Southwest opening flights on May 18th.......................

[Pennstate6411]

Wow- looked at flights again today- SOOOOOOOOOOOOO GLAD we booked yesterday first thing. We paid 160 for trip down and its now at $247. Flight home is SOLD OUT for WGA and last I saw was at $247, we paid @210.

I had hovered on southwest almost everyday for the last few months looking at sat to sat day prices for bwi to mco and NOTHING had sold out until almost day of! THIS IS INSANE! WHAT IS GOING ON WITH SW?

We saved AT LEAST $370 by booking yesterday - with trends like this I do NOT see prices dropping anytime soon on these flights.

 

[pooch]

We all say that but none of us have crystal balls. Only SWA knows what they will do to prices. I've booked early & had prices I swore were rock bottom drop even more and at just 3 weeks out. I've waited anticipating a drop & gotten burned. Really you just never know. Keep watching & book something you can live with is the best advise I think.

Not to mention you are looking at prices on a Friday when they are traditionally higher on SWA. Let's see what next Tuesday brings.

 

[firegurl]

Wow- looked at flights again today- SOOOOOOOOOOOOO GLAD we booked yesterday first thing. We paid 160 for trip down and its now at $247. Flight home is SOLD OUT for WGA and last I saw was at $247, we paid @210.

I had hovered on southwest almost everyday for the last few months looking at sat to sat day prices for bwi to mco and NOTHING had sold out until almost day of! THIS IS INSANE! WHAT IS GOING ON WITH SW?

We saved AT LEAST $370 by booking yesterday - with trends like this I do NOT see prices dropping anytime soon on these flights.

I've done the same thing, check out the current flights prior to this window opening up. I think something is fishy with so many flights selling out so quickly. I know that DIS'ers are a small portion of the airfare buying population so things usually seem exaggerated but we are seeing it with our own eyes, tons of flights selling out within hours of the booking window opening. Maybe it's their new booking system, maybe it's a glitch but something isn't right and I suspect it will correct itself somehow. Either way, I'm not paying $210 to fly home to BWI. I will rent a car and drive to Tampa to fly home for half the price.

 

[pooch]

I agree those prices are ridiculous for BWI.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

I booked with the second airline. We have a flight there at least. Southwest will get the return flight. I don't think there is an issue both will be nonstop (btw southwest was going to be a change plane, so going the other airline we got a non-stop and early flight)

 

[focusondisney]

Wow- looked at flights again today- SOOOOOOOOOOOOO GLAD we booked yesterday first thing. We paid 160 for trip down and its now at $247. Flight home is SOLD OUT for WGA and last I saw was at $247, we paid @210.

I had hovered on southwest almost everyday for the last few months looking at sat to sat day prices for bwi to mco and NOTHING had sold out until almost day of! THIS IS INSANE! WHAT IS GOING ON WITH SW?

We saved AT LEAST $370 by booking yesterday - with trends like this I do NOT see prices dropping anytime soon on these flights.

I've done the same thing, check out the current flights prior to this window opening up. I think something is fishy with so many flights selling out so quickly. I know that DIS'ers are a small portion of the airfare buying population so things usually seem exaggerated but we are seeing it with our own eyes, tons of flights selling out within hours of the booking window opening. Maybe it's their new booking system, maybe it's a glitch but something isn't right and I suspect it will correct itself somehow. Either way, I'm not paying $210 to fly home to BWI. I will rent a car and drive to Tampa to fly home for half the price.

Something similar happened this spring. We just went to WDW last week. I wasn't happy with the prices so I was waiting for the legendary "best price" about 2 months out. In February, the price on our return flight started rising. Went from about 150 to 250 to 290 back & forth a few times. There were 2 nonstops that I was willing to book. Suddenly 1 of them showed sold out of WGA fares. I panicked & booked the other nonstop at 292. I have never seen fares sell out months in advance for a routine Saturday. That's when I decided to check further. WGA fares were listed as sold out on flights from MCO to any city I checked. Something very strange! Could everybody in the US be going to WDW the second week in May & all be flying SW??? Of course, I kept checking for a price drop. After a few weeks, the price dropped from 292 to about 105. And sveral days after that, it dropped again to $79!!

So personally, I think SW has a new method of pricing. It really is crazy how they are raising rates & limiting WGA fares. They certainly got me in a panic which caused me to book at a high price. Luckily I knew to watch for a drop & now have credits for our next trip. I wasn't able to book yesterday morning. Our price is now over $300 one way. Not paying that when I paid $79 in December & May. I'll keep watching coz I know from experience they'll go down again.

 

[mousestruck]

Something similar happened this spring. We just went to WDW last week. I wasn't happy with the prices so I was waiting for the legendary "best price" about 2 months out. In February, the price on our return flight started rising. Went from about 150 to 250 to 290 back & forth a few times. There were 2 nonstops that I was willing to book. Suddenly 1 of them showed sold out of WGA fares. I panicked & booked the other nonstop at 292. I have never seen fares sell out months in advance for a routine Saturday. That's when I decided to check further. WGA fares were listed as sold out on flights from MCO to any city I checked. Something very strange! Could everybody in the US be going to WDW the second week in May & all be flying SW??? Of course, I kept checking for a price drop. After a few weeks, the price dropped from 292 to about 105. And sveral days after that, it dropped again to $79!!

So personally, I think SW has a new method of pricing. It really is crazy how they are raising rates & limiting WGA fares. They certainly got me in a panic which caused me to book at a high price. Luckily I knew to watch for a drop & now have credits for our next trip. I wasn't able to book yesterday morning. Our price is now over $300 one way. Not paying that when I paid $79 in December & May. I'll keep watching coz I know from experience they'll go down again.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I believe you may be right. SWA has been changing... fewer flights, higher prices, unpredictable patterns. WGA fares were sold out within minutes yesterday, putting me in a frenzy and promting me to pay way too much for a flight time I didn't want. I totally panicked! I will be less inclined to count on SWA next time.

 

[5DisneyNuts]

Others on this board have much more expertise than I do, but I think a lot has to do with what SWA was paying for fuel. I believe in the past few years they were able to take advantage of paying much less for fuel surcharges and recently it ran out so they are in the same boat as the traditional carriers.

I have a feeling the good old days of 79 and 99 dollar fares are becoming a thing of the past. For me, the things I consider is the convenience of flying out of a smaller airport and not paying bag fees. SWA used to be much cheaper but now they are in line with Delta and AA minus the fees.

 

[focusondisney]

Others on this board have much more expertise than I do, but I think a lot has to do with what SWA was paying for fuel. I believe in the past few years they were able to take advantage of paying much less for fuel surcharges and recently it ran out so they are in the same boat as the traditional carriers.

I have a feeling the good old days of 79 and 99 dollar fares are becoming a thing of the past. For me, the things I consider is the convenience of flying out of a smaller airport and not paying bag fees. SWA used to be much cheaper but now they are in line with Delta and AA minus the fees.

Eh, that was years ago that SW had price breaks on fuel. They have been paying the same as everyone else for awhile now. And I paid $79 from Buffalo both in December & May. Just had to play the game to get that fare. There are $79 fares right now from Buffalo for dates in June. I think this has more to do with their merger/ expansion than anything else.

 

[Minniekins]

On our earlier trip in Aug, I booked at like $188 / in pts and then stalked SW for price drops! Suddenly it dropped to $110 after weeks and weeks, so was very excited and rebooked then. Well, next morning I still checked and lo and behold our way home trip dropped again to $102 so changed again! Didn't expect that at all, lol!

This week I had to rebook our Aug trip there, which really made me cringe since it was a good bit higher, lol, but DD26 agreed to go earlier so we'd have the day there. So right after we decided that, I was watching and the fare was at $180(which i had paid $110 in pts. at for our later flight time). So, checking at 3 a.m. before bed, it suddenly had dropped to $142 so I booked right then instead of waiting till early morning, just in case it doesn't go lower. That was hard to pay another 4200 pts after saving originally but want the time there more. But, expecting nothing, I decided to also check our way home that we had for $102 in pts,. Was shocked to see it was $94!! So, stayed up til 4 a.m and rebooked that too and got back almost 1200 pts so that was helpful in offsetting the increase in the other! Luckily, I stayed up and rebooked right then as a few hours later it was back to $180 there, and way back home was up to $107 and then a short time later, up again to $137 for the way home. I would have been so mad if I had waited figuring the price would still be there if I waited till I got up for the day!

My point is, always keep stalking, even at odd times when you think things won't change cause you never know when that price drop will come! If you only check once a day or every couple days, you could easily miss any change that may happen!

I also think maybe they hold back some seats as another earlier poster suggested. No way they have no seats available when they open the new booking window, so I think they must hold back some that show up as sold out. A few years ago, they opened and the morning flight we wanted had no WGA fares. A couple months later they suddenly all opened up and were not sold out again after that. I got the flight I needed and then a couple price drops, as well. So, I'd stay alert to when those WGA fares do end up opening!

 

[JadeDarkstar]

Something similar happened this spring. We just went to WDW last week. I wasn't happy with the prices so I was waiting for the legendary "best price" about 2 months out. In February, the price on our return flight started rising. Went from about 150 to 250 to 290 back & forth a few times. There were 2 nonstops that I was willing to book. Suddenly 1 of them showed sold out of WGA fares. I panicked & booked the other nonstop at 292. I have never seen fares sell out months in advance for a routine Saturday. That's when I decided to check further. WGA fares were listed as sold out on flights from MCO to any city I checked. Something very strange! Could everybody in the US be going to WDW the second week in May & all be flying SW??? Of course, I kept checking for a price drop. After a few weeks, the price dropped from 292 to about 105. And sveral days after that, it dropped again to $79!!

So personally, I think SW has a new method of pricing. It really is crazy how they are raising rates & limiting WGA fares. They certainly got me in a panic which caused me to book at a high price. Luckily I knew to watch for a drop & now have credits for our next trip. I wasn't able to book yesterday morning. Our price is now over $300 one way. Not paying that when I paid $79 in December & May. I'll keep watching coz I know from experience they'll go down again.

Thank you for this. I am hoping the way back will be cheaper when I check. I will be checking daily. I tell you if I see any drop from 235 to like 150 each I could afford it with the gift cards I have. Then I would grab them just so I have them. I will be stalking that site and here. I'll share news too.

 

[missbrooke06]

I got flights on Fridays at reasonable times for $123 or point equivalent. My return flight is a little early considering we're going to take ME (9:35) but I decided to book and just watch for price drops.

 

[focusondisney]

I don't think they hold seats back per say. As in saving them to sell at other times. They just limit how many cheaper fares they make available at different times. They would much prefer to sell you a ticket at a higher rate & you can probably buy as many tickets as you need right now at full fare.

Like with me in Feb for my trip in last week. The WGA fares were above what I wanted to pay & kept going up. So I panicked & bought at a really high price. Luckily I knew to keep watching & take a credit. Think of how many people wouldn't do that. SW would have made 3 times as much money if I didn't know how to play their game. If they can get people to bite at an outrageous price, they will. So they limit rhe WGA fares and only discount when they have to.

 

[Tall Todd]

I don't think they hold seats back per say. As in saving them to sell at other times. They just limit how many cheaper fares they make available at different times.

They may also be switching out the aircraft, so now, in a larger plane there are more seats available.

 

[taurus8012]

On our earlier trip in Aug, I booked at like $188 / in pts and then stalked SW for price drops! Suddenly it dropped to $110 after weeks and weeks, so was very excited and rebooked then. Well, next morning I still checked and lo and behold our way home trip dropped again to $102 so changed again! Didn't expect that at all, lol!

This week I had to rebook our Aug trip there, which really made me cringe since it was a good bit higher, lol, but DD26 agreed to go earlier so we'd have the day there. So right after we decided that, I was watching and the fare was at $180(which i had paid $110 in pts. at for our later flight time). So, checking at 3 a.m. before bed, it suddenly had dropped to $142 so I booked right then instead of waiting till early morning, just in case it doesn't go lower. That was hard to pay another 4200 pts after saving originally but want the time there more. But, expecting nothing, I decided to also check our way home that we had for $102 in pts,. Was shocked to see it was $94!! So, stayed up til 4 a.m and rebooked that too and got back almost 1200 pts so that was helpful in offsetting the increase in the other! Luckily, I stayed up and rebooked right then as a few hours later it was back to $180 there, and way back home was up to $107 and then a short time later, up again to $137 for the way home. I would have been so mad if I had waited figuring the price would still be there if I waited till I got up for the day!

My point is, always keep stalking, even at odd times when you think things won't change cause you never know when that price drop will come! If you only check once a day or every couple days, you could easily miss any change that may happen!

I also think maybe they hold back some seats as another earlier poster suggested. No way they have no seats available when they open the new booking window, so I think they must hold back some that show up as sold out. A few years ago, they opened and the morning flight we wanted had no WGA fares. A couple months later they suddenly all opened up and were not sold out again after that. I got the flight I needed and then a couple price drops, as well. So, I'd stay alert to when those WGA fares do end up opening!

Thanks for the Tip : 11:00 am 5/18 I secured 11 direct flight Round trip tickets BUF-MCO for 250.96 per person. ( Wednesday)-Nov.29 (Saturday)-Dec.9 Checked back two hours later prices just skyrocketed. I will start to stalk now that I purchased the tickets , maybe the price will drop but its been pretty tough to drop from Buffalo

 

[buzzrelly]

I booked MCO to BDL for $123. I also added in EBCI, but with my $40 travel credit, I ended up paying just $99!

 

[Jen_in_NH]

I'm so glad I bought them the day it opened. We got direct Manchester to Orlando for $260pp. Today it's $460pp. Yikes!!!

 

[Denise W]

I'm so glad I bought them the day it opened. We got direct Manchester to Orlando for $260pp. Today it's $460pp. Yikes!!!

Direct or non stop? Direct stops midroute but you don't change planes.
Denise

 

[Crazyhorse]

I jumped on SW around noon on 5/18/17. I wanted to book our flights for our December 9-15 trip. I always book the first Non Stop flight available from Midway, which is 6am. The price for the wanna get away was $92.00. The return on 12/15 at 9:30 am, Non Stop was $123. I booked them, as well as purchasing Early Boarding. I was pretty happy with just a little South of $500 total. For grins, I just went on SW to see what's up now...the 12/9, 6am Non Stop is now listed as $221!!!! WOW!!!!

 

[Pennstate6411]

We all say that but none of us have crystal balls. Only SWA knows what they will do to prices. I've booked early & had prices I swore were rock bottom drop even more and at just 3 weeks out. I've waited anticipating a drop & gotten burned. Really you just never know. Keep watching & book something you can live with is the best advise I think.

Not to mention you are looking at prices on a Friday when they are traditionally higher on SWA. Let's see what next Tuesday brings.

Prices have either stayed high or have gone higher today. More flights for the days we are traveling are sold out than from last week. It must be an uber busy time of year for flights out of BWI.