UGH…the Southwest flight prices are not budging thinking future trips we may just dri

[luvDaMouse]

I have always had success in getting good prices on my flights with SW. I have booked then re-booked and applied the credits to get some amazing fares. Well not this year :( I have been watching flights for months now on our flights for October. I have the flights booked for our trip down. My dh and I will fly on a Wed and my 2 dd’s will fly down on Sunday. Our flights down were 114 each, not too bad (usually I can get them for under 100) but the return flight they are holding steady at 188-215 each?! :pout: I have never seen SW prices so high before. I check every Tues am and nothing, nada not changing at all. I wonder if they may go down as we get closer to the fall? I am not sure if I should just book now or wait? I was hoping the flight heading to Orlando would drop and I could re-book those and apply the credits to the return flight but they went up in price. (I am glad I at least booked those already)
I have been thinking seriously about future trips and driving if all 4 of us travel because of the increased prices of flights. When it’s just the two of us it doesn’t pay to drive but as a family it is getting costly. We drove to Hilton Head resort in May and it was not that bad of a drive, I always thought it would be crazy to drive from PA/Jersey all the way to Disney , but I am told it is only 5 hours from HHI and I think we could do it!

How many of you have always flown and now drive? Do you split up the days or drive straight through?
Dana

[princessgirls]

It's high...Jet fuel is high. Those are some great prices, considering.

I'm paying $225 R/T on Delta from Newark Liberty to Orlando, and I booked that in January before prices were out of control. There are deals if you are flexible. I wanted a Saturday departure date. Jet Blue is my normal airline of choice to Orlando and their price was $900 more. No thanks!!

Good Luck. Your not alone.
Julie:mickey:

[Itchy]

Yep! I hear you when it comes to airfare prices.

I can do alot of driving for what a plane ticket costs.

When I drive I get to see all of the sights including the bumper to bumper traffic in Atlanta...... Oh Boy! I can't wait...:mickey:

[Disney4us2]

I booked our SW tickets in March for our August trip. At that time, it was $159 each way. Now it is $239 to MCO and $139 back to LAX. I have not seen the prices drop at all. We depart on a Monday and return on a Thursday. I am glad I bought when I did.

[MW1218]

Check Priceline and Hotwire. We saved about $150 for both of us compared to Southwest. Good luck in your search!

[sassafras]

We flew SW in May. I purchased our tickets last fall, then the price came down. They were playing up and down with the prices continually it seemed. I got to where I would check first thing in the morning, and several times during the day, and again about 7 in the evening. It was a real pain, but I managed to catch several temporary drops in price and ended up with enough credit for 1 round trip in August when we fly out of St. Louis. Since I purchased those, they've dropped again (and went back up). Now I have $88 in credit to use before Oct. 23! Anyway, it seemed like the closer we got to our May flight, they juggled the prices more. I guess you just have to keep checking and maybe you can catch a better price!

[disneymom15]

We're having the same problem for our Nov trip. We have two $200 vouchers from Frontier that we were hoping to use. When our booking dates opened up several weeks back, suddenly all of Frontiers Sunday schedules from our airport were removed. Can't find any flights below $380. We've never paid more than $280 from our regional airport. We're even willing to drive to Milwaukee airport for better fares, but their fares are actually higher than what we can get in Appleton. Fingers crossed that the fares come down.

[PopPhan]

Just got September flights on Southwest from Baltimore to Orlando and back for $84/$94 -- Tuesday departure/Thursday departure....Weekdays are always cheaper.

[DizneyRox]

I'm sitting on about $300 in credits for our cruise flights, for early July. Fares now are in the $170 each way range I believe, I got them down in the $100 area one way.

They do move, but as mentioned, you need to be persistant. I buy as soon as I can "afford" to, meaning what I think is a fair price. I'd like to pay less, but quite honestly, at $100 for 1000 miles or so, I'm not sure how they can make money.

I think the low fares are/were a product of 9/11 as cliche as it sounds. I'm not sure those types of fares are sustainable 10 years later. It's going to cost more, $50 more each way seems fair, but not $100+ which is where some flights now are.

[CajunDisneyDad]

We booked SW out of New Orleans. The one advantage we saw was it is a direct flight. With DS (2 yrs) never flown before, we figured this was the best option (sure beats a 13 hour car trip!!!) We were able to get tickets there and back at 124 and some change, but I had to watch... Good luck with your search :)

[Fangorn]

I check every Tues am and nothing, nada not changing at all.

Note that while Southwest used to to come out with some price reductions on Tuesday mornings, they have changed their practices and change fares whenever they feel they need to. I've seen fares for the same flight change 2-3 times in the same day, multiple days in the same week. You really have to watch constantly anymore. In my experience, Tuesday may now be the least likely day to see any price reduction.

Steve

[Stickey]

Keep checking. We took advantage of a price drop last week.

[PETE FROM NYC]

DW and I drove the last two Septembers.
The first drive was because we always wanted to try the drive. Now that we are both retired, we have no time constraints.
The second drive was because we are both handicapped, and just cannot handle all the walking needed to get through an airport.
Driving is now so much easier. We have her scooter in the back of my Expedition, and I rent a scooter from Apple.
I am the sole driver. Without killing myself, we do the drive in 2 1/2 days. I leave home with a large cooler filled with drinks and sandwiches. We stop as needed to stretch, gas up or for toilet breaks.
I have never tried to figure out the costs between driving vs flying because I want to drive, and I can do little side trips if we want to.
The first trip, we did a couple of days in Virginia to stop at Kings Dominion, and Busch Gardens Williamsburg. On the return trip, we visited family in Tampa.

[epceddie]

The prices for our trip at the end of September didn't budge for a long time, but they dropped last week and we were able to rebook and came away with a $100 credit.
Just hang in there and keep looking. The original price for our flights out of Providence didn't move an inch for about three months.

[edwards2301]

What are these "credits" that all of you speak of and how do i get them? I just looked this morning and I have not booked yet but the flight down just went down $30 but the flight back is still pretty expensive. What do i do? I am leaving July 7th! I do check everyday sometimes ever 3-4 times a day.

Thanks:mickey:

[faline]

What are these "credits" that all of you speak of and how do i get them?

Some airlines, like Southwest and JetBlue, will give you a credit if you buy high and then the price goes down. Say, you buy a flight down at $150 per person and a flight back at $125 per person and then notice that the flight down decreased to $110 per person. These airlines will provide you a credit of $40 that you can use for a later flight.

There are restrictions on the use of these credits. For example, on Southwest, if you booked your flight on January 1st, you would need to use youre credit (fly) by January 1st of the following year.

There are times when it makes sense to book your flight down as a one-way ticket and your flight back the same way. For example, if you book a round trip and one side goes down in price but the other goes up, you may not have a reduction that will allow you to get a credit.

[mudpuppysmom]

I think we all feel your frustration on airfare! I know I do!

We are going 9/27-10/5 this year and as soon as we decided when we were going I started watching fare trends so I knew what I would most likely pay. We fly from PIT so their DING fares from there have been virtually nonexistent in the past few months....it has been a very long time since I have seen one from PIT to MCO....I can't even remember! At any rate when I could book PIT to MCO I got lucky and we paid $94 pp. When the MCO to PIT came available the only nonstop flight was in the middle of the afternoon and I like to max out vaca time so we always fly in on the first flight and fly home on the last flight, but this time there is a layover in Baltimore, so I took it anyway b/c it was less that the nonstop flight. I kept checking and checking and checking and finally two days ago the nonstop flight dropped to $104 so I swapped out our flights.....somehow though I ended up with very little Ticketless Travel funds (like $3 and some odd cents), but we are flying nonstop, which is important with two small boys.

Key here is to be persistent......three nights ago I saw the price drop and as I booked it that price disappeared (by the time I checked out!) -- so it was a fluke the next morning that it was back on sale again! The wind changes -- the airfares go up and down......that is just how it works these days!

Good Luck!

[BrerGnat]

Southwest is no longer the best deal (as in low fare) airline anymore for us. For the past several trips, we've used either Jet Blue or Virgin America.

Southwest hasn't been the cheapest option for quite some time.

[Stickey]

Unfortunately, SW does not have to offer rates as low due to the outrageous baggage fees charged by most other airlines. The bottom line is the most important factor, not the fare.
For example, SW $120 + 0= $120.
Ripoff Air- $115 + 25 + ?= $140+

Service, direct flights, and efficiency are also strong factors. Jet Blue is a good choice, but their fares are usually higher in our market.

[luvDaMouse]

I checked in the beginning of the week and the price dropped to 166 each (from 188) I should have booked then because the price has now climbed to 284 for ONE WAY :eyes::pout:
So I am going to wait, check again and may book US Air. But I will keep checking, I have some time before I really need to book.
I cant believe the prices, I have never seen SW so high I guess I will be shopping other airlines.
I can pick between Newark and Philadelphia as I am smack in between them!

[mdricks]

St louis is feeling your pain. A trip a year for the last 6 years and never a round trip over 200 on southwest. Now 270-330 a leg!

They are the only direct now and boy do they know it.

I miss my TWA :(

[princessgirls]

Southwest just announced a bunch of 40th Birthday fares!!! Maybe you'll get lucky!

Julie:mickey:

[mdricks]

Hey!!! Spoke too soon. Just landed a one way (down) for $80. Not direct, but I still get there with plenty of time for a round of golf before cocktails and dinner at Fulton's (mmmmm stone crabs). :thumbsup:

Still no deals for the way back. I guess I'm just stuck in WDW.



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