Southwest Rapid Rewards - New Sale: $25/50/75/100 fares for 72 Hours

The Clock is Ticking, 72 Hours Only!

We’ve tossed out the playbook! You’ve heard of throwback jerseys, but what about throwback fares? That’s right, for 72 hours you can score some of our most incredible deals of the year for travel Dec. 2 - Dec. 16, 2009 and Jan. 5 - Feb. 10, 2010.

With fares this low, you should invent a reason to go. But remember, there’s no “OT” on this sale. So put on your game face and score a cheap trip before it’s too late!

$25 0-374 miles
$50 375-549 miles
$75 550-999 miles
$100 1000+ miles

http://www.southwest.com/clockisticking/?src=PRPRPRNWOWSALE102709

Fares still appear to be loading, but this looks to be a great sale.

Fine print:
Available only on southwest.com or swabiz.com. Purchase from October 27 through October 29, 2009, 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. Travel December 2 through December 16, 2009 and January 5 through February 10, 2010. Travel valid every day except Sundays. Seats are limited, especially to popular destinations such as Florida and Las Vegas. Fares may vary by destinations, flight, and day of week and won't be available on some flights that operate during very busy travel times and holiday periods. Fares are available for one-way travel. Fares may be combined with other combinable fares. Fares are not combinable with Senior Fares. When combining fares, all rules and restrictions apply. Fares are nonrefundable but may be applied toward future travel on Southwest Airlines. Fares are not available through Group Desk. Any change in itinerary may result in an increase in fare. Standby travel requires an upgrade to the Anytime fare. Fares are subject to change until ticketed. Offer applies to published, scheduled service only

Thanks, BNA-WNFan, nice scoop! I think the fares were "loaded" already when I first saw your post 90 or so minutes ago. I could see them on the fare calendar, but they were blocked from showing on the date-specific fare page until midnight PST. Thanks to your early notice I stayed up late so as not to miss out on the savings.

Wow, $25 fares for SoCal-Bay Area.

That's as good as the half off fares earlier this year!

They have also matched VX's Halloween specials as well if you are interested.

$25??? Let me never question Southwest's creativity again!

Now I'm wondering about their sanity, however. ;) Having this sale last 3 days rather than 1 will cost a lot of money. My intra-California flights are already packed full, and this will guarantee that they remain full until February. But I think Southwest could have gotten a lot more revenue than this for those flights.

Bingo. Bravo Southwest!

:-::-::-::-::-:

(This board is AWFULLY quiet, today.) :confused: :D

...Now I'm wondering about their sanity, however. ;) Having this sale last 3 days rather than 1 will cost a lot of money...

Volume, son, volume...:D (aka "cash" ...anyone feel a big purchase - a fuel hedge, an airline - coming on?)

Or, as the king in Braveheart said, "Yes, but we'll hit some of theirs, too."

Wow, this works out well for the coasts, but out of MDW it's not a fantastic deal other than the $25 level. MDW-BNA, for example, is usually $59 with Dings often available at $49.

This would be a great sale if the HORRIBLE website would actually work. I cannot even book new travel without getting a message on the FIRST screen (search for flights) that says "OOPS, can't complete your request." There is a warning that the website is slow due to this promotion, but this is ridiculous!

I keep getting:

OOPS! We are currently unable to complete your request due to an undefined error. If this is the first time you have seen this message, please go back and try again. If you continue to have difficulties, please contact a Southwest Airlines Customer Representative for assistance at 1-800-I-FLY-SWA (1-800-435-9792).

whenever I tried to book or change anything.

...I stayed up late so as not to miss out on the savings.Especially glad I did now, as I currently can't pull up any fares for either specific dates or for full months via the calendar. Thanks again, BNA-WNFan!

ElmhurstNick the fares are a mixed bag in other markets also. Mid-Atlantic to Florida fares are so-so; two Texas-Fla routes I looked at have $100 sale fares while AirTran currently has a similar route priced at $64. I booked WN to one of the $75 cities in Florida for a nice savings over what it was, but AirTran has $64 on that route also. The extra cost of a connection would wipe out the savings and the WN non-stop makes for a more pleasant travel day so it WNs easily. The point is this sale can appear better or worse than the $30/$60/$90 sale depending on your individual circumstances.

too bad the website is down..

I keep getting:

OOPS! We are currently unable to complete your request due to an undefined error. If this is the first time you have seen this message, please go back and try again. If you continue to have difficulties, please contact a Southwest Airlines Customer Representative for assistance at 1-800-I-FLY-SWA (1-800-435-9792).

whenever I tried to book or change anything.
Same here!

too bad the website is down..

Not completely down.

A little slow going and error prone but I'm eventually able to re-price my flights for the dates within the sale.

Heh...heh...this is like getting free flights...the TTF's I'm accumulating will pay for other flights. ^:D

This would be a great sale if the HORRIBLE website would actually work.It appears it is not actually the web site that is the problem, but rather the back end fare search engine (although it could be the interface between the two). From a web site visitor's perspective it may not matter much, but if it is the back end search engine then there is a good chance RSAs are having just as much trouble as we are, so a phone call will be fruitless even ignoring the likely interminable wait.

You can tell the problem is not strictly with the web site because it responds correctly to invalid searches. Example: for MCO-TPA on 27-Jan-2010 the website will respond Published scheduled service between (Orlando - MCO) and (Tampa - TPA) does not begin until 03/14/2010. Therefore the problems we are seeing are cropping up when or after the site communicates the search request to the back end. (Here it would be nice to know whether QPX is already installed or just coming soon. ETA: regardless, it is probably a hardware overload issue rather than a software issue.)

I think I will book a few of these, Just to get away.

Thanks so much for the link.
:):)

It doesn't really matter why it isn't working. It is completely frustrating to the website user. I didn't even attempt to call knowing that RSA would be swamped. These days, they are swamped on a "regular" day.
I got the "oops" message every step of the way trying to change a flight. I kept hitting the "back" button and re-trying and after 36 tries on "apply funds" screen I finally got one to go through. Now I got this message when trying to change the next itinerary:

"Temporarily Unavailable
Unfortunately, it's not possible for you to change your itinerary at this time. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. Please try again later.

If this issue persists, feel free to contact Southwest Airlines Customer Support for assistance at 1-800-I-FLY-SWA (1-800-435-9792)."

Then I decided just to cancel and try to book from scratch, and got this message:

Temporarily Unavailable
Unfortunately, it's not possible for you to cancel your itinerary at this time. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. Please try again later.

If this issue persists, feel free to contact Southwest Airlines Customer Support for assistance at 1-800-I-FLY-SWA (1-800-435-9792).

Nice. Now I am aggravated and frustrated, and will be more so if when I finally am able to get through all the $25 fares are gone.

...I'm eventually able to re-price my flights for the dates within the sale.(bolding mine)

Interesting observation, jrpaguia. So to further the point made by nsx that this sale "will cost a lot of money" ...especially so when all the system presently can manage to do is to reprice existing fares, and not generate new bookings! :rolleyes:

I tried refaring one of my pre-dawn bookings; I never would have waited as long as I did for the response that did eventually come back if not for your post, but it did indeed eventually give a quote. So someone who has bookings outside the sale dates that they consider safe for booking again at a later date could use modify itinerary to create a new booking...

Never mind. Refare attempts now return: Temporarily Unavailable

Unfortunately, it's not possible for you to change your itinerary at this time.

too bad the website is down..

From @SouthwestAir (http://twitter.com/SouthwestAir):
Wow, we’re seeing quite a bit of interest in southwest.com! You might experience a short ‘delay of game,’ but thanks for your patience!

From @SouthwestAir (http://twitter.com/SouthwestAir):
Not working at all does not equal "short delay."

Like ckey above, I am getting a biot frustrated as I found two flights on my original dates of travel for $100 yet cannot switch to them.

I saw this via Twitter this morning before I left for work. Using these fares, I re-priced a total of 5 upcoming flights (saving between $5 and $15 each flight), and used the funds as well as a little bit of leftover 12/29-expiring TTF to rebook an upcoming Award flight that's now being offered for $50.

End result: same flights booked, an extra $13-ish in my TTF account, and an extra one-way Award still usable.

I feel bad for Southwest that this sale didn't generate any new revenue for them from me, but I feel great for myself that I was able to take advantage of it.

I did about 5 rebookings and 10 new purchases early this morning. Only once did I get the "unable to complete" message, and recovery was as simply as Back and resubmit the form. I'm glad I was awake early. And I'm glad I didn't bite on the $49 January fares last week, so I didn't have to rebook those.

I did not use the change itinerary feature this morning, so I can't report on that. This appears to be a simple case of website overload. You can expect the funds re-use system to experience indigestion (delays of an hour or more in being able to use funds after you cancel a reservation) later today if they are not already occurring.

The funny part is that I booked some $50 fares to LAS over the weekend, and they are still at $50. I believe that last weekend's $50 fares for California and LAS were a partial match to VX's $40 3-day advance fares out of SFO and LGB. The whole industry seems to have lost its mind. Haven't they looked at crude oil prices?

Especially glad I did now, as I currently can't pull up any fares for either specific dates or for full months via the calendar. Thanks again, BNA-WNFan!

Hey, glad to help.. I love a deal! I've found in a few cases it's cheaper to book the ticket through a connecting city (and then just hop off the plane). For me, BNA-MDW is $50, but BNA-MDW-STL is $25.

Never mind....

I don't think there's any consistency.

Since my posting, I've been able to make a new booking and cancel an award flight as well as re-price another itinerary. This after experiencing the missing all my future itineraries phenomenom.

Methinks that clicking on Continue, Change, or Accept right now is like heaving a 50-ft jumper...it may clank off the rim, it may be an airball, or it may go in.

Looks like Southwest has this deal available to TAMPA so will be going for the game.

Does anyone knows if other airlines (USAirways, etc.) are matching?

Thanks

If you just want to know fares between city pairs generally, note that you can go to the sale details page (http://travel.southwest.com/specialoffers/offerDetails.html?id=24795484) to see a (mostly) accurate "fares as low as" listing for all city pairs. If everyone did that instead of trying to pull up specific quotes or full fare calendars it would take huge loads off the back end servers.

Also note that in competitive markets like DEN you may be able to go a bit farther for a given fare than is indicated by the mileage-based chart. Other markets where fares are driven by lower-fare competitors may have fares already below the sale price listed on the sales detail page.

Well, this is 40 minutes of my life I'll never get back. It's just ridiculous that A) I can't book one lousy flight and B) with the new interface, every time I hit back (to refresh) I have to re-enter the dates.

Edit--finally got through. Sheesh.

Adding to my frustration, I needed to change a segment that isn't part of the sale (it's a Sunday flight), and earlier I could actually search and see the fares, I just couldn't get it booked because of all the error messages. The fare was $51. I just went in to try and change again, still got the "temporarily unavailable" message, so I tried just booking a new fare, thinking I could cancel the old one in a few days. But now the fare is up to $69! Gee thanks, Southwest. GRRRRRRRRRRR!

Never offer a service you cannot provide. If WN's servers can't handle this level of traffic, they shouldn't offer these kinds of fares.

All this will do is piss people off....

Seems to be working for me... Unfortunately my common WN route (MCI-MDW) is barely into the $50 range and that's a fairly normal fare for Chicago.

To answer the question posed above, United matched the 30-60-90 sale earlier this year. I booked a couple UA trips during those two days. I imagine most legacies matched on at least some of their most head-to-head routes.

It'll be interesting if any legacies load $25's without unusual routing restrictions. One might be able to construct an attractive DEQM/TEQM mileage run by chaining a few of those together.

bbison and all: there is a front end to the booking search built right in to the sale details page (http://travel.southwest.com/specialoffers/offerDetails.html?id=24795484) mentioned above. It does not forget your dates when you use Back.

I was going to mention again that the old front ends are still available, but it appears that for the time being SWA has taken those files (used primarily for award booking) offline, presumably as one way to reduce system load. They now bring up the "scheduled maintenance" page.

I was going to mention again that the old front ends are still available, but it appears that for the time being SWA has taken those files (used primarily for award booking) offline, presumably as one way to reduce system load. They now bring up the "scheduled maintenance" page.

Maybe so, as now I see the maintenance page when attempting to change a flight.

Very frustrating!

Due the expiration dates on the funds, I need to get some refares done before I book anything new.

Also note that in competitive markets like DEN you may be able to go a bit farther for a given fare than is indicated by the mileage-based chart.Or even a lot farther. The $75 fare is supposed to be good for up to 999 miles, yet it applies to PHL—DEN (1558 miles). Compare PHL—MCI (1038 miles): $100. Many other DEN examples. Anyone finding other similar bargain cities? How are the new markets faring?

I was able to book a flight, but not able to cancel a previous flight and use the funds. Tried for a 1/2 hour, but I'm giving up now. Very annoying. :td:

I'm also somewhat annoyed that they didn't send out an email about this sale. I understand that they may not have wanted all the great fares to be gone when they publicly announced it, but how about a simultaneous email announcement/public announcement? I found out about it in an online newspaper article. Guess I should come on FT more often...

I'd expect the servers have bigger "load issues" every time the schedule gets extended.And now as we've seen twice this year, far bigger issues when short-term popular sales are tweeted.

As "imagined" in an unanswered question from over a year ago, schedule extension day server load might only be an issue when it is an extension that includes the holidays. In light of the troubles experienced on these two recent sales, I still wonder what analysis is being done regarding the source(s) of the bottlenecks? What steps have been taken to address the issues after the early warning from summer of 2008?

Or even a lot farther. The $75 fare is supposed to be good for up to 999 miles, yet it applies to PHL—DEN (1558 miles). Compare PHL—MCI (1038 miles): $100. Many other DEN examples. Anyone finding other similar bargain cities? How are the new markets faring?



My PHX-DEN which can be normally had at $59 for WGA is $50 WGA even though it is ~602 miles (which would be $75 as per the special). Obviously it's not going to be $75 as that would be higher than the normal fare.

Anyone finding other similar bargain cities? How are the new markets faring?

LGA is tough to find any deals to. Everything I've seen via PHX or TUS is $159, $179 or more. But going PHX/TUS-MDW - LGA or PHX/TUS-BWI-LGA yields better results.

I need to go through and book out my Dec/Jan/Feb trips tonight. I waited until the last minute with the $30/60/90 and it was tough going at 11 pm MDT last time.

I'm also somewhat annoyed that they didn't send out an email about this sale. I understand that they may not have wanted all the great fares to be gone when they publicly announced it, but how about a simultaneous email announcement/public announcement?

Southwest should offer a tool you could install on your computer, and that tool could notify you when really great fares became available. Maybe even using an audible alert. @:-) :rolleyes:

Finally I was able to change an existing reservation. Woo-hoo!

Looks like Southwest has this deal available to TAMPA so will be going for the game.

Does anyone knows if other airlines (USAirways, etc.) are matching?

Thanks

American matched. I booked a bunch of flights on AA today.

1) To the infrequent visitors to this board, there have been some serious problems with the rollout of Southwest's new online booking apparatus reported very recently, before this sale. Marketing and sales wait for no one but the top person. The right and left hands must be fierce-pissed at each other over this. It may get better over the next two days, as our Southwest rep on the ground has called it "All Hands" even prior to the sale.

2) To all, a word of caution re your "further-than" o/d finds, I suggest "Shhhhhh!" Southwest has three days to fix them, this round. They're not hard to find if they're the o/d you're seeking... Just words to the wise. They did demonstrate extraordinary adroitness at closing loopholes within a couple of hours in the "surprise city" sales.

3) ftnoob, your hands must work as fast as your mind. How do you come up with all this?

4) nsx, with Southwest's double, and in some cases triple, RR credits, the UA TATL 20% mileage sale, their recent 20K domestic sale, JetBlue's $31 sale, does this attain "Fall Madness"? (OK, for winter.) I have a feeling the other airlines are going to announce theirs soon, if not just matching this. Just a guess.

I'm also somewhat annoyed that they didn't send out an email about this sale.

You sure? I got an email this morning at about 6a MST.

You sure? I got an email this morning at about 6a MST.

I definitely didn't get that. Even checked my spam filter. I fly on SW a fair amount 8-10 RT/year, but certainly not as much as most on FT. I'm not an A-lister. I guess I'm not one of the chosen ones. :(

phxphlyer, is your MySouthwest profile set to receive emails?

(Mine came at 9:36am ET. Not nearly as early as BNA, but it came. By the way, BNA, who tipped you off?)

SAT-BOS $88.00 WGA. Wow!!

I like how aa.com advertises the exact same sale fares at their website. Maybe Southwest should use the DMCA and say they ripped off their ad (like the Black Friday advertisers). LOL

Since this is an off-peak travel time I'm not too surprised (and didnt have any travel I wanted to do at that time) .. but I was surprised to hear on FatWallet how the site was crashing under the load. I was a big fan of Southwest's website, but it seems to be going in the wrong direction recently; a lot of flash (I'm sure soon they'll switch to 'real' Adobe Flash and cause even more problems) and very little substance.

But a good sale nonetheless!

Very slow processing time, but I booked with relatively little difficulty at this link (rather than using the link in Post # 1):

http://www.southwest.com/landing/fourthqrtr.html

Not nearly as early as BNA, but it came. By the way, BNA, who tipped you off?)

I got a FareCompare alert just after midnight regarding the sale. FWIW, FareCompare.com (and its Twitter alerts) have saved me well over $1k so far this year. ^

I'm subscribed to Click 'n Save, but haven't received one today. I think it varies a lot how they're received.

Southwest should offer a tool you could install on your computer, and that tool could notify you when really great fares became available. Maybe even using an audible alert. @:-) :rolleyes:Brilliant idea! I wonder SWA didn't think of that. Coming up with a catchy name for it could be a problem, though. Maybe "BONG!", you know...that attention sound you hear on the plane during a flight?

phxphlyer, is your MySouthwest profile set to receive emails?

Yep it sure is. I just went back and doublechecked. And I get emails from SW constantly. Just didn't get this one. :confused:

This is one of the lowest if not the lowest BOS to WAS fare I have found. I really prefer DCA as it is closer to where I go in down town DC and has much better options with the metro than BWI, but at $71.20 roundtrip (and in general with WN's pricing) it will be less expensive for me to stay an extra night in a BWI airport hotel than it would be for me to book on a legacy carrier like US from BOS to DCA for a same day roundtrip.

I did a sample test for BOS to DCA 1/30/10 to 2/5/10 on the US web site and it was pricing at $300 plus vs. $71.20 roundtrip.

I would like to find out how US's load factors are on BOS to DCA, and to what extent people are booking with WN and other low cost carriers to BWI instead of flying to DCA. It may be tricky just looking at load factors though since US has a lot of connections in DCA.

In the 90's and early 00's it was typical to pay $100-$150 for a BOS to DCA roudntrip, and I'm frankly not comfortable paying $300 plus on a route like that especially for an advance purchase restricted fare. My US Shuttle corp discount on the route is approximately $440 roundtrip as another benchmark.

In US first class I get a drink in a plastic cup just like on WN.

I think overall I like assigned seats because usually I have very little carry on and would like to get on the plane at the last minute, and also its nice carriers like US have a coat closet. But its not worth a several hundred dollar premium for those conveniences :)

Yep it sure is. I just went back and doublechecked. And I get emails from SW constantly. Just didn't get this one. :confused:

I didn't get one neither....until about 20 minutes ago.

I am flashing back to the old days when we could just comment on the great things that this airline did, rather than comment on how the web site does not work.

What this sale demonstrates to me is why Southwest no change fee policy works. Although other airlines are matching these prices, booking this far ahead only works for me if I know I am not throwing my money away if I don't travel. Ultimately, that encourages me to buy more tickets and travel more often than having to only buy when I am absolutely sure I can fly and then having waited to long to afford to take the trip.

What this sale demonstrates to me is why Southwest no change fee policy works. Although other airlines are matching these prices, booking this far ahead only works for me if I know I am not throwing my money away if I don't travel. Ultimately, that encourages me to buy more tickets and travel more often than having to only buy when I am absolutely sure I can fly and then having waited to long to afford to take the trip.

Advantage: Southwest. In bas relief.

Brilliant idea! I wonder SWA didn't think of that. Coming up with a catchy name for it could be a problem, though. Maybe "BONG!", you know...that attention sound you hear on the plane during a flight?

Then, for the not-so-good days, how about, say, "Dang!"? (With a hat tip to lougourd99... And, actually, to SWAVictor and "All hands" for whom the last few days must have been "Dang!")

You sure? I got an email this morning at about 6a MST.

I just got the notification email, 14 hours after you did. Perhaps this function was squeezed out by all those people making reservations today.

I just got the notification email, 14 hours after you did. Perhaps this function was squeezed out by all those people making reservations today.

Well, the Commodore 64 they use for their server can only crunch so many numbers at a time.;)

I just got the notification email, 14 hours after you did. Perhaps this function was squeezed out by all those people making reservations today.

None of southwest.com's issues impact these emails. All of WN's promotional emails are handled through an outside firm, Responsys (http://www.responsys.com/). That doesn't explain your delay, though.

Well I finally got the email too - at 8:10 pm tonight. Guess I know where I fall on the VIP list...

Just got my email too... about 24 hours after I started fare shopping. :)

Went to a relative in a Click 'n Save at 9:15pm PT.

My Click-n-save arrived at 11:42pm. Hoo-rah for seeing the sale on Twitter instead.

No emails at all for me. The only email related to this sale that I've received is notification that AA matched. I think Travelzoo sent that one to me...

I did not got the notification e-mail, but caught the deal here.
Yesterday late evening, after many failed attempts during the day, I could change my previously bought Vegas tickets to cheaper ones ($25), as well as got Denver ticket for $50. Even the Reward ticket function came back around 10PM (PST).

Southwest should offer a tool you could install on your computer, and that tool could notify you when really great fares became available. Maybe even using an audible alert. @:-) :rolleyes:

Ding finally announced the sale this morning, about 3 hours ago. Better late than never.

Maybe somebody in that department reads FT. Or maybe their bosses do. :eek:

Didn't we hear from SWAVictor or someone that Ding is actually on a fuse, and unable to react to sales (even Southwest's own?) as Wanna Get Away does, the reason why WGAs often come in below the Ding of the day?

But really, Southwest could have done itself a favor by expanding the promotion, giving the sale as much play as it did Nick Pudder. While it's been nice for availability to get a 1-2 day head start (thanks again to BNA et al), Ding might be even more rarified than the other methods that have been reaching some of us. Meanwhile, AA is really shaking its promotion tree. I'm seeing and hearing its *match* (not so characterized) out in several directions.

Looks like WN's website has been handling this sale very well after getting hammered the first day. Kudos to all the "all hands on deck" folks for keeping things rolling. This is an impressive sale and it outdoes the $30/60/90 sale by only excluding Sundays (previous sale excluded Fridays and Sundays). Now, back to working on some excuses for hitting some $25 destinations since the sale ends tonight...

Well, sort of. I just went to book and the sale fare is only good on Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. I'll pass.

I wonder why BOS-LGA is a minimum $120++, all the way through. To be sure, it's not nonstop, but I did not see in the t&c that it had to be. I wouldn't think Southwest would lose much money on the few who are willing to take the five hours to do the run. Maybe this is one case where Southwest caught their vulnerability in a radius sale - the possibility to get off at MDW - and nipped it early, as they did in a previous sale. Similar to BOS-"BUF". (Again, please don't bring up the places where the penny is falling our way. Anyone who needs to, sees it. ;))

Well, sort of. I just went to book and the sale fare is only good on Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. I'll pass.

Really? I've booked several really good deals on all days of the week except Sunday. TUS-BOS in Dec: $100 on a Friday. Plus the requisite $25 TUS-SAN, $25 SAN-Bay Area, on Fridays. I even rebooked several November trips that I originally booked with the $30/60/90 sale for Jan/Feb and saved $5 on each reservation.

I wonder why BOS-LGA is a minimum $120++, all the way through. To be sure, it's not nonstop, but I did not see in the t&c that it had to be.

Just book BOS-BWI for $25 and BWI-LGA for $25. Two separate conf #s, an extra RR credit and a savings of $70 each way.

Just book BOS-BWI for $25 and BWI-LGA for $25. Two separate conf #s, an extra RR credit and a savings of $70 each way.

Nice. Thank you. Usually, I figure out suchlike on my own. But a bit fatigued with so many itins spinning around.

Anyone else a bit fatigued by now? (It's possible to admit it without it being a complaint...)

Nice. Thank you. Usually, I figure out suchlike on my own. But a bit fatigued with so many itins spinning around.

Anyone else a bit fatigued by now? (It's possible to admit it without it being a complaint...)

No problem. As for fatigue: yes. I just finished booking out most of my Jan/Feb travel. I think I'm at something like 20 - 25 r/ts. I'll be busy.

ps. if anyone has an itch to travel tomorrow/Saturday there are a ton of $31 SFO-LAS/LAX/SAN fares.

ps. if anyone has an itch to travel tomorrow/Saturday there are a ton of $31 SFO-LAS/LAX/SAN fares.

*:p*

That would be the Hallowe'en Fare, showing up just in time. (NB: It's not a one-booking-day-only sale, and it's changeable, unlike a blue airline's.)

OT: Funny thing, I've never focused on it before, but looking at some DC-area Hyatts for a MR, this Saturday they are some of the lowest I've ever seen... $74 for the Grand Hyatt DC, $51 for the Hyatt Fair Lakes :eek:. Maybe it's Hallowe'en hitting on a Saturday. Maybe the business reason for Hallowe'en fares and rates is that people are just staying home and/or partying.

Only 30 minutes left on the sale. I double-checked my confirmation emails, and wouldn't you know it: I had made one date error. I changed that reservation and now I'm all set, just in time.

Interesting, I was just about to say, first, the Low Fare Calendar is lagging the select a flight page. Many, many $25 days left on the calendar. Then I tried to book a BOS-BWI-BOS Dec 2 - Dec 9, and I get an Oops that my return is before my departure. So, I tried December BOS-BWI and a January return. All the flights between these airports on the select flight pages have already gone to $39 WGA...

One last experiment: I decided to call their bluff and select an outbound and a return, each increased to "$39" on the Select Flight page ...aaannnd on the next page: "$23.26" (++). OK, it turned out to be two experiments. The second was beginning this before the witching hour without logging in; not wanting to back up; manually finishing it at 12:06 CT ...and it took. :)

I know, I'd be impressed at how little the stuff in these two posts matters now... But maybe ftnoob can use it in the future. And SWAVictor. After he sleeps this one off..... :o

I was able to pull off one last itinerary change for a $25 fare at 1145p Pacific time. Whew. In my experience these fares really do go out at the stroke of midnight Pacific.

I was able to pull off one last itinerary change for a $25 fare at 1145p Pacific time. Whew. In my experience these fares really do go out at the stroke of midnight Pacific.

Yeah, they've really clamped down. Last night while I was waiting for the price page to c-r-a-w-l along and load properly without errors, the clock changed over. I'm stuck paying $120 for a $80 ticket. I wasn't happy.

Sadly had to pass on this one due to limited length of sale. We already have travel plans for November, December, and even the warm weather possibilities (Arizona, SoCal, Vegas) are fairly cold in December & January. Was close to pulling the trigger on $50 OAK-DEN (which looked to be a mistake as OAK-SLC was $75) but in this economy it is hard to justify optional trips where there is no real need to travel. And Vail/Park City are very cold in January.

Too bad this did not run through February or March, though I suppose there is a distinct possibility of future sales given the state of the economy and current bookings.

...hard to justify optional trips where there is no real need to travel.

...though I suppose there is a distinct possibility of future sales given the state of the economy and current bookings.

1) $25 fare + earning Hyatt FFN @ $55-60 => The best vacation and ROI we're going to find in this economy. Though you do have some Hyatt Places around you that can yield same. [EDIT: ...Actually, I characterized that wrongly. It's thanks to the economy.]

2) I would bet on it. Though by some different, less splashy vehicle. In fact, the $39 fares that supplanted most of the $25 ones aren't too shabby. (It wasn't until the tail end that I began to see fares creep up during the sale, and in most cases, not at all, until it was over. Except down and up the eastern seaboard.)

1) $25 fare + earning Hyatt FFN @ $55-60 => The best vacation and ROI we're going to find in this economy. Though you do have some Hyatt Places around you that can yield same. ...Actually, I characterized that wrongly. It's thanks to the economy.


That's how I used to think when I was single. :D Now married with kids the calculus is unfortunately a bit different for airfare, and I am less inclined to priceline rooms as my needs are different. However I would agree with the Hyatt FFNs though as you note the local HPs will be my preference for mattress runs.

I would certainly agree it was a great sale for those who could use it (much better than the idiotic Ding program) but there's a reason WN is selling flights for $25-50-75 in December/January :)

That's how I used to think when I was single. :D Now married with kids the calculus is ... a bit different...

Period. Full stop. I yield.