SW and AirTran\Marathon Weekend (Jan '12)

[DizRunner]

Hi! I've been flying down to WDW every other year since '04 to run on Marathon Weekend in January. I've been lucky enough to find great deals on SW or AirTran right when they post their schedules for that weekend. Usually around $100 or under one-way.

Back in May SW posted their's and it was around $129 one way. But the flight schedule wasn't great in that I like to take the first non-stop flight out of Indianapolis. Arrive early and I have most of the day that first day (Friday) to goof off.

So I decided to see what AirTran has. They just posted their schedule for that Friday, January 6th. They have an early flight non-stop. Great until I saw the price. Over $400...one way!

I read somewhere to save money book early. I can't get any earlier that this.

I know prices are up. But holy smokes!

Any advice on whether to wait or to go for SW? Again, not a great flight out. It would be much later in the day...around 1 pm, I believe.

Anyone know when deals for the first part of January come out for SW and\or AirTran?

Any advice would be deeply appreciated.

Thank you much!

[sassafras]

I booked our flights for August approximately 4 months ago with SW out of St.Louis. The flights haven't changed, but the prices have. I have rebooked them to the point, I now have 128 in credit which I must use before October 23, due to a previous credit issue from earlier in the year. My guess is they won't change the actual flight schedule, just continue to play with fares.

[teambricker04]

I just checked on a site for your date of travel, one way direct and there is a 744am and an 1130am AirTran for 129 on the 6th. I would poke around some more.... Aren't SW and AirTran effectively the same thing these days?

Good Luck!!

[frozman]

SW and Airtran have officially merged and are now the same company but they are still being run individually for the time being (meaning you pay for checked baggage on AirTran, but not SW). You might want to broaden your horizons a little bit beyond these two airlines. I booked my Sept trip on US Airways as they were a smidgen less than Southwest, but more importantly I got to use a more convenient airport here at home and I needed a later flight as I intend to work the day I fly out, which Southwest didn't have. I believe I got $84 each way from DC.
I saw an article mentioning that Southwest is not the Ultimate low cost carrier right now, there are a number of reasons, one being that their fuel hedging contracts have expired so their cost for fuel is taking a sudden spike.
Like someone else mentioned, continue poking around, or maybe make the drive to Chicago and depart from there if that's cheaper.
One other thing to consider is that with New Years day being on Sunday, most places have Monday off, so many people may choose to take that week off to travel and that could have an impact on your fares. But I took a look on Priceline and saw both United/Continential had $129 one way trips for that day.