I’m a very loyal Southwest Airlines flyer. But I just booked flights for DH and me for Columbus Day weekend on Delta. First…the are direct flights and SW had a plane change in Baltimore (which I normally don’t mind). But the prices…Delta was $348 round trip per person…and SW was $468 round trip per person.
Money talks.
What happened? SW has always been the better price for me in the past.
When I’ve checked, SW hasn’t been the cheapest for locations I was interested in either. I think it depends how far out from the flight date you’re looking and of course hoe popular the route is. The closer you are to travel days and more popular route will be pricier.
Well…this is four months ahead of time…and I’ve been watching the airfares. They are going up…not down. That’s why we booked today.
Do you plan to check in bags? SW let you check up tp 2 bags free and there are no fees associated with changing flights.
I’ve seen this sometimes too. Even though I prefer Southwest myself (the two free bags, the flexible seating and the full-credit refunds if plans change), there are times I feel forced to fly other airlines when it just doesn’t pencil out.
Love SW, but it is not going to work for our trips to Boston. No direct flights and much more expensive than AA, Delta or JetBlue. I think the fact that you can change or cancel your flight is factored in the price now.
SW hasn’t been the cheapest for any of our trips for quite awhile now. We rarely need to check bags, so that wasn’t a factor. You were probably just lucky.
We mostly fly UAL, as they have the most frequent flights between destinations we fly most often, especially nonstop flights. When I’ve searched and SW is one of the airlines listed, it has rarely ever been cheapest.
I know just what you mean Thumper. When my husband and I went out to Seattle, I looked numerous times at the SW site, hoping the price would be low enough to justify using them. Instead I got an Alaskan airline credit card so we could fly direct and get free bags using that card. In addition, we’ll have a low cost companion ticket for another flight. Recently, looking for a flight to Reno/Sacremento/SF for a summer vacation, I couldn’t find a low price on SW again- or Alaska airlines. This time I went with United because we also have a United card, free bags and we were able to use airline miles for the first leg. I felt like I really worked for that flight. I checked the prices for months, and just like you said, the prices were going up, not down. SW has been my favorite airline for years. I did fly with them in February to Denver, but only one leg was a great deal, making the whole trip just an okay price. The free bags, and free change is important to me, but not hundreds of dollars difference important.
For us…it’s a three day trip…no checked bags. But I think we get one bag checked free with the main cabin ticket we bought for each of us.
We won’t be checking bags this trip. We usually don’t check bags.
ETA, my delta ticket also came with a confirmed seat assignment…so no real need to pay for early check in on Southwest…which would have increased our costs $15 each way…each. That proce just went up from $12.50 each way on SW.
Like I said…I’m pretty loyal to SW…but if their prices continue to go up like this…they will lose me as a customer.
I will say, I got a round trip ticket to Cleveland from Hartford in September on SW for $183 and that included the $15 each way for early bird check in. There aren’t any direct flights to CLE here anyway…and that was a great price!
Yep, we are loyal SW fliers, but lately, we’ve had to go with other carriers because the price for SW hasn’t been great. On the west coast, we are opting for Alaska, AA and Delta.
I personally like Itasoftware.com to get a general idea of fares and schedules when I’m thinking of travel. It is a useful broad search tool. You can’t actually purchase tickets on that site, but it is a good screener and then I go to the airline website.
I like SW’s change policy but I agree that their prices have been creeping up lately. Just booked a flight on Frontier and I don’t think I will do so in the future - too much nickel-and-diming.
Despite all the “haters,” United has worked very well for me and H and our kids. They tend NOT to charge for every little thing, have people who answer the phones and are helpful, generally do a decent job most of the time. When we have a problem and send them an email about it, they do try to rectify the situation.
United also has a more consistent and saner policy in flying with supplemental O2 than most of its competitors. Some airlines require you to get a new Rx every 2 weeks, which is insane. (I’m looking at YOU, Delta.)
United will also refund $200 change fees with MD note, if that was the reason you had to reschedule flight.
Also a SW family, but daughter is going Delta to NYC in July because it was more than $100 cheaper.
I love SW for the cancellation/change policy. We’re so used to making changes that it is hard to be committed to a certain flight. Another thing that is important to me is the number of flights available on that airline that day to my destination. We were delayed on American and then realized that even going into DFW, by the time our delayed flight arrived, there would be no more flights to our final destination that day. Had to redirect through Charlotte, but it left us with about an hour to get to the airport. No thank you. I should have rebooked for the next day.
We have been booking D on flights using UR points with Chase. This way she can make last minute reservations with no penalties. It is much less stress for all of us!
HImom - We almost always fly United and I don’t have major issues with UAL. It happens to be the most convenient choice for us (we live near Dulles) so unless the price is substantially lower it just makes sense.
It varies, for sure. For some reason flight out of Detroit (near my parents) are much more on SW. I always check them, but sometimes end up on other airlines due to price. (My D wasn’t happy to have to fly Delta recently from there! Of course she understood when I told her the cost difference – over $250 – but wasn’t thrilled). But most places they are comparable, and I do love them – do they still get plenty of our business.
itasoftware was developed for the air travel industry, so it’s a good place to start as it will suggest options you might not find on consumer sites. It’s now owned by Google. My ex is part of that department and that’s where he starts when searching for flights. I figure if someone is willing to use their own product, that’s a good endorsement.
From my area, SW hasn’t been the cheapest for several years now and often requires a stop and change. Occasionally, I can get some good deals where if we need to check luggage it does make sense, but that is the exception these days.