Southwest flight prices for popular spring break March weeks

[kathy884]

Southwest just opened up flights for March on August 30th. I was originally planning to go the third week in March, but OMG I never saw prices up that high just to fly from St. Louis to Orlando for that month. For the times I wanted it was about $550 per person. Anyway, fortunately we aren't tied to the school schedule, so I booked the first week in March instead and was able to book round trip air for $325 per person for very convenient times (my first choices) and non-stop flights which I was fine with. Crowd calendars show lower crowds that week than the original one I planned too, so it may be a better choice anyway.

There are always those super early and super late flights to save money, etc. But the most desirable times in the more popular spring break weeks have really high prices at this point.

Is anyone else seeing higher priced spring break airfares than normal? It's probably the good economy and the growing population and affluence where more people than ever are taking spring break trips to Orlando??

 

[E_Bec]

I saw the same thing for Mardi Gras week from NOLA. We can usually get a flight in the hundreds, but there’s nothing under $350 regardless of time of day.... and several are already sold out.

 

[Artygal90]

Yeah, we paid about that much per person on Southwest this past spring break (March 12th - 17th) from HOU - MCO. The rest of Texas was also on spring break and it felt like half of them came with us to Disney :/ There are just a lot of people flying into Orlando that time of year, even if they are connecting elsewhere to other vacation destinations.

If our schedules had worked out we could have saved hundreds of dollars per person by flying midweek on Spirit, even considering the extra fees. Alas, we were bound to the guest of honor's college schedule.

 

[MillauFr]

We were thinking of going on a Disney cruise out of Port Canarveral or Miami next March. However when I saw Alaska was charging $1,500 RT for the flights from Seattle we booked a cruise out of San Diego instead. Those flights are "only" $500 RT.

 

[bcwife76]

We were thinking of going on a Disney cruise out of Port Canarveral or Miami next March. However when I saw Alaska was charging $1,500 RT for the flights from Seattle we booked a cruise out of San Diego instead. Those flights are "only" $500 RT.

We are sailing on the Wonder at Spring Break and the prices to fly from Seattle to LA vs Vancouver to LA.......wow.....Alaska wants $1400RT USD for the 4 of us vs WestJet for $3000CDN. So yeah....we'll be flying from Seattle! Southwest was a joke, they wanted $2100+US from SEA to LAX and that is NOT non-stop!

(We are flying to LA instead of San Diego because it's WAY cheaper; we'll take the train down to SD and on the way back we are renting a car and staying at the Grand Californian for 2 nights before flying back to SEA).

 

[Eian]

I am also not seeing any such discounts, these might be region specific or locked by now. I didn't even think of the cruise option but is surely a good budget alternative

 

[BLAZEY]

We are sailing on the Wonder at Spring Break and the prices to fly from Seattle to LA vs Vancouver to LA.......wow.....Alaska wants $1400RT USD for the 4 of us vs WestJet for $3000CDN. So yeah....we'll be flying from Seattle! Southwest was a joke, they wanted $2100+US from SEA to LAX and that is NOT non-stop!

(We are flying to LA instead of San Diego because it's WAY cheaper; we'll take the train down to SD and on the way back we are renting a car and staying at the Grand Californian for 2 nights before flying back to SEA).

We live in Victoria and have to either fly or take the boat to get off the island. Delta started flying out of her and we got a great deal on flights. $454 CAD RT. YYJ to SNA during spring break! There are 8 of us flying so a quick talk with MIL and BIL (originally wanted to fly WJ as he had a credit, but WJ wanted double what delta wanted and Delta included seat assignment)

 

[deide71]

Yup! Had to bite the bullet and pay $440/pp for 3/23-3/30 MSP to MCO on Southwest. I had enough points for 3 of the 4 fares I needed so that took the sting out a bit.

 

[kathy884]

Yup! Had to bite the bullet and pay $440/pp for 3/23-3/30 MSP to MCO on Southwest. I had enough points for 3 of the 4 fares I needed so that took the sting out a bit.

I didn't have any for this trip, but boy do I love those Southwest points. I've got the SW credit card which is great, as it expands my budget for my favorite splurge, Vacation. I feel your pain on that price.

 

[Rob Huff]

I was watching the schedule release meticulously and got up at 5am on 8/30 to constantly refresh the available flights. We're flying from Grand Rapids, MI to MCO, so there aren't exactly a bevy of options. The major carriers are all players in our market, but the bag and seat fees add up so quickly -- for somebody who plans to take a checked bag or two of dry goods for our vacation, the lack of bag fees from Southwest is essential. Our trip is planned from Friday March 29 through Tuesday April 9.

When the calendar finally opened up around 6:40am, most of the Wanna Get Away fares for our travel dates were already gone and the ones that were available were almost all around $240 per person one way. Yowzers! After hastily discussing it with my wife, we called an audible and booked on Thursday March 28 instead for $196 per person one way on a late-morning direct flight. There's an awful lot of value in scoring a direct flight out of Michigan in late March!

I wisely pivoted to check the schedule for Sunday April 7 as well, finding the same results: $196 per person for an early evening direct flight. We booked that one. When Southwest releases flights for Monday April 8 at the end of September, we'll either amend our getaway day to Monday or we'll thank our lucky stars that we booked the Sunday flight when it was available.

When I checked those flights about two hours later at work, the southbound flight was at $246 (I think) and the return flight was all the way up to $306 (I remember that one clearly). Had I waited to book until arriving at the office, ti would've been $2,208! I hoped for $1,400 round-trip and assumed it would be more like $1,500, so the Spring Break premium proved to be a bit higher than expected. Still, $1,568 for four round-trip fares is palatable enough.

Add in that my trip savings earned $175.34 by being methodically invested in an ETF through RobinHood over the prior seven months and I felt pretty darn good about things.

To answer your opening question, however: yes, I certainly noticed the uptick in Spring Break airfare pricing. We'll be looking to take a long weekend in January or February for our next WDW trip in part because the airfare is more in the $1,100 neighborhood.

(*EDIT: I forgot to mention that, with the change in travel dates thanks to the airfare, I had to change our Poly reservation. We purchased DVC resale in March, so this will be our first trip on points. I attempted to figure out how to change the reservation (if it was even possible) and after poking around for maybe half an hour, I found the proper page on the DVC website. Once I got there, it took about a minute and a half and a few clicks to trade our back-end Tuesday for a front-end Thursday (I'm sure it helped that both days required the same number of points). It was a pleasant surprise that the system is equipped to handle such a change!)

 

[kydisneyfans]

We pulled a major audible this summer and went from Cincinnati to London cheaper than it was for our planned trip to Seattle. Rooms were also half the price.

For SW-we have $286 RT Louisville to Vegas in Nov non-stop with good times. Happy with that one.
Just booked Jan 6-13 RT Louisville to Orlando non-stop, wasn't thrilled with the outbound time(6:40 AM)-it was $227. Under $200 is great, $225 is good, $250 will work, much over that and we change dates.

Trying to book a Thurs-Mon RT to New Orleans from Lexington, Louisville, or Cincinnati in early Feb(not Mardi Gras) and those are insane.
We're also getting nearly $500 on SW RT for Star Wars race weekend at Disney in April. I'm not booking the race entries unless those flights drop.

 

[Shanti]

Look at different airlines. These rates are no deals and you might well get better rates for other mainstream carriers.

Alternatively, wait for rates to drop a bit. They aren't likely to get any worse.

 

[Rob Huff]

Look at different airlines. These rates are no deals and you might well get better rates for other mainstream carriers.

Alternatively, wait for rates to drop a bit. They aren't likely to get any worse.

This is either the best strategy or the one that leaves you changing your Spring Break plans because you don't have a viable way to get to Florida. For our travel dates, it's always $400+ with other carriers before the additional fees further bloat that number. And waiting for Southwest's prices to come down just meant that all of the flights were gone (unless you want to pay for a premium ticket).

Further, if the prices really do come down in the future, you can just modify your flight to rebook at the lower fare.

 

[Shanti]

Further, if the prices really do come down in the future, you can just modify your flight to rebook at the lower fare.

Yeah, with the leftover money having to be used by the exact same passengers no more than one year from the original booking date (not even just the original date of planned travel)...That's not a great incentive imo.

There are often better deals around with mainstream carriers. It's good to check the others to make sure. Too many people get so used to booking SWA that they never comparison shop anymore, so they don't see that other mainstream carriers sometimes cost less.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Another thought is prices tend to drop on the mainstream airlines when Allegiant/Frontier/Spirit release their flights for the same time frame. Don't think any of them have released for spring break yet.

 

[kaytieeldr]

There are always those super early and super late flights to save money, etc. But the most desirable times in the more popular spring break weeks have really high prices at this point.

It seems typical for a business to charge more for the percieved "better" or more valuable (to the customer) item.

We were thinking of going on a Disney cruise out of Port Canarveral or Miami next March. However when I saw Alaska was charging $1,500 RT for the flights from Seattle we booked a cruise out of San Diego instead. Those flights are "only" $500 RT.

Under $.20 per mile and a time saving of about 40 hours. Not entirely unreasonable.

Yeah, with the leftover money having to be used by the exact same passengers no more than one year from the original booking date (not even just the original date of planned travel)...That's not a great incentive imo.

Still, a more desirable policy than any other airline.

 

[Shanti]

Still, a more desirable policy than any other airline.

Yes, but it's nothing like getting your money back. The poster I responded to had said not to worry about high pricing because if prices drop, you can get an adjustment. But it is significant that the terms for cash adjustments are very limiting.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Refundable fares are always the best option, but few of us want to pay for the opportunity to get our next money back. We virtually all look for cheapest.

 

[deide71]

Another thought is prices tend to drop on the mainstream airlines when Allegiant/Frontier/Spirit release their flights for the same time frame. Don't think any of them have released for spring break yet.

Spirit has released their flights and they are more expensive from MSP to MCO the week we are going, even before adding bag fees. I have checked all airlines and Southwest had the best price at $440.

Considering it is peak spring break time and I have no flexibility on dates I booked it, and honestly it is not completely unreasonable. Even if the fare is not really refundable the fact that you can use the travel funds on another flight if your fare drops is pretty great. Fully refundable fares are very expensive, this is a nice compromise and better than any other airline offers at that price point.

 

[Luvndsny-n-KC]

I have never seen Spirits prices so high out of MCI to MCO! I was able to get our flight down for 143.00 for 2 of us thru Spirit but I had to move our trip up by a couple days. Now just finding the cheapest flights home! Maybe we will just stay!