Post all SW questions concerns, etc. here...

[TJA]

I have been flying JetBlue for the last several years, but am back to SW because of the flight times. I actually forgot this morning! but remembered just now and still was able to snag PIT-MCO flights for Easter week 106 each way, plus I bought the early bird. Happy with that!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Here is my usual Historical Southwest Release Dates (for planning purposes) comment:

• NEXT RELEASE: 11/15/18 - travel through August 5th, 2019 FYI this is subject to change
• 9/27/18 - travel through June 8th, 2019
• 8/30/18 - travel through April 7th, 2019
• 6/28/18 - travel through March 6th, 2019
• 5/31/18 - travel through January 6th, 2019
• 3/8/18 - travel through November 3rd, 2018
• 2/15/18 - travel through October 1st, 2018
• 11/2/17 - travel through August 6th, 2018
• 8/28/17 - travel through June 1st, 2018
• 7/27/17 - travel through April 6th, 2018
• 6/22/17 - travel through March 7th, 2018
• 5/18/17 - travel through January 7th, 2018

This could be useful to approximate when your travel time may become available for upcoming releases, however they don't always follow the exact same pattern (as you can see above).

EDIT: Reversed the dates since the list was getting pretty long - made it go from newest to oldest

 

[amandaleigh2]

Ugh. We're going to California at the end of May. Southwest's prices are HORRIBLE this time around. It would be cheaper for us to book direct flights on Delta rather than have layovers using Southwest. For the first time ever I'm going to wait and see if prices drop.

 

[irt9206]

Whew! Glad that is over. Was finally able to book. PVD-MCO RT 303. plus EBCI 25.00. Not great, but not too bad considering holiday/spring break. Now, going to grab some coffee, tea was NOT enough today

Just wondering if you could share date and times of your flights. We're going at the end of June and were trying to decide between Saturday or Sunday flights. Just found out I have to wait till November 15th

 

[Elizakapeka]

darn, I set a reminder on my phone but I set it wrong and completely forgot. around 10 am I got mdw to mco 4-19 to 4-26 for 5 people for 81,111 points. Im thinking I could have done better but I could have done alot worse!

 

[focusondisney]

darn, I set a reminder on my phone but I set it wrong and completely forgot. around 10 am I got mdw to mco 4-19 to 4-26 for 5 people for 81,111 points. Im thinking I could have done better but I could have done alot worse!

I think you did pretty darn good. I booked at 6:40 this morning. I booked 4/20 from Buffalo & return on 4/27. Both nonstop, 6 am down, 9 pm return. It was over 33000 points for 1 person. So 81000 for 5 people sounds great.

 

[cmarsh31]

Just a little note for those hoping for flights to drop after booking. Over a year I've flown or will fly 13 flights with Southwest (March to March). Out of all of those, with very regular checking, exactly two ever dropped in price. One of those two I didn't book opening day/minute. So, really I've had exactly one flight drop in price lower than what I saw opening day. One leg of a trip and not even for all 4 of us (luckily I followed the directions here to book separate legs & separate tickets for everyone). OblO one trip was overa major holiday week, and that oneso been sold out (not unavailable, straight s/o) for months.

So good luck...and try not to count on ticket drops. I used to have tons of luck but not recently.

 

[Lvsdisney]

Two-part question:

1) My parents bought us tickets for spring break week. If the prices somehow go down (I doubt it but you never know) can I rebook, or do I need to bother my mom? I've rebooked before, but only using points, so not sure how it works with a CC purchase (my mom sent us the flight info and conf# so I have that)

2) IF I am lucky enough to get some flight credit, can I use it with a points purchase (i.e. partial points, partial credit)? I assume, no, but you never know!

Sidenote: My mom was VERY happy with the flight cost non-stop to TPA from PHL, less than $300 per person round trip when we were looking at close to $500 for AA with a layover (not basic economy, my kids are too young for that).

 

[TexasChick123]

Just a little note for those hoping for flights to drop after booking. Over a year I've flown or will fly 13 flights with Southwest (March to March). Out of all of those, with very regular checking, exactly two ever dropped in price. One of those two I didn't book opening day/minute. So, really I've had exactly one flight drop in price lower than what I saw opening day. One leg of a trip and not even for all 4 of us (luckily I followed the directions here to book separate legs & separate tickets for everyone). OblO one trip was overa major holiday week, and that oneso been sold out (not unavailable, straight s/o) for months.

So good luck...and try not to count on ticket drops. I used to have tons of luck but not recently.

I've only been back to flying SWA for a couple of years after a LONG break from them. I won't get into why we didn't fly them for years because that's a long story and not too interesting. I booked our tickets for our trip next month on release day, and both legs have dropped. I booked our winter ski trip tickets on release day, and those haven't dropped despite me thinking they were high at the time. I booked our spring break tickets on release day, and those haven't dropped. I just booked some summer one-way tickets this morning (DH and daughter are driving a few days before and will pick us up) on release day, but I am fairly confident this one WILL drop. The October and spring tickets are for Orlando. The others are not. I will say that the tickets I booked this morning are the same (too high) price as they were at 6am. I should've slept in!

 

[TexasChick123]

Two-part question:

1) My parents bought us tickets for spring break week. If the prices somehow go down (I doubt it but you never know) can I rebook, or do I need to bother my mom? I've rebooked before, but only using points, so not sure how it works with a CC purchase (my mom sent us the flight info and conf# so I have that)

2) IF I am lucky enough to get some flight credit, can I use it with a points purchase (i.e. partial points, partial credit)? I assume, no, but you never know!

Sidenote: My mom was VERY happy with the flight cost non-stop to TPA from PHL, less than $300 per person round trip when we were looking at close to $500 for AA with a layover (not basic economy, my kids are too young for that).

You can change them and the credit will go back to the account used to pay for them and will need to be used within 1 year. She cannot change your tickets unless she is on the reservation. She will get the "refund" of the difference in the way of travel funds which must be used within 1 year. Make sure she keeps the confirmation number of the flight changed as that is the only way to use the funds. Tickets are either bought with points or dollars. There are no partial purchases.

 

[focusondisney]

You can change them and the credit will go back to the account used to pay for them and will need to be used within 1 year. She cannot change your tickets unless she is on the reservation. She will get the "refund" of the difference in the way of travel funds which must be used within 1 year. Make sure she keeps the confirmation number of the flight changed as that is the only way to use the funds. Tickets are either bought with points or dollars. There are no partial purchases.

Just want to clarify this a little. The poster’s mother will not really get the refund. The person who is named as the passenger will. Travel credits can only be used by the named passenger. So her mother will get no benefit whatsoever if the price drops, unless she is a passenger too. The credit is specifically tied to the reservation number & passenger name.

Now if the purchase had been made with the mother’s reward points, the returned credits would have all gone back to the mother’s account. But not for a cash booking.

 

[TexasChick123]

Just want to clarify this a little. The poster’s mother will not really get the refund. The person who is named as the passenger will. Travel credits can only be used by the named passenger. So her mother will get no benefit whatsoever if the price drops, unless she is a passenger too. The credit is specifically tied to the reservation number & passenger name.

Now if the purchase had been made with the mother’s reward points, the returned credits would have all gone back to the mother’s account. But not for a cash booking.

Thanks for clarifying. I didn’t know that as I usually book with points. I booked my tickets with the points in my DH’s account because that’s where we put all of our SWA points. We have a lot of different designated accounts between cc points, different Airlines, hotels, etc. When I went to cancel because I decided to fly into a different airport, it did return the points to his account. I just got a refund of the whopping $11.20 for the taxes back on my cc since it was within 24 hours. The point being that he isn’t in the reservation, but the points would’ve gone back to his account. That’s good to know it is different for travel funds as they are tied to the specific person traveling.

 

[buzzrelly]

Ugh, I'm so embarrassed about what I'm about write…I was here yesterday so excited that I paid $583 for our flights home in April. Well, I checked my email last night at 9pm, and realized I MESSED UP BIG TIME. In my haste to get those opening day/opening minute prices (I literally booked while taking report at work, knowing that I wasn't getting to look again all day. Thankfully, my co-worker was super understanding), I booked the WRONG WAY! So, so stupid. So last night I looked at my email and realized I now possess one-way tickets BDL to MCO on April 6th and April 13th

I am ready to cry and I am really kicking myself about this! I called SW this morning and ended up changing our flights, but on the day we want to come home the flights START at $350/pp so I ended up booking us out the next morning, April 14th at 8 am for $233/pp. This is really not what we wanted and I guess I'll be stalking the website to see if any of the prices go down. I guess I'm going to end up paying more no matter what because we get off our cruise April 13th and now we'll have to rent a car and get a hotel for the night. I almost think maybe I should just change and pay the exorbitant April 13th prices.

Anyway, I feel REALLY dumb and will never make the mistake of trying to book in such a rush ever again. I used to make sure I took off the mornings of these releases and I will definitely be going back to doing that again

 

[TexasChick123]

Ugh, I'm so embarrassed about what I'm about write…I was here yesterday so excited that I paid $583 for our flights home in April. Well, I checked my email last night at 9pm, and realized I MESSED UP BIG TIME. In my haste to get those opening day/opening minute prices (I literally booked while taking report at work, knowing that I wasn't getting to look again all day. Thankfully, my co-worker was super understanding), I booked the WRONG WAY! So, so stupid. So last night I looked at my email and realized I now possess one-way tickets BDL to MCO on April 6th and April 13th

I am ready to cry and I am really kicking myself about this! I called SW this morning and ended up changing our flights, but on the day we want to come home the flights START at $350/pp so I ended up booking us out the next morning, April 14th at 8 am for $233/pp. This is really not what we wanted and I guess I'll be stalking the website to see if any of the prices go down. I guess I'm going to end up paying more no matter what because we get off our cruise April 13th and now we'll have to rent a car and get a hotel for the night. I almost think maybe I should just change and pay the exorbitant April 13th prices.

Anyway, I feel REALLY dumb and will never make the mistake of trying to book in such a rush ever again. I used to make sure I took off the mornings of these releases and I will definitely be going back to doing that again

Don’t beat yourself up over it. When I had a newborn and was sleep deprived, I booked our flight for the wrong days. We didn’t realize it until a week or so later. That was a $600 mistake just to change flights. At least with SW, you can get the money back if you make a mistake or flights go down in price. It’ll probably go down if it’s crazy high right now.

 

[zilp]

buzzrelly, don't be too hard on yourself. Buying SW tickets for NE April break is so incredibly stressful. I've only been buying April vacation airfare for the last few years since my oldest was in middle (and now high school). I actually feel a bit sick rushing to make on the spot decisions and buy those tickets. I was actually thisclose to buying RT tickets yesterday, but in the wrong direction like you. "wasting" those precious seconds trying to think and plan means you lose seats right in front of your eyes. You did the best you could, I think we all did.

 

[TJA]

I think you did pretty darn good. I booked at 6:40 this morning. I booked 4/20 from Buffalo & return on 4/27. Both nonstop, 6 am down, 9 pm return. It was over 33000 points for 1 person. So 81000 for 5 people sounds great.

We usually fly BUF, but for Easter next year I booked PIT because the flight times and costs were better for us. We've been on a long hiatus from Southwest Airlines, but last trip booked it due to better flight times for us and we really liked it! We seemed to have a "newer" plane on the way down. An older/usual plane on our way back. My girls missed the TV's that we have on JetBlue but agreed we had good flights. We will be there similar dates as you - our school has first day of break on the 18th so we leave that morning.

 

[shoreward]

We usually fly BUF, but for Easter next year I booked PIT because the flight times and costs were better for us. We've been on a long hiatus from Southwest Airlines, but last trip booked it due to better flight times for us and we really liked it! We seemed to have a "newer" plane on the way down. An older/usual plane on our way back. My girls missed the TV's that we have on JetBlue but agreed we had good flights. We will be there similar dates as you - our school has first day of break on the 18th so we leave that morning.

Don't forget that there is free TV (both live and popular series) on Southwest. You just have to use your own device (tablet, laptop, phone).

 

[TheyCallMeStacey]

I DID IT! I booked our flight this morning, AND the points were less than what they were yesterday. I'm hoping that our 50 minute layovers in Dallas and Houston will be enough time to change plans, but I guess we'll worry about that later. I actually have leftover points, and don't plan to use them on a future flight...are there fun extras that you've used points for on your flights before? Just looking for some extra specials for my little ones. I'm pretty sure they don't remember when they flew last time so why not have some fun if we can use points to do it

 

[scrappinginontario]

Don't forget that there is free TV (both live and popular series) on Southwest. You just have to use your own device (tablet, laptop, phone).

I could be the last one to learn this but did you know that some devices are also able to text free of charge during flights?

Friends were flying from Buffalo to MCO last week and I texted them that I was watching their flight online. I didn't expect to hear from them for a few hours until they had landed so was surprised when I started receiving texts as they were flying. I guess there is an option to text for free from some devices while hooked into the free onboard wifi. Just wanted to mention it in case others were not aware of this either.

I DID IT! I booked our flight this morning, AND the points were less than what they were yesterday. I'm hoping that our 50 minute layovers in Dallas and Houston will be enough time to change plans, but I guess we'll worry about that later. I actually have leftover points, and don't plan to use them on a future flight...are there fun extras that you've used points for on your flights before? Just looking for some extra specials for my little ones. I'm pretty sure they don't remember when they flew last time so why not have some fun if we can use points to do it

We have had as little as a 25 minute connection and not had a problem making it. Because the SW gates are designed in a specific way they are close together so easier to make connections. Also, I've found SW to be the most dependable airline I use when it comes to flights being ontime.

 

[shoreward]

I could be the last one to learn this but did you know that some devices are also able to text free of charge during flights?

Friends were flying from Buffalo to MCO last week and I texted them that I was watching their flight online. I didn't expect to hear from them for a few hours until they had landed so was surprised when I started receiving texts as they were flying. I guess there is an option to text for free from some devices while hooked into the free onboard wifi. Just wanted to mention it in case others were not aware of this either.

Texting is available onboard for a $2.00 fee, per device, unless you have either paid the $8.00 WiFi fee or have A-List Preferred status.

For $2 per day, per device, you can access pre-downloaded messaging apps (iMessage, WhatsApp and Viber) to stay in contact with friends and family using the same apps. Messaging access is automatically included as part of the purchase of full access WiFi.