SWA - How can they call it a sale when it cost more?

I don't usually complain about prices. But yesterday I was looking at Southwest Air prices for a potential LA trip in November.
Today I receive an email about the great deal they are having and to save big you need to make reservations by this Thursday.
So I plug in the same dates as yesterday and it ended up being $6 more! OK so $6 isn't going to break the bank but it's irritating!
All they did was lower the fee as a one way ticket then raise the price of the return flight. Basically it was a big waste of time.

 

I like SWA, but you are correct, their sales are a joke most of the time.

 

I lucked out this morning (well, actually my work lucked out because they pay for my flights). Yesterday a return flight from CT to Utah was $282, and this morning it was down to $199. However, that's the same "sale" that was going on yesterday, so I'm not sure why the price dropped today from yesterday?

 

Mysterious things often happen at SWA. I usually book flights separately so if one one changes in price you can change without affecting the other or if you cancel one leg without a plan to book another, you don't affect the other. You can simply change a round trip as well, but when you are booking and there is a real low price on the leg out but it is wicked pricy coming back, you can just book the cheap flight. If you book both and the price comes down, yo get a credit which you may not be able to use and they have your $$$.

Jimbo338

 

Are you sure you didn’t demand it?

 

Are you saying you book a series of One Way flights?

 

Demand? Ahhh got Crickets over here... Not a clue what you are asking.

 

Yes, one way NH to LV, and another LV to NH. 2 flights; 2 confirmation numbers. They sell flights one way, that's how I buy them.....just have separate confirmation numbers and can buy them whenever i want.

Jimbo338

 

I started doing this after reading about it here on VMB. So yes, every SWA flight I book is now one way.

 

I've done this on a few trips. It actually works out well. Most times, the fare for outbound and return are not the same. Booking this way give you more flexibility when swapping out for a lower fare.

 

Thanks for posting this. I typically limit my SWA flights to my Chicago to Vegas leg. I head for Vegas from work downtown, and it's easier to get to Midway. I fly United from Vegas to O'Hare (close to my home). Arilines used to offer a discount on RT flights but today, the RT and One Way price are the same for most airlines (or at least the two I regularly fly).

I was able to book SWA to/from Vegas for $84 - $99 as late as 2009/2010. The old rule of thumb was to snag a $200 RT flight (even flying back to Midway) and anything beyond $320 RT was too high.

$129 is the the current "SWA lowest price" I have seen over the past two years. United has remained in the $150-$175 lowest price range for several years, but $200-$250 oneway tickets are the norm.

This is what happens when several trillion dollars are printed to keep various bubbles afloat.

 

I fly out of BWI (so a longer flight) and I about sh*t myself when I saw my outbound leg on 10/30 drop to $98 one way from $198. That was half of what I booked it for a week earlier. Switched my wife and my tickets out real quick and now have an extra $200 for use during the trip.

Unfortunately, the return is still $188 and has not yet dropped. Still waiting for that.

 

Southwest

It was funny, the other day someone said that Southwest was about to have a sale because the prices just went up and then a day or so later there is a sale that is basically back to what the prices were a couple days earlier. I used to be able to get RT for under $150 each from Denver which is my cut-off because even with gas at $5 I can drive to Vegas for under $300.

 

'twas just a poor attempt at humor. Trying to play off the CET resort fee about face "because their customers demanded it".

Try the veal...

 

Instead of LAS-BWI go LAS - PHL $110. Just a thought.

 

Sales are not always what we "think" they are.

For example. Let's say the Cleveland to Las Vegas full fare is $440 each way. You happen to catch it one day at $289. Later the flights go up a little. Then they run a sale at 25% off, putting the fare at $330. (25% off $440)

Now you see it,now you don't. On the streets of any big city, they play this game and the player always comes out short.

 

Wow - $98 is a great rate, especially for a much further trip. SWA and the O'Hare carriers have trimmed the number of flights over the past few years. I can't remember the last time there were more than a handful of open seats on a flight.

Tuesday and Wednesday are the best days in terms of rates for Vegas flights (in either direction).

 

I got it right away.

 

It is just marketing. The only sales are created by you checking often to see if there has been a drop. Last year they sent out coupon codes for 20% or so on certain dates but they have not done any of that this year sadly.

If you book with points, the good news is that they are completely refundable and you can just "rebook" the same flight by changing flights if the price goes down. Save you some points. They just get redeposited into your account.

 

We've employed the same strategy the last several years on SW and it has worked in our favor every time. It seems the closer to our trip the return flights have gotten far cheaper than when we booked the outbound, saved a combined 136 bucks this last trip on the return flights.