When Will Southwest Open Flights – Jennifer Yellen is a contributing writer at The Points Guy where she focuses on family travel. She is also the founder of Deals We Like where she helps her readers travel on bargains.
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When Will Southwest Open Flights
If you have children in school, you already know that booking flights for family holidays can be quite expensive. Typically, parents don’t want to pull their children out of school due to a lack of classroom learning and attendance policies, so they travel during the school holiday weeks – prime time for flight costs (and pretty much anything that related to travel). This is why booking your peak season flights as soon as possible is essential and can save your family a ton of money on that next holiday.
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You can fly up to 330 days in advance with many domestic airlines, but Southwest Airlines does things differently. In about six weeks, Southwest expands its batch ordering schedule. Fortunately, Southwest notifies customers about schedule expansions in advance, which allows you to plan ahead. On its flight schedule site, you can find out when the schedule is scheduled to expand as well as the travel dates you can book.
Southwest will generally allow you to book flights for the new dates sometime between 6am and 7am EST on the morning they are announced. There is no “set” time of day, but it’s a good bet from my years of experience booking Southwest flights. It is important to book immediately for peak flights as “Wanna Getaway Fares” can sell out within hours many times and the price may be the lowest you will ever see for that particular flight.
For example, when Southwest opened its booking schedule for the Christmas/New Year’s holidays this May, I booked round-trip flights from Boston to Cancun for the week of Christmas for just 19,422 Southwest Rapid Rewards points per member. my family! Being able to use airline points for peak times of the year is amazing, especially when other airlines don’t usually open their list of saver rewards for those dates.
Although I have been checking these flights daily to see if they have dropped in price, they have not. In fact, they went up in price, so ordering the moment it was released was a smart move. I always knew in the back of my mind that I could cancel if I needed to because of Southwest’s flexible cancellation policy. When you have kids, you never know what might pop up between booking your flight and when you’re ready to go.
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One of Southwest’s biggest advantages is that if a flight you’ve already booked drops in price, you can change it to a lower fare with no extra fee. This is true for paid orders and points. Due to this flexible policy, there is less risk in booking a flight when a new schedule is released. With other airlines, it’s a guessing game whether you book the lowest possible fare or not. With Southwest, you don’t have to worry! You can read detailed instructions on how to rebook a Southwest flight when you find a cheap flight, but here are the rules in a nutshell. you did it…
But remember, if your flight was booked before 10 October 2018, and you need to change your flight, this will automatically place the ticket into a non-refundable booking. Refundable ticket prices include paid Business Select and Anytime tickets as well as any bookings booked with points (including Wanna Get Away Fares). This means that if you end up canceling your new booking, any amount paid will be deposited as a travel fund rather than going back to your credit card. Points will still be returned to your Southwest Rapid Rewards account, but any taxes paid will result in a travel fund credit. Fortunately however, Southwest has just reversed its policy and now any refundable tickets booked on or after October 10th will still be eligible for a refundable fare if there is a change. Remember, whether your ticket remains refundable or changes to non-refundable depends on your date
You can combine your Rapid Rewards points balance with these Southwest co-branded credit cards or remember to transfer points from Chase Ultimate Rewards cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve to r South-west on a 1:1 ratio.
Pay attention when Southwest expands its flight schedule. For peak travel times, like Thanksgiving, Christmas break and spring break, you’ll want to book right away and put the Rapid Rewards points and/or Southwest Companion Pass benefits to work. Prices for these types of dates will usually only extend beyond that day. And, if prices drop sometime before your flight, you can always get the difference back in dollars/points paid. This advice can help your family travel less.
Unraveling Southwest’s Mysterious Scheduling Process
Jennifer Yellin writes for TPG on family travel deals and blogs about deals we love. Follow her family’s adventures on Twitter and Instagram.
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Southwest Airlines Launches A New, Second Cheapest Fare
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If you haven’t booked flights for next spring yet, now is a great time to grab Southwest flights.
While some carriers allow you to book flights about 11 months in advance, Southwest extends its booking window in batches of just a few months at a time.
Previously, you could only book Southwest flights until early March. But this morning, Southwest extended its schedule to July 10, 2023. This makes now a great time to get a good deal on Southwest flights for next spring.
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Booking flights early when Southwest expands its schedule can save you serious money. While availability may be around for a while, you probably won’t get the low prices available now for peak travel dates.
Southwest’s change and cancellation policy also makes it easy to book now, even if you’re not sure you’ll make the trip. Here are Southwest’s cancellation policies if you cancel at least 10 minutes before the flight’s departure:
Therefore, you can cancel your flight for free if your family’s travel plans change. Also, if the price drops after you book, you can book again and get the difference as travel money or points. Therefore, booking Southwest flights for the trips you hope to take is a very low risk situation.
I recommend booking Southwest flights as soon as the booking window opens, especially if you want to fly during peak hours. Even if the flights have already opened, you will still be able to get good deals.
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As mentioned above, there is very little risk when booking flights from Southwest due to the airline’s flexible policies. So, you might want to book now even if you’re not 100% sure of your plans. If you want a full refund on your original payment method, redeem Southwest Points for your flights or book premium Anytime or Business Choice tickets.
Because of the airline’s flexible award policies, redeeming Southwest points is my favorite way to book a Southwest flight. If you need to cancel a flight booked with points, your points go straight back to your Express Rewards account and you can get the taxes and fees you paid back on your card .
It’s a great way to get a sign-up bonus on a new Southwest credit card
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