Airfare strategy

I bought tickets last week shortly after the schedule opened up (like, minutes after) and were still surprised by how high my tickets were.

I'd like to emphasize a few points made by others:

We ALWAYS buy one-way fares. I will never buy a round-trip ticket on Southwest (or any airline, if I can get away with it). If anything bad happens with your first flight and it isn't completed, then the rest of your ticket is void.

Buy your tickets immediately. If the price goes down, you have a year from when you first bought the ticket to use any credit. It is super easy to re-book.

If you are buying one-way fares and are returning from a cruise, buy your return ticket first. Those prices climb the quickest.

The flight schedule through March 7 will open up on June 22. Last summer, the flights opened up a little after 6:00 am Eastern. When the last batch opened up on 5/18, they didn't open for me until at little after 7:00.

Same here - but if you have roundtrip tickets you might have to purchase EarlyBird for both. I normally just buy one way tickets on SW for this reason (I checkin from home for the outbound trip and buy EB for the return) plus if the fare on one leg goes down (while the other is higher) I can still get the credit refund.

I've never had to purchase it for both legs of a roundtrip, unless they've changed the policy since I last flew SW.

Roz

I booked SW when they opened up for a one way fare from FLL to Albany, direct, for 107pp

The next day the fare was up 100 and now it is not even offered as it is sold out.

The only time I booked early bird is when we can not check in online at the 24 mark

I have always had us in an A position, except for once by checking in right at 24 hours.

Given that, one time I bought early bird, ended up in a B position!

Sent a letter off to SW and they refunded me.

Another time our friends bought EB, we did not, and we where ahead of them in line :o

SW is great. I always book one ways as easier to rebook when price drops. We booked Buffalo to FLL direct for $119 late October and return via Baltimore for $70. I find rates are good on release then go up quickly and will drop with sales here and there. Just need to monitor regularly.

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