I know I should book my family’s Southwest flights on release day for our Sept 2020 trip. My question is…are there a max number of the lowest cost flight available? I will need to book 6 flights for DH, myself, DD8, DS7, DS5, and DS2 (and possibly my mom and sister as well). So…should I search for all 6 (or 8) flights at once or would I get a lower price if I searched in groups of 4 or 2 for example? I know when searching now (from OKC to MCO) I can find fares in the 11k points range round trip when I search for 1 or 2 passengers, but not more. Is this the same when I am searching on “opening day?”
My experience has been that if there is a limited number available for a certain fare the site will tell you so. I would search for one passenger first to see the best price, then adjust to 6 or 8 and make sure it doesn’t change.
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On our opening day the flights were too steep for me. A few weeks later they were lower. I ended up reshopping my return flight two more times and I recheck every few days still. (Prices are still changing and my trip is 23 days away.)
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After you are done searching for the lowest price, and when you are ready to buy, first delete your browsing history and cookies. It does make a difference with some airlines as to how many seats are available and the price.
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agreed
thank you so much, this is super helpful!
I’m not an frequent flyer but was happy with the price I got on Delta on opening day. I used the ITA Matrix software by Google website to monitor rates approaching my target dates. I found that on the release date, the tickets were only offered from Delta, not on Expedia or other retailer. I liked the price, so I purchased 9 tickets at that price directly from Delta. The next day, the ticket price jumped $50 each when they were offered from Expedia and other retailers. Not sure this is the normal pattern for all airlines, but I thought it was worth sharing!
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thank you! we’ll have about 65,000-70,000 points to use through Southwest, so hoping to get as many taken care of there as possible and then plan to go with cheapest carrier for remaining flights, shooting for similar arrival/departure times.
Just keep in mind that if you rebook for a lower rate that your credit with Southwest will expire from the date that you originally booked your ticket.
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Although points just go directly back into your account.
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I set a reminder on my phone to check SWA every Tuesday and Wednesday evening.
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i didn’t know that, thank you!
I’ll definitely do that! Thanks for the tip!