Hello! I am planning a Disney vacation for the beginning of August. I have heard about DING from Southwest, and was wondering if anybody knew when deals for early August might come out? I know deals are usually for a month in advance, but would like more input. I would be willing to wait for a last-minute fare (and drive if one does not appear). Thank you!
I am unfamiliar with Ding. If I book a fare in February (for our Sept. trip) then a special comes out in August can I get the lower fare? Or do I have to wait until August to book?
G00fyDad, if Southwest lowers their fares after you've bought a ticket with them, you can change your reservation and get the difference put back in to a holding account. You then have 1 year to use those funds for another flight. That's for the "Wanna Get Away" fares. For the higher "classes" of fares, you may have the option to get the difference refunded to you.
If the DING fare is lower, there are a few more steps you have to take to change your reservation. First, make ABSOLUTELY sure there are DING fares for the times you want. Then, cancel the original trip, and save the flight confirmation number. The money for that trip will go in to holding. Go back to DING and make your reservation. When you get to the payment page, there will be an option to pay with Ticketless Funds or Ticketless Travel (I forget how they phrase it). Select that and put in your original confirmation number. That will call up the Ticketless Travel Funds that were put in holding from that trip.
I don't recommend waiting until August to make the reservation. Usually (but not always), the cheapest fares on Southwest are when those dates are first opened on their schedule. You just have to watch their sales, notifications of which can be emailed to you.
Hope this helps!
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BTW, you've been concerned about using Southwest because of the uncertainty of everyone sitting together, right? IF you do consider using Southwest, you might want to look at Early Bird Check-In. It costs $10/ticket/flight, but it guarantees you an A boarding pass, even if you can't check in 24 hours in advance. For me, I don't do it since it's usually just me, or me and my boyfriend, travelling. For you, it might be worth it as you should be able to seat the whole family together. Just thought I'd mention it, in case you weren't aware.
Finding flights and playing the waiting game with fares is the worst part of planning the trip, IMHO.
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BTW, you've been concerned about using Southwest because of the uncertainty of everyone sitting together, right? IF you do consider using Southwest, you might want to look at Early Bird Check-In. It costs $10/ticket/flight, but it guarantees you an A boarding pass, even if you can't check in 24 hours in advance. For me, I don't do it since it's usually just me, or me and my boyfriend, travelling. For you, it might be worth it as you should be able to seat the whole family together. Just thought I'd mention it, in case you weren't aware.
Finding flights and playing the waiting game with fares is the worst part of planning the trip, IMHO.
Yeah. The SW rep told me about it the other day. Sounds like what I plan to do. If everything goes right with this plane trip then SW will be the ONLY way I ever fly again.
I really hope it works out for you, G00fyDad. SW is a great airline. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask me. As you can tell, I fly them quite a bit!
The funny thing is, for as much as I advocate SW, they let me down today. I'm going to CO in March and was able to get a MUCH better deal on United. SW just couldn't compete on the fares and routing, though it's mostly my fault for not getting tickets right away.
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I really hope it works out for you, G00fyDad. SW is a great airline. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask me. As you can tell, I fly them quite a bit!
Thanks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sk8belle
The funny thing is, for as much as I advocate SW, they let me down today. I'm going to CO in March and was able to get a MUCH better deal on United. SW just couldn't compete on the fares and routing, though it's mostly my fault for not getting tickets right away.
But how much more will it cost you in baggage fees with United?
I've got that figured in to the equation already. Even with baggage fees, I'm still $100 ahead of the game with better seats, better times, and nonstop flights.
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I'm going to be up late the night of March 22nd. The SW rep told me that the flight dates I want will open up on March 23rd so I will be online checking and rechecking other sites for better deals right up until midnight when I will need to either book SW or another carrier. Wow, I'll be glad when we finally get to WDW. Every year there is some sort of huge stressful thing involved with the trip. The first trip it was uncertainty of a first trip to WDW, the second trip it was me forgetting BOTH pieces of MY luggage, the third trip it was AAA constantly messing things up and generally being lazy. Looks like this one is going to be the flight. Hopefully that is ALL there is that is stressful.
G00fyDad, just as an FYI, in case the agent didn't mention it, Southwest doesn't open its fares until 10 or 11 CST. Check the website for the correct time. I think it's listed until the Travel Tools tab. So you don't need to be on right at midnight on the 23rd.
Hope that takes a little bit of stress away for you. And I'll be right there with you on the site that day, booking MY Oct. trip.
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G00fyDad, just as an FYI, in case the agent didn't mention it, Southwest doesn't open its fares until 10 or 11 CST. Check the website for the correct time. I think it's listed until the Travel Tools tab. So you don't need to be on right at midnight on the 23rd.
Hope that takes a little bit of stress away for you. And I'll be right there with you on the site that day, booking MY Oct. trip.
Well that does seem better. Thanks.
I just hope I'm not running a session at the time. I may have to move a few things around. My mind wouldn't really be on the job if I knew it was time and I couldn't make the call. LOL
I hear ya. I'm glued to my desk 15 mins prior to flights opening, sending all sorts of "stay away" vibes off. Good luck! I hope you're able to make your schedule fit for that day. You might want to call SW and double check the time I gave you. I'd hate to make you miss the window.
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The SW rep told me that the flight dates I want will open up on March 23rd so I will be online checking and rechecking other sites for better deals right up until midnight when I will need to either book SW or another carrier. Wow, I'll be glad when we finally get to WDW. Every year there is some sort of huge stressful thing involved with the trip. The first trip it was uncertainty of a first trip to WDW, the second trip it was me forgetting BOTH pieces of MY luggage, the third trip it was AAA constantly messing things up and generally being lazy. Looks like this one is going to be the flight. Hopefully that is ALL there is that is stressful.
