Southwest/when to purchase?

[Lorraine444]

I am flipping about flights!
Southwest.com has $119.00 each way tickets now, should I wait to see if they go lower?
I think that's kinda much.
They typically do go down $59.00/$69.00 if they haven't sold all the seats. I spoke to someone @ Southwest today and she says if all the seats are bought @ 119.00 I obviously won't see the price drop.
I need tickets on 8/5 departure & 8/12 return.
WHAT SHOULD I DO????

[LoriMistress]

That's up to you. You can try searching online...maybe you might be able to find another site that may be cheaper. I would also suggest being on SouthWest email list so they can email you great deals through the newsletter only.

[GenieOfPA]

i would sign up for the southwest "ding" program on their website... i can't remember exactly what its called, but its a program you can download and it will alert you when there are cheap seats available for destinations you are interested in. i am a member and got my tickets on a great discount of $49 each way (flying out of philadelphia international). if you aren't scheduled to leave until august, then you have some time to wait for prices to drop in my opinion... the only problem with waiting is that potentially the prices might increase also, and with less and less time till your trip it would be doubtful of a drop in price. so i would say wait it out for a little longer, but if nothing drops in price, just buy your tix at regular price before its too late.

[PetefromRI]

We're leaving on 5/12 and we booked our flights online through SouthWest about 2 months ago.Since that time we've seen our flights go down better than half the cost we paid.If we canceled our flight and bought new tickets we would have to rebook with our credit card and the flight we canceled would go as a credit toward a future flight within a year.We don't think that we'll be traveling again for at least a year or so and we decided to eat the tickets.They were pretty pricey but I was really afraid to wait to long and not get the flight that I wanted.Next time I think we'll just wing it and hope for the best.In the worse case senerio we could always drive or use another airline with connecting flights.I always thought that the early bird gets the worm but I guess that comes at a price.I guess the airlines are just trying to get the most that they can per ticket and if they don't sell then they drop the price.I like Southwest but for what I paid you'd think that I'd get an assigned seat.Hopefully I'll end up with an A ticket.Maybe we'll try another airline if Southwest wants to be greedy.
I didn't mean to go on a rant I guess it's been bugging me alittle.But the bottom line is ,that in about 31 days,I'LL BE IN DISNEY!!!!!!!

[Lorraine444]

K, Well i have signed up for Ding, and have yet to hear it DING...... ( :
I guess I'll continue checking the site everyday,
and cross my fingers that all seats don't fill up & the flight cost goes down. It appears that they are up to May/June for the cheaper sale flights. After all how much more can they go up from what they are now. I have also checked all other airlines & Orbitz + more, and they are all costly now.......
Thanks to all 4 your suggestions & inputs.....
I welcome any other Ideas.....

[kakn7294]

The Ding program must actually be open - not necessarily visible on the screen, but the airplane tail must be in the taskbar tray in order for you to receive "Dings". I usually get them once or twice a day. I bought my tickets to Orlando on the first day they were available at $49 each but the return tickets were $117 (now $120). I'm waiting for a better deal on Ding!

[TikiGoddess]

Hi Lorraine,

We're practically neighbors -- I currently live in Ellington and used to live in Manchester!

I just booked our July flights out of BDL last week with a Ding fare. We ended up paying $520 for 4 people ($130 per person) round trip to Orlando. If I were you I would be watching the Ding fares every day. My guess is you will get a good fare. Southwest's fares out of Bradley have been so high that I can't imagine their flights selling out at $119 o/w!

Be vigilant and watch the Ding fares --- they'll come. If they had fares for July last week, then I would expect Aug fares to be coming soon. Or, you could book the $119 fares and then when a Ding becomes available, call SW and have them switch your fare. They give you a credit on the $$ difference that has to be used within a year (so it's only a good deal if you'll be flying soon).

Good luck! And welcome to Intercot!
TikiG

[Bruegge]

Don't forget that Southwest unlike Delta and American doesn't charge a "penalty" to switch to a lower fare.

Now the savings ... $115 vs $49 would be $66... it would stay as a credit at Southwest for a Year.. Use it or lose it .... but no Penalty


American hit me with a $100/ticket charge to change flights.

Delta I believe is $75/ticket penalty

NOTE: these are on the "cheapest" non refundable tickets...

Other more expensive tickets have less restrictions

Scott

[u2daisyblue]

It's a tough call but like someone else posted you can get a credit if the fare does drop and you change it online. We had flights booked last year on Southwest and the fare dropped so I switched to cheaper fare (no fees charged) and we got $80 credit which I used a couple of weeks ago to go to FL with fam. The one thing I will point out is that the credit does expire. When I was booking my flight to orlando for this year I remembered we had a credit which I was able to locate on their site and applied it to our trip however I noticed it would have expired in April of this year (we flew in May of last year). Good luck and have a great time!

[PetefromRI]

I was under the assumption that the total cost of the tickets you were canceling were set as your credit and that you had to buy new seats.Learn something everyday.

[Lorraine444]

I feel better now with all the replies, Thanks!
I don't want to purchase and get credit, I don't fly every year, although I heard you can give the credits away to someone also.
My decision is to be patient & wait for the ding!
I just have to ask someone what is wrong with my ding..... It is on my bar on the bottom, it just never dings... HA! I feel like a ding right now.....
TIKIGODDESS - Hi there neighbor! I have a few girlfriends in Ellington. Small small world.
I believe we can email privately to see if we know mutual friends. I am new to this intercot stuff. Try it.
Thanks again, I'm sure I will be back with more questions! Oh YES! Happy News - My boss is going on the dates of the free dining, she had already purchased the Dining plan for 4. I have informed her & am waiting to see if she scored credit & will now be eating for free!!!! BONUS!!
Kidding - She deserves it!!!!

[Lorraine444]

O'Boy!!!!
Puchasing flight tickets has become the hardest thing for my vacation.
For Southwest the dates I need are now all unavailable (Online)!!!!! I truely hope this doesn't mean they are all filled up! Does anyone know? Have they saved some seats for future sales? Can you still get seats even though online it says unavailable?
YIKES!!!!!!
Not sure I made the right choice....

[3girlsdisneydreams]

wanted to say Hi to all you new englanders i see on this post!!

I'm from CT and DH from MA... we moved 2 years ago to Pittsburgh though (Hi Kathy! :thumbsup: )

We're taking a trip in December... do you all think it's wise to book now.. or wait it out for Southwest.. I am guessing we have 4 months before they do December??
We definitely want a non-stop flight..so is it smart to book earlier?? The cheapest I see right now are $99 one-way Air Tran.

I haven't flown in 7 years.. so I am clueless now on strategies. LOL I did download DING, but know it won't do me much good for a while.

Lorraine... I hope your flights are still available!

[Cinderella's Lady in Waiting]

We are also going in May ( 11-20) and we booked at $49 each way on March 1st. Two days later there was a DING for $29 each way. Once it goes that low it only goes up from that point. So if you've seen it that low chances are it won't happen again. I continue to check in case a better flight opens up for the same day then there is no charge for the change. If your very flexible......I've seen a DING but only for "flight 222 on Tuesday evening"......Good Luck and keep checking that DING!!

[karenrarintogo]

I am curious if your airline shows a map of seats already booked on your travel dates online like United and NW does. That way you can monitor the flight's seat availability and better sense when you should buy. I suspect not, but maybe if you call them they could tell you how booked the plane is? :confused:

I live in a city where there aren't any lower cost carriers that fly to Orlando, so no dings for us.:( :(

[faline]

I am curious if your airline shows a map of seats already booked on your travel dates online like United and NW does. That way you can monitor the flight's seat availability and better sense when you should buy. I suspect not, but maybe if you call them they could tell you how booked the plane is? :confused: (

Because there are no assigned seats with Southwest, there wouldn't be a way to view seats already booked. Only Southwest would know how close a particular flight might be to being sold out.

[Lorraine444]

I guess this is the part that everyone goes CRAZY!!!!!!
No wonder vacations are vacations after all is completed!!!
I am about ready to book the $220.00 round trip, can't wait any longer...
The problem now is I just gave my son's friends mother a week to come with the $$. I don't dare book his flight without having the cash @ hand. have been taken advantage of too much in the past, I am already paying for his park hopper passes 300.00.. Just because........
Who in the world gets $29.00 flights then looks for cheaper ones?????
You are sooo lucky!
I am obsesed with this, and won't get over it till it's complete.
I have just had a strong drink, that will help me sleep!
Can't wait to actually get there!
Night, night....