SWA flight question

I am by no means, a frequent flier but I found a $20 difference in the flights I booked to Las Vegas.
We rescheduled our trip to Las Vegas going from Baltimore Airport via SWA. I booked the flight(s) round trip for 2 people. The flight out leaves BWI at 7:10pm and arrives LAS at 9:20pm. The ticket price per person on SWA site is $157.00.
IF I book the same flight/time as a single person it is $137.00???
Why can't I rebook the flight as 2 single fliers and save $40 or contact SWA and try and get the lower fare?

 

Is it possible that there was only one seat left for that "price class"? What happens when you act like you want to book 3 or 4 people? Is the price even higher?

 

That's strange. I've never heard of that at SWAIR before!

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That's strange. I've never heard of that at SWAIR before!

 

I just tried booking separately, on 2 separate windows, for single fliers. The price for the flight in question went Down to $127.00 per person, with a final booking price of $126.10 without actually giving my CC info.
I then tried booking a single flight for 4 people and the same flight went up to $157.00 per person. ???

 

Always remember that from the time you book a flight (in the U.S. anyway), you have up to 24 hours to call the airline back and cancel your reservation WITHOUT penalty. So if you can get a cheaper fare by buying individual tickets, go for it. Then, you can always check back later (within 24 hours) to see if the difference is markedly lower.

How (and why) can the airlines charge you these different kinds of fares? It's basically a mix of computerized algorithms that's based on good old-fashioned supply and demand. Bottom line: Don't complicate things. If you find a decent fare, get it.

IMO ... $157 from BWI to LAS nonstop is by no means a steal, but it's a pretty good fare. If you had to change planes a bunch of times, maybe not. When I fly to Vegas, I want to avoid changing planes whenever possible.

Just get me there!

 

This happened to me few days ago. But in same class "wanna get away"... booked 1 at $129 one waybut booked wife and kids's $189 same flight and leg... if I put in 3 to book I got all 3 at $189... which is bs if you think about it.

Meh either way it was with points...

 

SWA does not have assigned seatings but for $20 you could get preferred seating (you get to board with the first group). I'm thinking maybe you added the $20 per person when you originally booked that's why it was more expensive. Just a guess.

 

No I didn't. The preferred seating is now $25 round trip per person. I might add it onto the flight to ensure we sit together, my wife has flight issues and PTSD from a severe auto accident.

I contacted SWA to see what they say. I booked both the flight and hotel thru them. I checked the Four Queens and they are sold out for the 5 nights I have reservations for. If SWA doesn't do anything I'll leave everything alone. If I booked at another hotel the resort fees would be more than what I'd save rebooking the flight.
I couldn't/can't understand why the price difference between a single traveler and a group.

News423....We opted for a flight arriving in Vegas around 9:30pm/ $157; a flight arriving at 11:20pm was $117 pp. both flights are non stop.

 

This is your answer....

I track flights (not SW) via Kayak quite often and you will see a note saying "Only X seat(s) left at this price" Once they sell enough tickets at a certain price, then they raise the price because the demand is there. Also, if you are requesting more than one ticket, the system isn't designed to give you different prices for the same transaction, so, if there were only 1 lower prices seat, the higher price would kick in since you need more than the number of seats they have available at that price. Now, if they go so long without selling tickets at the new, higher fare, they may open up more seats at the lower amount again.

 

It's really very simple. Each airline offers seats in multiple "classes of service". In this case, "class of service" simply refers to the available price, not the cabin. As less expensive classes of service get sold out, new passengers have to purchase the higher fare to get on the same plane.

Here is an example of what the current availability on United from Los Angeles to Las Vegas for a given date/flight looks like on one of their flights (but I changed E class to show 1 seat, for example purposes):

UA4999 F2 C2 A2 D2 Z2 P2 Y5 B5 M5 E1+LAXLAS1115A 1229P

See the "1" following the "E"? Assume that "E" class is the lowest economy fare. You can see that there is one seat available in that "class of service". If you were to search for the fare for one passenger, you would get the "E class fare", but if you search for the fare for two passengers, you would be bumped up to the "M class fare" for both passengers, which is likely higher than the E class fare. This is because the booking system cannot sell two seats at the same time, in two different classes of service.

So, in your case, I assume that there was only one seat available at the lower price you were searching for.

Hope this helps.

 

Sorry about your wife, but possibly you could ask for a pre-board ticket pass for her? Sounds like it is necessary in your case. When my wife we pregnant and we traveled we are able to get her one so she could get an aisle seat to use the restroom.

 

SWA is usually good about this. request early boarding (pre board?) at the gate and explain why if needed. this will save you the early bird pass $.

 

very well explained EVL.

 

I just changed the outbound flight for both of us at SWA's new price listed on their site. ($127.00 pp). This resulted in me receiving a $60 credit. I emailed SWA customer service asking if I can apply the $60 credit (I won't be using it and it is not refundable) towards the cost of Early Bird Check-in for the round trip ($50). I also explained to them about my wife's travel issues. I expect my request will be accepted.