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Southwest Airlines sale - questions


milovany
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Does Southwest do a Black Friday (or maybe the whole weekend) sale?  We need to purchase a flight in the next few days.  They have a sale that ends Thursday going now and I wonder if I should hold out.  But the related question is do they usually only put specific routes on sale?  When they have a sale and I type in our nearest airport, it seems like the same cities always come up on the options page.  Do they ever do an across the board sale with ALL flights? 

 

Thanks for any information you may have!

Edited by milovany
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I've seen lower prices on non-sale flights. Using the calendar feature on Southwest's site helps to find the best price.

 

If it doesn't need to be Southwest, try Google flights. It lets you search nearby airports. It looks at prices for lots of airlines but not Southwest.

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Not sure where you need to go or where you are, but perhaps you could also check out Frontier Airlines. Yes, you have to pay for bags, but we got away for a weekend with just a large "purse" and had a blast for super-cheap. 

We went to Colorado Springs (from DC) for $54 roundtrip! Only one stop, and at the time we wanted, too. Lots of times they have 99% off sales. They fly mostly to the west, but have a few FL flights and other places. 

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Not sure where you need to go or where you are, but perhaps you could also check out Frontier Airlines. Yes, you have to pay for bags, but we got away for a weekend with just a large "purse" and had a blast for super-cheap.

We went to Colorado Springs (from DC) for $54 roundtrip! Only one stop, and at the time we wanted, too. Lots of times they have 99% off sales. They fly mostly to the west, but have a few FL flights and other places.

I agree about Frontier. I flew my family of 5 from Cincinnati to Denver round trip for $500, including paying extra for baggage. They do nickel and dime you for upgrades and it is a budget airline. I have flown them 3 times now and have not had a bad experience.

 

My husband says Delta is much better, but he often sits in business or first class so I don’t think it’s a fair comparison.

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I'm always mystified by Southwest and their pricing.  I bought a flight once right before a sale ended, then pulled up the same flight a day or two after the sale to see how much I'd saved and it was the same cost.   :glare:

 

For us, SW is pretty much always cheaper than anyone else if they fly to a destination, but I suspect that's also because we usually fly out of one of their hubs (BWI).  For the flights we take, it's a significant savings, so it's a good thing I love their airline!

 

I agree with others to check Google Flights to compare across airlines (checking SW separately since they don't buy into the group comparison sites), add any fees necessary for other flights, and choose your best deal.

 

Otherwise, I'll be watching this thread to see if anyone else has figure out how their sales work.

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ps  If Qatar Airways happens to fly where you are going (probably not as they aren't very common in the US), take them.  They've usurped SW as my favorite airline after only one trip - and they were the cheapest option (by far) where we were going, though we had to swap to leave from Philly.  I still like SW...

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I'm always mystified by Southwest and their pricing.  I bought a flight once right before a sale ended, then pulled up the same flight a day or two after the sale to see how much I'd saved and it was the same cost.   :glare:

 

 

Yeah, I think that's what I tried (not very well) to infer in my original post.  I think they have certain flights / destinations that go on sale, not an across the board sale for all flights.  We do use two airports that are usually included in their sales (SEA and PHX), so I'm just wondering if what I'm seeing now on their pre-Thanksgiving sale will have a better price in two days on Black Friday. 

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OP my take on this (former airline employee and I was a Travel Agent for one year when I was young) is that one SHOULD NOT try for the absolute lowest price on a particular route/date/airline.  The probability of knowing what the lowest price available was, is very low, until the price has risen and continues to go up.

 

What we do is when there is a fare we are very happy with, on an airline we like, and we like the schedule and the equipment (Airbus A320 series, etc.) we click to buy.

 

After we buy, yes, there's a possibility the price might go down even more, but there is also a chance the price might go up, maybe way up, and also that the flight you want to go on sells out.

 

We had that happen 2 or 3 years ago.  A friend of my wife wanted to go with us on a flight to Bogota for a reunion there. By the time my wife got her on the phone and explained the fare/flight, etc. to her friend, when I checked availability, there were no more seats available at that price.  Bottom line was that her friend didn't go with us on that flight.  The price had gone up, a lot,  during that short period of time.

 

If they say there are 3 seats available at a particular fare, they are not kidding...  Possibly they will make more seats available at a low fare, if there are remaining seats, but there may not be any remaining seats...

 

So when we went round-trip from Cali, Colombia to Orlando FL last year, our tickets were USD $301.  Possibly they went down a couple of dollars a day or 2 after that, but I guarantee you there were people who paid at least twice as much as we did, possibly much more, on the flights with us.

 

So, when you see a great fare, click to buy and then enjoy your trip!

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the thing that shocked me the most - when I was buying tickets for dss to go visit 2dd over christmas, SW wasn't the cheapest.  Alaska - from their website, not a third party - was cheaper than SW.  and direct flights through DFW, not love field.

I also bought them at the 60 day window.

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 when I checked availability, there were no more seats available at that price.  

 

good advice, and

sometimes you have to clear your cookies and you'll find those lower prices tickets are still available.   I had this happen several times when flight shopping for one of my girls to come home over a holiday break.   we'd be on the same site, exact same flights and carriers, same dates, etc.  - but different IPs becasue we were on opposite sides of the country.  and we'd have different prices.   clear cookies - all is well.

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After we buy, yes, there's a possibility the price might go down even more, but there is also a chance the price might go up, maybe way up, and also that the flight you want to go on sells out.

 

Thanks, Lanny.  We remembered last night that with Southwest you can change your ticket to a lower fare if one becomes available, so we'll go ahead and purchase what we see now and watch to see if it goes down.  We live on a route that sometimes has had $108 RT (SEA --> PHX), which we paid last spring, so I guess part of me wants to hold out for that.  Silly idea this time of year.  

 

 

the thing that shocked me the most - when I was buying tickets for dss to go visit 2dd over christmas, SW wasn't the cheapest.  Alaska - from their website, not a third party - was cheaper than SW.  and direct flights through DFW, not love field. I also bought them at the 60 day window.

 

Oh, gosh, not here and we live in the land of Alaska airlines (Seattle).  It's always more expensive compared to SW when I check.  I checked this too, and it was again more expensive.  Maybe it's the route we fly most often.  (SEA --> PHX). 

 

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Oh, gosh, not here and we live in the land of Alaska airlines (Seattle).  It's always more expensive compared to SW when I check.  I checked this too, and it was again more expensive.  Maybe it's the route we fly most often.  (SEA --> PHX). 

 

I live in the seattle area, and they're flying out of sea-tac.   (to dfw.  SW flies exclusively to love field - which is supposed to be a cheaper airport because it is small.)  it was cheaper to fly Alaska - going to their website, NOT a third party, than it was going to the SW website for the same dates and route.

 

also try to find their fare calendar, which is generally available on the airlines website, but you might have to look for it.  fares will vary by date, and time of day.  the calendars will show the lowest - and fares can vary greatly in  given week.  I have seen both SW and Alaska's fare calendars, and compared them.

 

it will vary - one will not always be cheaper than the other, but given the option I'd rather fly Alaska than SW.  btdt. 

and I think phoenix is a big SW hub.

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