Southwest

[Mitzie]

Does this happen often? We were booking our flights for our upcoming October trip..6 people flying total but buying in 3 separate units. First two groups bought theirs..then the price jumps up..in a matter of 15-20 minutes..Same flights...

[cspenc28]

It happened to us back in December. My parents, husband and I are going to Vegas in July. They bought their tickets, a few minutes later I logged on to book the tickets for my husband and I and the ticket price for one leg of our trip jumped $15. So weird.

[KylesMom]

Yep, a fairly common occurrence. I book travel for an entire sales team, and many of them are faithful Southwest flyers (as am I). If I have to book several of them on the same flights for a conference or trade show, I usually get two or three of the lowest available fares, then it jumps for the next couple. It usually is not a substantial fare difference though.

[BrerGnat]

Yes, it happens because Southwest (like every other air carrier) sells a limited number of seats at each price point. Once those seats are gone, they move to the next highest price point.

[Fangorn]

As Natalie says, this is a normal and industry standard occurrence. There are indeed a limited number of seats tagged at specific price points, and the airlines (Southwest in particular, since they've been doing it longer than anyone else) know pretty much exactly how many seats they need to sell at what price to not only fill the plane, but maximize their revenue.

Because of this, even when you're flying with just 2 in your party, you should always check what the price is a single seat. It could be that there is one seat available at a lower price. But you won't see that price if you try to book 2 seats - you'll only see the next higher price. Same thing happens for any size group. I booked a trip for DW, myself and our granddaughter a couple of months ago. Price per seat for all three of us at once was $244 each. Price for just two of us? $164 each. I booked two at $164 and then booked the third seat at $244. Yes, I now have 2 confirmation numbers to keep track of, but that's hardly a problem - especially when saving $160.

Oh, and at least on Southwest, those lower priced seats "can" come back into the available inventory. If someone purchases a seat with a low fare and then months later cancels the reservation, it is most likely that the seat(s) will still have that lower fare attached to them, and the next person looking for a seat will see that price. This is why you will occasionally see "price reductions" on certain flights as you get closer to the actual departure date.

Steve

[sassafras]

For some idiotic reason last year, I booked my husband's flights first, then went back in and did mine separately within 5 minutes of each other, start to finish. My flight was about $50 higher than his. Called SW and got told there are only so many "special" seats and apparently he got the last one. I always knew he was "special"!

[vicster]

Booked mine for September because I was afraid prices would go up and now it's $99.00 out of Chicago - arggggghhhhhh. 72 hour sale

[BrerGnat]

Booked mine for September because I was afraid prices would go up and now it's $99.00 out of Chicago - arggggghhhhhh. 72 hour sale

Just cancel and rebook. Southwest doesn't charge to do that. The dollar amount difference will be given to you in the form of a SW credit.

[Fangorn]

Just cancel and rebook. Southwest doesn't charge to do that. The dollar amount difference will be given to you in the form of a SW credit.

You don't even have to cancel and rebook. Just go on-line and "Change" your flight. The system will let you "change" a flight to the same flight and in the process it will use the current available fare and give you any credit due.

You do have to use any credit (meaning complete a trip using the credit) within a year from the original purchase date.

Steve

[vicster]

Thanks - may cost more than just an airline credit as it may force another trip to WDW

[Fangorn]

Thanks - may cost more than just an airline credit as it may force another trip to WDW

And that's a bad thing?

Steve

[vicster]

And that's a bad thing?

Steve

Haha - it's never a bad thing