Schedule of Southwest Release Dates Next Date 6/28 Travel Thru 1/16

[TinkerbEllnor]

Crud- $158-168 each way depending on departing city. Yikes. I can't believe I waited for that.

 

[Pocahantas]

My sister and I booked our flights for October 14 - 20. $102.40 going and $104.40 coming home with tax and fees. Flights in and out of New Orleans are still kind of limited and they tend to fill up so I always book what I want as soon as the schedules come out and then hope for availability when a sale or Ding is offered! Food & Wine Festival here we come !

 

[Piglet Fan]

..to MCO has always had a 7 AM flight...and a late return flight. Has anybody noticed a change in flight times???

Yes - I'm flying back to PIT on a Saturday and there are no flights at all past 2:30! I was hoping to fly back that night so I wouldn't lose a whole lot of park time. Usually there's one late afternoon or evening flight.

Does anyone know if flights ever get added later on or is this it?

 

[thunderbird1]

..to MCO has always had a 7 AM flight...and a late return flight. Has anybody noticed a change in flight times???

Yes! They've eliminated several flights, including ALL one stop flights, between PDX and MCO on the weekends, which includes the early morning flight out and the evening flight home. Which means if we fly SWA, we'll have to change planes , AND arrive much later and depart much earlier. I REALLY hate changing planes with kids, especially on SWA where there's no assigned seating.

This seems completely illogical to me. Isn't Orlando a major vacation destination? Don't many, if not most, people begin and end their vacations on the weekends?

Edited to add: It appears we can fly in and out of Tampa on one stop flights. Of course, ME doesn't come to Tampa. Grrr.

 

[MARY-IN-OH]

cle-mco $177 each way. I'll wait. I can get Continental for the same $ rd trip right now, or wait for Ding from SW. not sure yet

 

[DisneyBride'03]

you have to go to the top, and click on Book travel..option..the old way...

Well, sorry to the folks who really had to change their schedules today!! What a bummer!!!!It would have cost me $497 RT for 2...so i went back to Priceline to get my $201 RT...return flight went up..great!
So went to United, we're Mileage Plus anyway...and booked for $196 RT pp! So I am happy with that, got the times I wanted and can get my boarding pass at the resort, I dont think you can w/SW..could be wrong! I cant gamble with the Ding offers...hope some of you were able to get some deals!!

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Yes! They've eliminated several flights, including ALL one stop flights, between PDX and MCO on the weekends, which includes the early morning flight out and the evening flight home.

I was upset about this too. We still have the early morning flight on the way to Orlando because we are leaving on a Wednesday. But trying to get back to PDX our best option is the one that leaves around 10am...would have really preferred that old flight that left around 5pm!

 

[2mickeys1minnie]

So what is the strategy if you didn't book? Keep checking several times a day to see if the flights become available?

 

[KJF]

..to MCO has always had a 7 AM flight...and a late return flight. Has anybody noticed a change in flight times???

What day are you flying down on? We're going down on a Fri & there is a 7am flight that day phl to mco. Too early for my kids though!

 

[DisneyInDel]

Flying down on Sunday the 16th of September and back on Saturday the 22nd..talked to the lady ay SW and she told me...1) they DID cut out some flights and the ones you see posted now will not change..no more flights added..and 2) there's no 8:30 flight back to Philly on a Saturday..latest is 6:25..she said nobody flys on a Saturday..huh?

AirTran is $187 roundtrip with better times..as opposed to $206

Can you get a kickback from AirTran if the cost of your flight drops?

 

[thunderbird1]

I was upset about this too. We still have the early morning flight on the way to Orlando because we are leaving on a Wednesday. But trying to get back to PDX our best option is the one that leaves around 10am...would have really preferred that old flight that left around 5pm!

I'm glad you're still able to take that early morning flight out, but sorry that you're stuck with the 10 am return. As you well know, with ME, a 10 am flight departure means about a 7 am hotel departure, which messes up any evening plans you had the day before. The 5 pm departure was perfect--we still had most of the morning to hang out, pack, do last minute shopping, etc. Then everyone could sleep on the plane and we'd still arrive home at a decent hour, thanks to the time change.

Now I just don't know what we'll do. I'm checking other airlines now (I hate changing planes, but dh may refuse to even do it). I can feel the price of the trip going up. . .

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

TB1 -- I didn't book the 10am flight yet. I think I'm going to wait a few days and see what happens with the other airlines. I really don't have a problem with using SW to and another airline from. Plus, if I bought the SW tickets today I'd have to either pay $179pp or come back the day after school starts. Right now, neither of those options appeals to me! Good Luck.

 

[thunderbird1]

Flying down on Sunday the 16th of September and back on Saturday the 22nd..talked to the lady ay SW and she told me...1) they DID cut out some flights and the ones you see posted now will not change..no more flights added..and 2) there's no 8:30 flight back to Philly on a Saturday..latest is 6:25..she said nobody flys on a Saturday..huh?

Oh, puh-lease! That doesn't explain why they also eliminated a bunch of flights on Sunday for my airport. Or why a couple of the cheapest fares are already showing unavailable for my Saturday return. They're just trying to cut costs by eliminating weekend flights.

They're becoming more and more like all the other airlines.

Edited to add: Calypso*a*go-go: Great minds think alike! We have 2 free tickets on SWA, so dh may be willing to put up with the stupid times and plane change for the trip home. But I really don't want to deal with possible delays and cancellations on the trip out, during hurricane season, since we're checking in on the last day of free DDP. And last year, we did end up coming back on the day school started (so dd missed the first day), because it was cheaper, even with the extra hotel days, just like iluvdisnee. Not ideal, but it worked out okay.

 

[a1tinkfans]

I was also one of those people WAITING for fares to open up. We had gotten in on the "free r/t tix" with the credit card as we had some prior trips on file. Well, I am THRILLED to have gotten our two free tix/flights BUT I paid for my childs ticket which was WAY MORE then I thought it would be ($338, paid 115 last year). The fares have really gone up!
The flights were literally disappearing before my eyes and I just paid the fare in the HOPES that in the future I'll get a DING and get it reduced. We also had to take an earlier flight home because of availability.
But HEY, I'm NOT complaining as I feel VERY lucky to have gotten in on the other two free tix (and free dining too!)
Just want to wish everyone good luck in your Pursuit of a good fare..
I guess with the price of gas going up and up, perhaps it HAS hit the "budget" airlines?? (We're at 3.05 a gallon by me) CRAZY!!
Have a great day!

 

[iluvdisnee]

We ended up staying at Disney day extra for 200.00 LESS (even including free dining) Than it was to leave the day we intended. We just extended our Vacation a day and coming home Sat Sept 2nd instead of the 1st.

The Fares are VERY High! Got 875 RT for 4 people from Long Island to MCO. I wont complain but it could be better

 

[cuppycake]

$174 from Orlando to St. Louie? They must be high

THIS! Southwest had better hope that they have some patient folks who will wait this out to see, or they might just end up losing some serious DIS business (Doubt that they care, but still).

Wow. I mean, I think we all expected them to be somewhat high, but HOLY COW!

Let's see....if I can LOCK in today with Airtran at $200 ish, or pay $350+ with southwest and wait to see? I'm going to have to do some serious thinking because my budget is only allowing comfortably for us to spend $200 pp. If history is a good indication, then we will be fine to wait, BUT.....BUT....BUT....

Dh and I have some thinking to do before Airtran raises their prices.

Who has the inside skinny on changing flights with Airtran if the $$ go down.........??????? Change fees? Credits? etc?

 

[Anjelica]

THIS! Southwest had better hope that they have some patient folks who will wait this out to see, or they might just end up losing some serious DIS business (Doubt that they care, but still).

Wow. I mean, I think we all expected them to be somewhat high, but HOLY COW!

Let's see....if I can LOCK in today with Airtran at $200 ish, or pay $350+ with southwest and wait to see? I'm going to have to do some serious thinking because my budget is only allowing comfortably for us to spend $200 pp. If history is a good indication, then we will be fine to wait, BUT.....BUT....BUT....

Dh and I have some thinking to do before Airtran raises their prices.

Who has the inside skinny on changing flights with Airtran if the $$ go down.........??????? Change fees? Credits? etc?

I see you and I are in similar boats. Well after viewing Southwests airfare this morning then going out to check others (yes folks, AA and several other lines prices have decreased the past few days) I ended up purchasing 3 one way tickets from STL to MCO then 3 one way from TPA to STL **And used my entertainment book coupon for 5% off** I ended up, after taxes, etc at 611.xx total.

I could have gotten roundtrip from STL to MCO for similar price but would not get a non-stop from MCO to STL for that price. With a 4 year old, etc. I didn't want to spend an extra 4 hours flying into Miami, switch plains, then coming to St. Louis.

I was SERIOUSLY considering airtran and southwest (even with southwests cattle call ) and (even with airtrans only selecting seats 24 hours ahead of time) but I think Southwests high numbers this morning turned me off. I felt like I would "waste" my time looking for DINGS, etc. here and there when I can't even get to the DINGS anymore at my work. So instead of stressing myself out I decided to just do AA. **Keep in mind that I would still have liked to have done Southwest but with their "regular" fares almost twice as high as AA and airtran "regular" fares I just "gave up"**.

 

[DisneyInDel]

Some awesome web specials...

 

[lg3]

Given the best SW had: (174 one-way to MCO), I just booked our flights through USA3000 for $66 pp out/ $86 pp back, flying in and out of St. Pete (PIE). We are renting a car anyway, so it wasn't a big deal - just adds about an hour and a half driving time, and still gives us the flexibility of having a car. If I had done it on Monday, I would have had $66/pp flying back, but the rate changed. Silly me, I was expecting a big deal w/SW. Still better than Air Tran: best I saw was $99 one way, and there was no deal on a direct flight back the day we wanted - it jumped to $129. That deal was on Travelzoo.
Good luck!

 

[love2travel]

I was able to book our flight to Florida but I'll have to wait to book our return flight because we don't come home until 11/11.