Why does Southwest prices now suck so bad???

[Rob562]

I used to fly free growing up b/c my mom worked for US Airways. Had to fly standby, but it was still nice to go wherever. She left the airline 8 years ago, and maybe their policies have changed...

They still do that, at least for US Airways. I have a friend who works for them. I don't know if they have to pay the Sept 11th security fee or not.

How do you use that ??? i would be flying out of Philly to orlando

Start to book the dates that you want. Then on the flight selection page, there's a box on the right-hand side of the page that says "Flexible with your travel dates?" It'll bring you to a page with a calendar showing you the cheapest fare available for each date. (Note that it only means there's at least one flight on that date for that fare, not that all flights are that cheap)

-Rob

 

[crawdaddy1819]

I used to fly free growing up b/c my mom worked for US Airways. Had to fly standby, but it was still nice to go wherever. She left the airline 8 years ago, and maybe their policies have changed...

it depends on the airline and the benefits..i get so many buddy passes per year and thats how i can fly for free...now if i were to want to go to say Europe i would either hop on my airline or i would hop on one of our partners. if i wanted to upgrade to first class usually i only have to pay like 50 bucks! I LOVE MY JOB!

 

[WDWmom64055]

Hm...compared to everyone else I think I got a great

deal. We're flying rountrip, Denver to Orlando, and with all the fees, taxes, etc. I paid $246 per person. When I booked through Disney travel in '99 their cheapest fares were $100 more than that! My travel agent's best offer this time was $1400 for 3 tickets...and that involved several transfers and a travel time that was over double what we'll have on Southwest.

I used to fly Kansas City to Chicago on their $39 flights...and I know those are long gone...but for long distance, they're still the cheapest tickets I could find!

 

[ILUVTHEMOUSE]

For the past few years, we have been able to catch great flights not only to Central Florida but to other places as well. May it be the specials, or Feature Destination, or by Ding, we have gotten spoiled by $44 fares, $59 fares, heck even the $88 fares.

The past almost year or so now it's been REALLY hard to find rates anywhere near that. Dings are only Tues/Weds travel anymore for my city.

The "Feature Destinations" don't show a list of prices anymore. I can put in my city (Columbus) and I don't even get discounted rates anymore. I find it hard to find anything to Florida under $159 and many times under $189 (each way).

What happened to the friendly Southwest that would tell you that there were $69 days to Chicage. $94 to LA. This past year, I'm only finding things about double what I've been able to find the past 3-4 years.

Is this only me, or is Southwest losing its edge for the budget minded consumer.

I agree that Southwest has not had very good fares recently. I would advise you to check Delta. I recently got tickets for my family (also from Columbus) for $168 round trip. It came out to $189 w/taxes. You need to check everyday because the fares seem to change daily. Another thing I do is to check the box for flexible dates. It will show you rates for the days surrounding your actual dates. If you have any flexibility at all even if it's just a day, that can help. Good luck:wave:

 

[crawdaddy1819]

my suggestion to everyone that is flying somewhere specially over the summer....i would book your tickets as far in advance as you possibly can because you will get cheaper rates....the closer the date you get to when u need to be somewhere the more money its going to cost you no matter what the airline is. the blame for all this is the oil companies. a barrel of jet fuel costs about $130 and it is going to keep on rising. also make sure you pay by credit card and NOT cash/check. people have gotten screwed over because the airlines are not responsible for reimbursing you some people got shafted because of that with ATA going under.

 

[elizs77]

it depends on the airline and the benefits..i get so many buddy passes per year and thats how i can fly for free...now if i were to want to go to say Europe i would either hop on my airline or i would hop on one of our partners. if i wanted to upgrade to first class usually i only have to pay like 50 bucks! I LOVE MY JOB!

I just meant that you can fly free even if you aren't working, being a deadbeat or a freeloader.