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

[han22735]

Last year they had a spring fare sale over Valentine's Day with fares as low as $49. Definitely hoping for the same this year (though not holding my breath, of course). We have flights booked, but I'm not crazy about the time of our flight to Orlando and would like to have the morning time instead or the day before. Fingers crossed!

I'm hoping for a sale as well. We did book but I'd like to get some points back. This was the most I've used for a flight to Disney yet.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I didn’t realize that flights were released I missed out on better pricing for a morning flight. I might just wait, but I’m bummed about that he lack of flights compared to now. There are no direct evening flights to buffalo in early September like I was hoping. So now I’m trying to convince my sister to stay an extra night! Wish me luck!

Just keep checking over time in terms of price. Sales are a common enough occurrance with SWA.

Back in 2017 for our Sep trip we booked on release day and a little over a month later a sale came along and our flights dropped. That's not to say it will always happen but just keep an eye out as it's a possibility.

 

[Micharlotte]

Just keep checking over time in terms of price. Sales are a common enough occurrance with SWA.

Back in 2017 for our Sep trip we booked on release day and a little over a month later a sale came along and our flights dropped. That's not to say it will always happen but just keep an eye out as it's a possibility.

I went ahead and booked our return flight, I was able to convince my sister to stay an extra day!! I was happy with the return flight and time, just not the flight price for the way there. I'm going to just keep an eye on the flights and hopefully they go down $30 or so, but if not i think it will be worth the money to get there a bit earlier in the day anyway.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I was in WDW this week so I didn't do this update on Thursday...Here is my usual Historical Southwest Release Dates (for planning purposes) comment:

• NEXT RELEASE: 3/13/19 - travel through November 2nd, 2019
• 1/31/19 - travel through October 1st, 2019
• 11/15/18 - travel through August 5th, 2019
• 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).

 

[Lsdolphin]

WOOT! I didn’t know they changed the dates and I randomly checked today and my mid August flight was available. $114 rt nonstop from Baltimore at the exact time I wanted. I’ll take it! (And I’m glad I didn’t wait until next week to check)

Was that $114 RT or $114 each way?

 

[Iowamomof4]

To those of you still looking for flights, I wanted to quickly share my recent cash purchase experience:

I don't book flights on opening day because most of the time I don't know my wdw dates yet AND for my airport, DSM (Des Moines), opening day flight prices are good but not usually the best they'll ever be. So my way of checking for flights is to leave a tab open on my laptop and on my phone with my month and route pulled up and just refresh that through the day (my phone in the morning and at night while I'm in bed and on my laptop throughout the day). I'll check it probably at least 10x/day if not more, especially Monday-Wednesday. Anyway, on January 3 I found a great price for dates that would work for us and booked the flights. My only concern was that our flight down was going to be on a Sunday night and it would mean getting to our resort around midnight. I really didn't like that, but the morning flights at the time were just too expensive. So I booked the flight but kept checking just in case I would get to switch that night flight. Last night, at about 8:20 central time, a Saturday morning flight finally dropped to $129 (I had paid $120 for our Sunday night flight). I double-checked to make sure I could get that price for all 7 of us and once I determined I could, I started talking to our group to make sure everyone was okay with switching to Saturday morning. In less than an hour I had the go-ahead from everyone and was able to make the switch.

I went into our Sunday night flight reservation through my SW account and clicked on "change flight", then I selected the Saturday morning one I wanted, added my credit card information since I was going to owe about $60 for the switch, and confirmed the change. Because I did a "change flight", my Earlybird Check-in purchase switched to our new flights just fine.

So keep hunting! Flight prices can change at any time. I'm going to continue to check though, because the flight I switched us to on Saturday morning has 2 stops (only one plane change), and I'd rather take the other flight with only 1 stop. Otherwise, we're all set! And, as for now, we should arrive at our resort at about 6:00 pm -- so much better than midnight!

 

[Cinderumbrella]

I agree to keep looking. I just changed an evening flight to an AM flight for next week and still got credit this late (despite the original purchase being very low for holiday travel)

 

[V.I.N.CENT.]

Looking for flights from Oakland to Orlando for November, realize they are not released yet. Checking rough flight times in August/September, looks like they severely reduced the number of non-stop flights. Is it dependent on the time of year? Anyway to check flight schedules from November 2018?

 

[PerfessorZ]

Looking for flights from Oakland to Orlando for November, realize they are not released yet. Checking rough flight times in August/September, looks like they severely reduced the number of non-stop flights. Is it dependent on the time of year? Anyway to check flight schedules from November 2018?

I wouldn't count on November 2019 to follow November 2018. SW flights at my local airports have completely have been changing every 3-4 months and are nothing like they were last year.

 

[V.I.N.CENT.]

I wouldn't count on November 2019 to follow November 2018. SW flights at my local airports have completely have been changing every 3-4 months and are nothing like they were last year.

Unfortunately it was the only direct flight to Orlando from Oakland Trying hard to get a direct flight.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Looking for flights from Oakland to Orlando for November, realize they are not released yet. Checking rough flight times in August/September, looks like they severely reduced the number of non-stop flights. Is it dependent on the time of year? Anyway to check flight schedules from November 2018?

It appears from discussions here and elsewhere that SW has greatly changed their routing and there appear to be far less direct routes available compared to last year. I don't think looking back at Nov 2018 schedules will help you as the changes appear to be fairly recent.

 

[Claudia1]

Just snagged a decent Wanna Get Away price for Spring Break 6 weeks out. That has been my experience for a couple of years.... that they release a few seats about 6 weeks out. These were available on a Saturday, which is unusual for our market.

Don't give up! Keep searching!

 

[Livelovedance]

When is the latest you could cancel a flight booked with points and get your points back?

 

[AngieInOH]

When is the latest you could cancel a flight booked with points and get your points back?

I need to know this exact same thing!

 

[barb969]

When is the latest you could cancel a flight booked with points and get your points back?

You don’t need to cancel, they will refund your points automatically and email you. I have done this a couple of times by accident. To be safe at least 10 minutes before departure time.

 

[mfly]

You don’t need to cancel, they will refund your points automatically and email you. I have done this a couple of times by accident. To be safe at least 10 minutes before departure time.

Please don’t do this though unless you need to! It holds a spot on the flight that someone else may need/want to book.

 

[MarBee]

So I’m an idiot...
I forgot to book my daughter on my DH’s companion pass and now the flight is sold out.
To change to another flight is unaffordable.
Would SW let me change my husband’s ticket to my daughter’s name? And if so, would there be a fee?
I’m thinking of flying with my kids on the flight and sending my husband on Spirit by himself...

 

[PerfessorZ]

So I’m an idiot...
I forgot to book my daughter on my DH’s companion pass and now the flight is sold out.
To change to another flight is unaffordable.
Would SW let me change my husband’s ticket to my daughter’s name? And if so, would there be a fee?
I’m thinking of flying with my kids on the flight and sending my husband on Spirit by himself...

I'm confused. Who has companion pass status? Your husband? Wouldn't it make more sense for you to rebook on another flight and still have your daughter fly for free as his companion?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

So I’m an idiot...
I forgot to book my daughter on my DH’s companion pass and now the flight is sold out.
To change to another flight is unaffordable.
Would SW let me change my husband’s ticket to my daughter’s name? And if so, would there be a fee?
I’m thinking of flying with my kids on the flight and sending my husband on Spirit by himself...

Wow...I don’t know if SW can accommodate that change but If the flight isn’t oversold it could work. I think @PerfessorZ’s comment makes a lot of sense though.

I am so sorry you’re in this position! I always get super panicky that I’ll mess something up like this sometime and I can understand how it happens when you’re juggling multiple flights (especially on points) and companion pass reservations.

 

[MarBee]

I'm confused. Who has companion pass status? Your husband? Wouldn't it make more sense for you to rebook on another flight and still have your daughter fly for free as his companion?

Wow...I don’t know if SW can accommodate that change but If the flight isn’t oversold it could work. I think @PerfessorZ’s comment makes a lot of sense though.

I am so sorry you’re in this position! I always get super panicky that I’ll mess something up like this sometime and I can understand how it happens when you’re juggling multiple flights (especially on points) and companion pass reservations.

Logically it makes much more sense to have me fly separately. However, I’m the worrying overprotective mama who won’t fly separate from our kids. DH is much more laid back

I am blaming DH for my mess up He was the one rushing me out the door as I was booking. (Okay, okay we were late because I was booking flights, but I’m blaming him nonetheless )

If worse comes to worst I can cancel all of our flights and book one the next day and hope for no snow when we fly out. I’d just rather us get there the night before...
I will call tomorrow I guess, but in the meantime I will obsessively stalk that flight to see if anyone cancels.