Get Away available so I booked a different flight with a change in Dallas. I kept checking every day and about a month later the one I wanted was available so I changed it. So...maybe there is still hope. Keep checking.

I am definitely going to keep checking and keeping my fingers crossed. I may just start checking into flights to other places and then get another flight from there home and see how that turns out. :o

Makes sense...would you "wanna get away" to Des Moines or Dayton? ;)

I...errr....um... Des Moines? Why?

I guess I could look into Dayton and then a connecting flight to home and see if that would work. :)

Makes sense...would you "wanna get away" to Des Moines or Dayton? ;)

I'm really not sure what time we would be able to get off the ship, then factor in our transportation from Miami to FLL airport. I'm "guessing" (hopefully) make it there by 11am. Once we figure out what to do with the luggage, catch the trolley to the Museum. I'm honestly not sure if there's enough time to actually enjoy all of the museum and the Imax theater. :confused: Plus factoring any wait times for the trolley, it kinda makes me nervous to not be sure if we'll make it back to the airport in time to get our luggage. Then we will still have about a 4 hour wait at the airport.

 

Any other suggestions on what to do with the luggage?

IMO - Forget about the trolley and the luggage storage. Rent a vehicle, put the bags in the trunk and you have both your transportation and storage questions answered. No concerns about trolley times or storage facility times. You don't have to be back to the airport until much closer to your flight time and you can even have a nice dinner on the town as well.

I can't think that you would be arriving from the ship to FLL later than 11am, and since you aren't checking bags or going through security, you can just be off on your day's adventure.

Yes, it will cost a bit more than the trolley and storage, but in the big picture, the freedom is worth the marginal difference. Skip two or three umbrella drinks on the ship and there's the make-up.

Also, at FLL, you don't have to worry about the myriad toll roads like in Dade.

I had missed that you were disembarking at Port of Miami. In that case, I agree with the recommendation to rent a car for both transportation and luggage storage purposes. The Discovery Museum is great for both kids and adults (DH and I went there on our own). There are plenty of parking lots and on street parking on a weekend in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

I think I would just pay the money/points and take the best flight home. All this wondering what to do and what to do with luggage stuff seems like a waste of time and money to me. I guess I'm just different and like to keep things simple and don't mind paying a little more for convenience and simplicity.