Southwest Airlines Flight Fares

SWA just opened their booking through April 6th.

The flights are VERY expensive for our flight to Ft. Lauderdale on April 5th. I realize that's Easter weekend but it's the same for the other weekends in March too.

Did anyone experience this last year? :confused:

Hopefully the flights will go down in price/frequent flyer miles as time goes by.

If anything the flights will go up.

I would book them.

If they go down you can obtain the lower price and then use the remainder as a credit that you would have to use within one year from the time you booked it. Contact SW just to confirm this.

I have rarely ever seen their flights go down in price.

Keith

On the other hand, I have seen their prices change significantly over time. I booked flights to MCO for next week back in April. I booked them with Southwest Rapid Rewards points and I rebooked the flights 3 times, obtaining a cheaper price each time. I initially spent 28,000 points on two round trip flights. My final booking was 22,000 points just by checking the prices every few weeks.

So I would go ahead and book the flights and just keep an eye on the prices. If you pay for the tickets, you'll get a credit on your account (like Keith1010 said).

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March is Spring Break time and as you mentioned Easter in April. Those are high travel periods for Ft. Lauderdale.

If this was me I would book it. I don't see the price going down.

Keith

SW often holds their prices up high when they first release new dates. After a couple of weeks they drop them back to what the other dates are running.

I would wait a couple of weeks to book.

DaveOKC

I've booked SW for each of our past two cruises in 2012, 2013 and our upcoming Nov. cruise. I generally book the day it opens or within a few days after. I'm a planner and a price checker ;) and I always go back a couple times a month to double check if the price has gone down.

Cant tell you if it's standard practice with them or not, but in MY experience, it has never gone lower than what I book it at when the booking times first open. It has always stayed the same for awhile and then it goes up, sometimes only $20 and sometimes closer to $75.

Just my experience. but it's happened that way on all three.

Another thing I have noticed with SW fares - they are cheaper on Tues-Thurs (generally) than over the weekend, for some reason.

Also, you do have to watch the fares, as SW does run some good sales from time to time. Its easy to do on their website, since there is an option to review your past fare searches (takes less than a minute to check my upcoming flight fares).

DaveOKC

We cruised several times during Easter week and I watched the fares like a hawk. They never went down and were not anything close to reasonable. Book while you can get them, they will go fast.

SWA just opened their booking through April 6th.

 

The flights are VERY expensive for our flight to Ft. Lauderdale on April 5th. I realize that's Easter weekend but it's the same for the other weekends in March too.

 

Did anyone experience this last year? :confused:

 

Hopefully the flights will go down in price/frequent flyer miles as time goes by.

$280 more this year then last year for the 3 of us for our February flights

March is Spring Break time and as you mentioned Easter in April. Those are high travel periods for Ft. Lauderdale.

If this was me I would book it. I don't see the price going down.

 

Keith

Don't wait to book. I was speaking to the GM of the Riverside Hotel and he was telling me what a huge increase in advanced bookings they have. He said city wide, bookings are way ahead of last year.

Agreed. I would book because you can always rebook if the price decreases. The good thing with SW is there's not a change fee. I booked ours for January almost immediately after the rates came out (booked with points) and now it would cost quite a few more in points for the same airfare.

I just checked for March. Unbelievably high fares and hotels rates super high also.

SWA's winter sked opened a little late this year...Aug 4 to be precise. We grabbed a couple of non-stops from LAS to FLL and rtn the day the sked opened and yes fares are up.....probably about 30% over that past 4 to 5 years. However, they are still very good value compared to other airlines and the 2 free bags is a huge plus. We have to remember with the improving economy and rising fuel prices the bloom is kind of off the rose.

I regularly check SWA for "price drops" and regularly change my flights to take advantage. They return the Rapid Rewards points to my account. I have gotten drops on a future flight and on each of my previous three.

Does $530 a passenger sound about right for March 6?

I regularly check SWA for "price drops" and regularly change my flights to take advantage. They return the Rapid Rewards points to my account. I have gotten drops on a future flight and on each of my previous three.

You are absolutely correct about them honouring any price drop, I had forgotten about that. Unfortunately, as I recall, they only issue a credit that must be used within 12 months of being issued so it can prove to have little value to the infrequent flyer but for a frequent flyer it is an excellent guarantee.

Does $530 a passenger sound about right for March 6?

Round trip I hope. If so, then unfortunately, yes. I'm afraid the days of $100 trips are about over. Keep an eye out for possible price drops, unlikely, but sometimes does happen.

I got up early Monday to do a Raleigh to Ft Lauderdale on SWA once fares opened.- shocked that for 3/26 to 4/6 their best cost was $707.00 per person RT, twice what I usually pay- Frustrated I got on Orbitz and found a Jet Blue from Raleigh, same 3/26 direct and 4/6 back to Raleigh { also direct flight} for $303.00 a person. I thought that was great. :D

We usually fly SWA because of it's no change charge policy and credit in $ or miles for reduced fares after booking. However, I doubt we'll use SWA this time.

The SWA flight from Reno to FLL is over $540 or almost 50,000 miles PER PERSON and takes almost 9 1/2 hours!

We can fly on United economy for $450 or First Class for 50,000 miles PER PERSON and the flights only takes 6 3/4 hours!

Pretty much a no brainer unless things change in the near future.

Our return fare in January from Las Vegas to FLL is just a tad over $450 pp on SWA and that is a non-stop in either direction which you must not have from Reno.

Recently booked a 10-day cruise for late February, decided to check airfare as SW was having a "sale" -- got a sweet nonstop both ways from Milwaukee but by staying an extra day & going home on Tues instead of Mon, return fare was $200 pp cheaper! I figure even in early March we should be able to get a hotel room for less than $400...

Recently booked a 10-day cruise for late February, decided to check airfare as SW was having a "sale" -- got a sweet nonstop both ways from Milwaukee but by staying an extra day & going home on Tues instead of Mon, return fare was $200 pp cheaper! I figure even in early March we should be able to get a hotel room for less than $400...

And what a great city to extend your vacation in!!:D

Ours on SW from STL to FLL in January was $388 per person RT. I keep watching to see if they go down, but so far, they haven't.

Ours on SW from STL to FLL in January was $388 per person RT. I keep watching to see if they go down, but so far, they haven't.

I just checked again and they've dropped to $371.20 per person. Not a whole lot, but some is better than none. :D