Southwest Promo/Sales Questions: MLK Weekend Trip
 

Hello. This is my first post to this forum, so I apologize if I'm asking for information that's available elsewhere.

We're taking a four-night trip to Orlando from St. Louis over Martin Luther King weekend. Our days are locked in by my daughters' school schedule, so I'm unable to adjust for better fares. I'm struggling to find a decent deal, which I know is a common problem for a holiday weekend. Still, I'm hoping to secure the best possible deal given the limitations.

The flights from St. Louis on January 11 are pretty reasonable at around $144-$156 per person for the non-stop legs (which are strongly preferred). What I can't find are better deals on the way back from MCO. The flights are all well over $200, with our preferred route at $286 per person.

I have a few credits and vouchers totaling about $117 and about 13,000 points right now. I looked into buying points, but the deal doesn't seem better than just spending the money. I figure that I'll at least use the points for one STL to MCO leg, which is a little over 9,000.

So I have a few questions on the best approach:

1) There are currently no sale fares from STL to MCO. Should I wait for sale fares and hope for a cheaper rate?
2) I haven't seen any threads about recent promo codes that aren't targeted that I could use for a discount. Any info there?
3) I'm concerned that the rates will go up or be completely sold out. Is it worth it to just book the higher rates and then take the credit if/when a better fare becomes available? We're about 10 weeks out now, so we're getting into the best range to book.
4) Any other suggestions on getting the best rate?

I'd really appreciate any help. I'm buying four tickets, so any discount or cheaper rate will drop the price considerably.

1/15 MCO-STL $180 1-stop, $208 non-stop

Its the Monday after a 3 day holiday weekend, you and everyone else are leaving Orlando / Disney World, it ain’t gonna be cheap

Wait until TUE morning and you can be back in STL before 10a for $105

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps5di0bwyq.png

If you were planning to rent a car anyways, how about returning out of Tampa? Most rental companies in FL don't charge a drop-off fee, and you can get the Monday night flight TPA-STL for $183pp.

There are almost never promo codes.

Unfortunately, we're not planning to rent a car since we're staying at a Disney resort and using their Magical Express system. That's a great idea to consider in another case, however.

My daughters also have school on Tuesday, so we're locked into returning on Monday too. That also means we don't want to arrive super late that evening or leave super early that morning. The options are limited, sadly.

Thanks!

1) There are currently no sale fares from STL to MCO. Should I wait for sale fares and hope for a cheaper rate? No
2) I haven't seen any threads about recent promo codes that aren't targeted that I could use for a discount. Any info there? Very unlikely
3) I'm concerned that the rates will go up or be completely sold out. Is it worth it to just book the higher rates and then take the credit if/when a better fare becomes available?Yes We're about 10 weeks out now, so we're getting into the best range to book.Wrong. This may be true in general, but not during periods of high demand. The best time to book these flights was probably a while ago (although no one can say for sure).
4) Any other suggestions on getting the best rate?You could try searching one person at a time. Sometimes there is only one ticket available at a certain fare. Of course if you do this, you will have to check in more than one reservation. You could also book Southwest to MCO and another airline back, although I don't see anything much better except a frontier flight which gets in pretty late.
If it were me, I would probably buy the non stop for $206 that leaves at 8:10 at this point.

Have you thought of purchasing discounted Southwest gift cards? You can do an online search for the best deals. Searching, I found this site:

https://www.giftcardspread.com/buy-s...s=72039-deddd5

Or, warehouse clubs, such as Sam's Club, sell discounted gift cards.
https://www.samsclub.com/sams/sw-air...17=1o4&veh=sem

You can use the gift cards to reduce the ticket cost anywhere from a minimum of about 3% to 7.5% or more, currently.

Major holidays = higher fares. This is not rocket science.

Of course. Just figured I'd confirm with experts on this forum before booking.

Thanks for the replies. You're basically confirming my assumptions. I figured we were probably stuck but wanted to make sure there weren't any other options to explore.

Have you considered other airlines for one direction? For example on the Monday, if you book another legacy airline on the return flight, it's only $144. Even if you check a bag, its still a lot cheaper than what Southwest charges.

MCO-STL O/W $144 on American:
https://goo.gl/flights/Rbok

Frontier (flyfrontier.com) has a nonstop for the return, on Jan 15, with 4 seats left @$102 per seat, for members of their Discount Den program. They will charge you for carry-ons, checked bags, beverages, etc., but it would still be less than Southwest. They also do not have the liberal change/cancellation policy of Southwest, but, what other carrier does?

Discount Den info:
BENEFITS OF DISCOUNT DEN
Access to our lowest fares
Receive special promotions
Book Den Fares for up to 6 people
Get the savings all year long
ENJOY ALL THE BONUSES!
Become a Den member for only $49.99/ year.

Note: I do not believe that Frontier participates in Disney's resort airline check-in, where you can drop your bags for the return flight right at your Disney resort. You should, however, still be able to ride the Magical Express to the airport.

Is a 50 minute connection in ORD prudent?

Definitely doable. Just walk directly to the new gate, no delays, no worries.