I am interested in purchasing flights to Orlando for December 2008.?

Question

Right now, I can get tickets through a major carrier for $100.00 less than tickets through Southwest. The major carrier would require that I travel at less desired times with layovers but Southwest would be direct flights. I understand that Southwest frequently offers $49.00 One Way tickets which would decrease my fare significantly. However, is there any :rhyme or reason" to how and when these fares are offered? Should I wait for one of the Southwest fares?

Answer 1

The rhyme/reason is based on empty seats as it gets closer to the date of travel.  There are departments at every airline whose entire job is to project how many passengers will be traveling at any given time on any given route and adjust fares accordingly.  

One of the things with Southwest though is that they generally won't open up their lowest fare buckets once they have sold out.  What this means for you is that if you are seeing seats available in the lowest fare column for your flight there is a CHANCE that fares could go down.  If you're not seeing the lowest fare column available on the flight you want, your chances are very slim indeed.

If it were me, I would take the ticket on the mainline carrier now vs. the chance of a lower fare on Southwest later.  If you are thinking you can get the lower Southwest fare and choose to go that route I would still buy your Southwest ticket now and re-fare if fares drop later.

Good luck!

Answer 2

They offer sale fares when they feel that bookings are low and they need to stimulate demand. You can't predict when that might happen or if it will happen at all.

However, many airlines have announced that they are cutting flights to leisure destinations like Orlando because they can't make a profit on these routes. Leisure travelers are driven by price and will switch to any airline that is a little cheaper. Consequently, airlines have had to offer dirt-cheap fares to attract customers and fill their seats, even though they can't make any money that way.  

By offering fewer seats, they hope to offer fewer deeply discounted fares and force customers to pay more (and, hopefully, stop losing hundreds of millions of dollars a year).

If you wait too long, you risk paying more money - not less.