wetrat0

The economy has been doing better lately. I expect fares will go down when demand goes down. So, in the fall.

Boraxo

UA has now matched VX on $68 SFO<->LAX summer fare (at least for my dates). WN still pricing @ $123. Sorry but that's just not competitive so I pulled the trigger on UA (free bags there too and I can always use more EQM). Game, set, match.

ucdtim17

Southwest finally blinked on at least one of my OAK-PDX tickets and dropped to $69 while Alaska is still at $114. Other weeks still expensive though.

sunpass

I am watching day to day fluctuations on Southwest fares. For instance I was looking at flying from LAS to ATL on July 7. Yesterday at noon, the fare for Flight 3167/2584 (plane change at MKE) was $112. I went into a meeting to hem and haw about logistics before buying.

Two hours later, the fare for that flight had jumped to $198 as had all the other LAS To ATL flights that day. Then I checked the same itinerary again this evening, the aforementioned LAS to ATL with connection at MKE flight was $112 again. Madness!

nineworldseries

So you're saying I should expect news of WN flying nearly-empty planes this summer? Somehow I think you're very wrong on that front.

jiffer21225

Not only has the fare hasn't gone down for my August trip from bwi to cle it has gone up. It went up on Thursday by $20 each way and is holding steady at that price. I can save $125 for each ticket if I go with American Airlines. That's a big saving considering I usually pay around that much for a round trip ticket with southwest to Cleveland.

nsx

I believe load factors for July will be significantly below what they were in recent years, much less than 100%. As we've seen here, many customers for summer travel have already committed to using other airlines.

spongenotbob

Same here. At least in the markets I fly, I continue to see WN drifting up week by week. It is now very common for UA to be the "price-leader", with AA not far behind.

The only new thing I've noticed is that WN will now very occasionally deep-discount a single flight that is less than 2 weeks out - presumably if it is not selling well enough.

I guess the lesson is (a) buying early often doesn't pay, and (b) you can no longer assume WN prices are even reasonable. I've seen far too many huge fare differences lately for that to be the case.

Wow, what an odd turn of events.

formeraa

Same here. PHX-SEA rt over the 4th of July weekend was $322 on WN and, on top of that, I would have to pay the $30 EBCI. It turned out that AA was only $271 for the same dates and times. I was able to reserve aisle seats for free and I won't be checking any luggage.

jeffandnicole

I've seen a *few* people on here say they would use other airlines. The number of posters on here won't even fill a single flight, much less every flight in July across Southwest's entire network of flights.

I'm sure the reverse is true on other flights.

nsx

I've been here many years, and I haven't before seen this number of people posting that they switched airlines over this short a period of time.

I continue to believe that Southwest has made a serious error with its summer pricing, at least on the West Coast.

Ten years ago Southwest was the low price leader. It was pointless to shop the competition. Customers could be confident that Southwest was keeping fares as low as they could, in an effort to win market share.

Now look at them. On the West Coast Southwest is the high price leader. Customers are realizing what FT'ers know: that Southwest is out to maximize current revenue even if it reduces market share.

We deal differently with a business when we know it intends not to leave any money on the table today than when we have confidence that the business intends to win our loyalty for the long term. It's sad that Southwest has chosen this path.

nineworldseries

I really don't care so much about whether DL, AA, or UA are cheaper than WN. The only way I'll ever fly UA is lifelessly in their cargo hold, DL and AA don't have many nonstops from CMH to anywhere I'd ever want to go (no desire to visit MSP, ATL, or DFW), and I cannot stand dinky, awful regional jets.

I can earn and burn points SO much faster on WN, they fly actual real planes everywhere, they do a dozen nonstops from CMH, I have A-List status so I get an exit row the vast majority of the time, and I have companion pass. I'm flying WN as much as possible regardless of the price. People like me have to be at least partially cancelling out the price-sensitive flyers jumping ship.

jmw

Flying on UA for an hour or two on the west coast is bearable vs. paying WN's way overpriced summer fares. I'll gladly pocket the extra $100 per pax for flying that crummy airline. Even if Smisek was still running the shop, I'd still do it for $100.

danielonn

Here is the way I figure out if the fare is good. Lets say an airfare from San Jose to Seattle is $340 r/t(not saying it is). Then I figure out its a 16 hour drive each way and you need to book a hotel/motel on the road thats another $80 plus meals x4, gas mileage car maintenance etc and a long car ride.

People don't figure out the cost of driving. Its interesting to point out that taking Amtrak is more because you pay for a coach seat and then your meals even in the snack car and it takes twice as long. For me anything over 400 miles its worth flying.

We are fortunate to be able to take 2-3 week vacations at a time to make the extra cost of flying worth it. Having timeshares has actually saved us money. So when we get to Sedona after a beautiful 2 hour drive from PHX we can stay there for 3 weeks even if we have to move to a resort 20 minutes away.

What I have figured is the longer your vacation is the more worth it is to fly. If you take a week vacation for the $300 flight when you can rent a condo for longer and then fly home three weeks later then thats a better way to vacation. For those taking the short long weekends then its almost a crime to pay the high cost in the summer. Skip 4th of July, Memorial Day and Labor day.

We never fly during the busy holidays as we know the airfares go up. We love going on early morning flights on the outbound and a late afternoon early evening flight on the return if available. Play your cards right and you can make flying economical.

When we went to PHX last year it was $160 per person and the rental car for 3 weeks was $700. So for 3 people it works better to fly. Sitting in a car for a long time is no fun. The driver is stressed out and can't enjoy the scenery, I don't get my FF miles and you eat at some places that may be good or not.

Ask me this why would I pay to sleep at a Motel when I could use the savings to stay at a nicer hotel when i arrive? As you can see I am not much of a roadtrip person. You coul put me on a SFO-JFK-SFO flight and I can get up and walk around. I have flown from SFO-LHR-BCN as part of a cruise and DXB-SFO and enjoyed it more than a car trip through the East Coast I did when I was 12.

I love using repostioning cruises for transportation so it cuts the time and cost of flying one way.

My point is I can handle the longhaul flights better than a car ride as you have Personal TV's, AVOD and booze on longhaul flights without a DUI. Also I love layovers in cities where you can use the airline lounges and take a shower.

Figure out how fun it would be to stuck in a traffic jam for hours in LA rather than flying. Usually there are no delays when I fly and I would rather be stuck at an airport coffee shop or airline lounge stretching than in some cramped car stuck on the 405.

When flying you can walk the airport terminal, have a good meal. Heck I get a better meal at SJC than some fast food place on the I-5 at Coalinga. I am being dead serious I enjoy trying local places at airports such as PHX. If i have no time to visit the city the next best thing is to find out a local restaurant based at the airport. I enjoy trying the local microbrews too.

If there is time I will take public transit into the city and have more fun than on any long road trip. If i can build in a overnight stopover and book a nice hotel then all the better rather than some motel on the road that is 2 stars.

danielonn

I got SJC-YVR-SJC for $310 per passenger r/t on Delta How about a visit to our neighbor to the North? Way cheaper than flying coast to coast and our dollar is good over there(: