Opinions on best time to book Southwest flights

[KAYLI'S DAD]

Im curious what people think is the best time to book southwest flights to get the best price. We are going spring break in march and I know its a popular time but dont know if prices will go down.

 

[Traveling on cc points]

It depends. Are you paying cash or using points?
Southwest will give you a refund if your flight price goes down If you pay cash, you will get this refund in the form of a credit that needs to be used within 12 months. If you pay with points you will get the points back immediately.
I personally always book with points as soon as I know my Dates.

 

[_19disnA]

For any holiday, you tend to get the lowest price if you book early. Popular destinations book up quickly around holidays and the way airline pricing works (not just Southwest) is that the cheapest seats, best connecting flights as well as the non-stop flight tend to book up first. Once a specific fare class is sold out, the price jumps to the next higher fare. I have never found that waiting makes sense around holidays or to popular destinations.

You also need to book your Disney resort before it sells out or you may end up staying someplace that wasn't your first choice.

 

[miztressuz]

For SW book when you see a price you are comfortable paying and then check back for price drops. At least then you can rebook and have the opportunity to save points or spend those travel funds on another fun trip. (And if you can't use the funds within the year, then at least you were comfortable with the price to begin with)

Popular days, times, routes may only go up as seats sell or they could have price drops as sales come out. It's really hard to predict. Sometimes just being cheap makes a route popular and it doesn't really change as you might expect. If it's a less popular day, time or route I usually see the best pricing about 6 weeks out. But if you're going spring break I would not wait until then to book. Your cheapest options will usually be Tue, Wed, or Thu flights.

 

[DSNY4ever]

For SW book when you see a price you are comfortable paying and then check back for price drops. At least then you can rebook and have the opportunity to save points or spend those travel funds on another fun trip. (And if you can't use the funds within the year, then at least you were comfortable with the price to begin with)

Popular days, times, routes may only go up as seats sell or they could have price drops as sales come out. It's really hard to predict. Sometimes just being cheap makes a route popular and it doesn't really change as you might expect. If it's a less popular day, time or route I usually see the best pricing about 6 weeks out. But if you're going spring break I would not wait until then to book. Your cheapest options will usually be Tue, Wed, or Thu flights.

Southwest flights just opened up for our dates but they are SO high. I heard about waiting till 6 weeks out but that makes me so nervous booking for a group of 4 with kids. Should only people booking 1 or two seats wait till this close?

 

[MillauFr]

The best time to book is the first day that tickets are for sale. Just like Disney cruises. The mythical prices drops never occur. Prices only increase.

 

[OhMari]

The best time to book is the first day that tickets are for sale. Just like Disney cruises. The mythical prices drops never occur. Prices only increase.

We fly a lot from Milwaukee to LaGuardia and we always find seats on sale there and back, except sunday nites when a lot of Eastern kids are going back to college at Marquette or UW Madison. But MIlwaukee to Orlando, we book the minute prices come out. I do not think fairs ever go below $150 one way. I usually check every Tuesday and prices are already climbing From what we paid.

 

[tzeitel]

The best time to book is the first day that tickets are for sale. Just like Disney cruises. The mythical prices drops never occur. Prices only increase.

I used to think that but have been proven wrong. I have a trip booked for next week that the price went down twice (last one was a couple of weeks ago) since I booked when dates opened up. And for our trip in May the dates opened up a few days ago, prices went from $192 on opening day to $99 3 days later. I don't think it will go any lower, but I knew the 192 would not stick. I am also eyeing another flight (different airports but in May as well) that are at $176, I bet those go down to 120's or 115 which is their usual price.

It does help to know what your flight usually goes for. We always travel in May and Oct/Nov and SW is our preferred airline so I know how much the total "should" be. One thing I love about SW is that you can change flights and get credit to your account. I do book as early as possible no matter what the price knowing that I will have a credit for our next trip (we usually do 2 a year) if/when prices go down.

 

[cjlong88]

You can set an alert on google flights for the specific flight you want. If the price goes down or up, it will send you a notification. You can also check a Thrifty Traveler. They are my go-to sites for cheap flight deals.

When booking flights for Christmas time, I have found that flights are typically cheapest early October (2.5-3 months before departure). I would say that for Spring Break the optimal time to purchase flights is about the same. Maybe start looking vigilantly in December?

Once you get past that 90ish day mark before your preferred departure date, prices typically start to go up, sometimes quite dramatically.

With all that said, it’s not an exact science.
If I see a great deal, I take it. If the price is way too high, I wait it out. Trial and error has led me to typically book 3 months prior to departure to get the best price, though.

 

[KAYLI'S DAD]

Our dates are gonna be $2000-$2400 for family of 4. We have driven it 10+ times and costs about $250 in gas. If a deal comes up I will fly but we can have an extra $1750 to spend on food or etc if we drive.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I booked our Thanksgiving flights when they were released and I have now received 4 different credits as they just keep going down. Even yesterday I got a credit.

I'm waiting to book spring break flights until next year.

 

[sethschroeder]

Milwaukee to LaGuardia

RIP

 

[miztressuz]

Southwest flights just opened up for our dates but they are SO high. I heard about waiting till 6 weeks out but that makes me so nervous booking for a group of 4 with kids. Should only people booking 1 or two seats wait till this close?

It all depends on what your alternates are. What would you do if the prices don't go down/stay the same? Is that better or worse than what you're seeing now? Sometimes they may only have 2 seats at the cheap price so you'd have to pay higher for the other 2 anyway. (I assume you know about splitting a reservation to get the cheap seats, as otherwise all 4 would be ticketed at the higher fare bucket if kept together in that case) So if your alternative options aren't any worse the longer you wait, you could gamble. For us, our worse case scenario, other than not going, is we drive. Since that cost doesn't really change much we can usually take the gamble to wait it out.

I stalk my flights after I book them because you never know when a random change will occur, but usually I don't see much movement until 2-3 months out. I've rarely ended up rebooking inside that 6 week window. So if something is going to decrease it's usually in that 6-12 weeks out but it's not guaranteed and it's not a science.

We're going in April and I did book on opening day at a price I was comfortable with even though it was higher than I wanted because so far it's only gone up. But I picked less desirable times so I might have a shot at a drop in a few months after everything settles.

I think there's a Southwest thread on the transportation board that might have some info. (Or might have some folks knowledgable with your route) While past data does not indicate future performance, it really does help to know what pricing is typical for a route and when it generally occurs.

 

[mom2rose&john]

During the major breaks (Christmas, Presidents week, Easter week and 4th of July) I have had to book right at release and the prices did not decrease and were sold out within minutes. I expect March will not decrease much because the travel time is high demand and the MAX8 issue is still relevant.

 

[winnieofpooh]

If you're using points, I'd book as soon as they're released. I found for our airport/routes, it's almost always cheapest when they first release the dates. But it's no biggie because we use points, so we can just get the points refunded if the fare drops.

 

[Mellymc]

I can’t help you with when to book but I did want to share about the Hopper app. You can input all your trip info and it will alert when to buy and show you all the airlines and their prices.

 

[Lynn CC]

I booked our Thanksgiving flights when they were released and I have now received 4 different credits as they just keep going down. Even yesterday I got a credit.

I'm waiting to book spring break flights until next year.

Do they credit you automatically?

 

[SaintsManiac]

Do they credit you automatically?

It took about 7 days for my credit card refund to show up. Travel fund credits are immediate.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

Im curious what people think is the best time to book southwest flights to get the best price. We are going spring break in march and I know its a popular time but dont know if prices will go down.

In my experience with booking 4 people, it's always been best to book as early as possible. Waiting usually leads to "wanna get away" fares being sold out. We do usually travel during busy times due to school schedules so this is usually my method-book as soon as they come out and then keep checking.

 

[HuskyGal]

If you're using points, I'd book as soon as they're released. I found for our airport/routes, it's almost always cheapest when they first release the dates. But it's no biggie because we use points, so we can just get the points refunded if the fare drops.

Thanks for this tip. I thought that the points prices don’t fluctuate.