Snap ’em up fast: Southwest fares fall below $100
Deal hunters, get ready. Southwest’s broad twice-a-year blockbuster fare sale is back, dropping round-trip fares below $100 on dozens of the carrier’s shortest routes.
The sale also includes longer routes, with the price of flights loosely tied to distance. Flights begin at $49 each way on Southwest’s shortest routes and increase to $79, $99 or $129 each way for longer flights. Domestic fares included in the sale appear to top out at $154 each way.
The sale launched Tuesday morning and covers travel from Oct. 31 through Dec. 19 and from Jan. 3 through Feb. 14. Flights on Fridays and Sundays are excluded. For Florida and Nevada flights, sale fares are good only Sunday through Wednesday for inbound flights and Tuesday through Friday for outbound flights.
The sale fares apply specifically to non-stop options, though many connecting itineraries also show lower-than-usual fares.
Fares on some routes appeared to be even lower than the advertised $49 early Tuesday morning. Some dates between Los Angeles and Albuquerque, for example, were showing on the carrier’s website at just $45 each way — or about $90 round-trip. Some Houston-New Orleans roundtrips were available for even less, at about $83.
Southwest’s new international routes are also included in the sale, though those routes come with significantly more restrictions. Fares range from $59 each way (Fort Lauderdale to Belize) to $262 each way (Baltimore-Punta Cana), depending on the route. But those prices are only offered on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. For those who can jump through those day-of-travel hoops, Southwest’s sale covers international flights from Oct. 31 through Dec. 13 and from Jan. 10 through March 2. The sale fares are blacked out for international travel on Nov. 21 and Nov. 22.
Either way, bargain seekers will have to act quickly to snag the fares. The sale ends Thursday at 11:59 p.m. local time in the city of the departing flight.
The broad fare sale has become a staple for Southwest. It has rolled out similar three-day sales each June and October for the past several years. One sale from June 2015 proved so popular that it crashed Southwest’s website, prompting the carrier to extend that particular sale by an additional 24 hours.
Southwest has used the sales to sell seats during what are usually some of the slowest travel periods of the year.