Southwest periodically make flights for further in the future available. You can now book flights through January 4, 2023. Southwest has a good cancellation/refunds policy. You either get a credit towards a future flight (Wanna Get Away) or cash refund (Business Select or Anytime). That means it’s often a good idea to book as soon as the schedule is released and then check back to see if it has dropped in price, if/when it does you can just click ‘change flight’.
You may also like
Hilton Honors: Double Points Promotion
[Expired] Breeze Airways: 40% Off With Promo Code CONGRATS
[Targeted] AmEx Offer: Hyatt Secrets Resorts, Spend $750+ & Receive $200 Statement Credit
AmEx Offers: Save 10% On Expedia.com Prepaid Hotel Bookings
AmEx Offers: Frontier Airlines, Spend $200 & Get $50 Back
I just noticed this earlier. I’m trying to find an international flight in the 2700 point range. I used to be able to book Montego Bay but the cheapest now is 3800
Same with my flights from Denver to LAX…..up2X+
A few tips & hacks to keep in mind if you’re booking for holiday travel:
– you can always cancel within 24 hours of booking for a full refund
– after that, reward flights reserved with points can still be cancelled for a full refund
– cancelling cash/standard fares after 24 hours of booking will result in a travel fund flight credit that expires in 1 year (from date of booking); if the fare class/type is Wanna Get Away, only you can use that credit
– however, you can use that credit to book a Wanna Get Away Plus (or higher class) fare, and if you cancel that new booking, the credit is now transferable to somebody else
– note that if you cancel a new booking that costs more than the original flight, the travel fund amount increases but the expiration date stays the same (original flight’s book date), so be careful there
– the trick here if you can’t use the credit but somebody else can is to cancel this new booking too immediately within 24 hours, as the additional costs will be refunded to credit card while the original amount becomes transferable (note you can only transfer once)
– the normal policy if you want to extend travel funds more than a year is that $100 is taken off of the credit and you get 6 more months, but for the rest of 2022 that $100 fee is waived
– if you want to get automatically checked in for a flight in the next two weeks, just text your confirmation and first/last names (middle name not required) in this format “A1B2C3 First Last” to (949) 329-2899
– afterwards, you’ll get a reply back like: “A1B2C3 found for First Last departing Chicago (Midway), IL on Jun 19 09:50AM; waiting 58 hours, 55 minutes before checking in.”
– then when you get checked in: “Checked in First Last at A26! You’ve used this app 2 times, with an average position of A37”
– you can also have this bot check if your reservation’s fare price has gone down to get a refund (if rewards/points fare) or credit (if regular/cash fare) on the amount that’s decreased
– the bot will continuously check to see if your fare is now cheaper, and if so you’ll get a message like: “Hi First, your reservation A1B2C3 (PDX to SJC on Sep 19) has gone down in price! The Wanna Get Away fare is now $72, which is $27 cheaper than your previous price ($99).”
– finally, corner case of course, it seems like with Daylight Saving Time you can check-in an hour earlier the day before when clocks spring forward; not sure if that also affects fall back with check-in times an hour later or not though
Can you provide more details on the bot for the number you mentioned? Any website for it? Wanted to do some more research before providing my reservation info to it since it can be used to cancel/transfer flight credit/etc
Yes. Just booked a flight for Dec 24th for half the cost compared to united or american airlines miles. all nonstop.
hope they can do again for travel fund convert to points since travel fund from AMEX air credit will be expired this yr again….
There used to be deals when booking right when scheduled opened. It’s no longer the case anymore.
Everyone wants to travel right now. Everything was next to nothing 2 years ago. Inflation and people putting off trips due to COVID. It’s only miles and it’s not like Southwest flies that many places. Use your miles now before they are devalued.
There will be a major sale sometime between now and the end of the year. The point of booking now is just to snag a preferred itinerary and then you can just rebook when prices drop.
The SW game has changed. See the comment below about booking the cheapest flight within 14days. Thats how to get the best SW deal these days.
Another reason to book southwest in advance is, they often change their schedule ( departure times) as it gets closer to the flight. When they do this you can change with no fare difference to flights within 14 days and to “nearby airports”.
But really the only way to get any real benefit to this is to book non-peak times that you have no intentions to travel and hope they change it. Since these are typically the least expensive and you are able to change it without a fare difference, it can be a win-win situation. But you have to hope luck is on your side.
This is pretty much how I’ve booked all my travel with Southwest for the past couple of years (book cheapest within 14-day window of when I actually want to go, then wait for the inevitable schedule change to have my choice of flights). This hasn’t failed me yet, though I’m still nervously awaiting schedule changes for my June flights.
prices don’t look that great, and in some cases almost 2X as expensive as what i’m booking today for next month, so will be holding off for now
I was looking to book a flight in august a few weeks ago and prices doubled when I checked recently.
yeah…last time calendar opened was not like this. yay gas..
You are flying next month and you are expecting fares to go down? LOL