Need Opinion on Booking Airfare

[cy1229]

Good morning and Happy New Year, Subsonicers!

Well, the school corporation finally posted next year's school calendar, and the great news is that the dates I had speculated for fall break were in fact correct, AND the girls get a whole week off instead of two days! SO RELIEVED they won't be missing any school. Meghan will be a senior and in some pretty tough courses (but not as bad as this year, what is it about junior year?) and Ellie will be an 8th grader in Algebra I. Not a good time to miss school. I'm rambling...

ANYway, hubby and I were looking at airfares and we can drive to Chicago (about 3 1/2 hours if traffic is decent) and fly out of O'Hare and save $700 on airfare from Indy. We figured with a night's hotel on the front end, plus gas, we'd STILL come out ahead. I'm a hair's breadth from booking those tickets but want to know about Southwest's airfare costs. However, S'west won't have their October fares published until sometime in February at the earliest. So here's the $500 question:

Would you wait and see what the fare is from your home airport, while risking the other fare will increase? Or would you stuff that idea, drive the 185 miles one-way, and book the MUCH less expensive fare? To fly from Indy on United right now will cost about $1700. To fly from O'Hare on United will cost about $1050.

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Thanks for your help!

[horizons1]

What's Southwest's fare out of Midway? If you're gonna drive all the way to Chicago you might as well check the Southwest prices because Southwest will adjust your fare without penalty if the fare goes down between now and the day of travel. You will get a credit for the difference, not a refund. I believe the other airlines will do the same BUT also charge you a change fee on what I can only assume is a non-refundable fare.

Also, in my opinion it is way too early to buy October tickets. Being a 16 year veteran of the airline industry, I can tell you you would be in the minority booking that far out. Stil, if you want peace of mind you still might want to book now, only check Midway before buying United.

[Amy]

I would wait as well. Does Southwest fly into Orlando? We have friends who fly cheaper but fly into Sanford and then have to rent a car ~ plus they can't take advantage of the Magical Express

[Soarin08]

Southwest WILL fly to MCO, terminal A, I do believe it is. I used them on my past trips down to WDW.

[Len90]

You have plenty of time and plenty of options. Wait off and periodically check. You can also track the occupancy on the planes by monitoring the seat maps. If you see flights filling up then you want to start moving. If flights are wide open then hold off.

[cy1229]

You have plenty of time and plenty of options. Wait off and periodically check. You can also track the occupancy on the planes by monitoring the seat maps. If you see flights filling up then you want to start moving. If flights are wide open then hold off.

Is there a good website for checking seat assignments?

[cinderella75]

What's Southwest's fare out of Midway? If you're gonna drive all the way to Chicago you might as well check the Southwest prices because Southwest will adjust your fare without penalty if the fare goes down between now and the day of travel. You will get a credit for the difference, not a refund. I believe the other airlines will do the same BUT also charge you a change fee on what I can only assume is a non-refundable fare.

Also, in my opinion it is way too early to buy October tickets. Being a 16 year veteran of the airline industry, I can tell you you would be in the minority booking that far out. Stil, if you want peace of mind you still might want to book now, only check Midway before buying United.

I know for a fact that Southwest has changed their policy on giving out credits because I ran into a huge prob. I buy tickets for each of us a fam of 4. When you trade your ticket in for a cheaper price. Well, each person in your fam gets that credit. So, you the adult buy a ticket for your self and your 2 children and you get a credit. Now, you cant use your kids credits. Each credit is givien to each person on that same confirmation number. So, my 2 sons have each a $150. credit. I will lose that credit because they are not going to fly this year. So, I will lose $300. My husband and I have used our credit when we went to the food and wine festival. What im trying to say is dont buy your tickets to early if your trying to get cheap rate watch them.

[Amy]

What's Southwest's fare out of Midway? If you're gonna drive all the way to Chicago you might as well check the Southwest prices because Southwest will adjust your fare without penalty if the fare goes down between now and the day of travel. You will get a credit for the difference, not a refund. I believe the other airlines will do the same BUT also charge you a change fee on what I can only assume is a non-refundable fare.

Also, in my opinion it is way too early to buy October tickets. Being a 16 year veteran of the airline industry, I can tell you you would be in the minority booking that far out. Stil, if you want peace of mind you still might want to book now, only check Midway before buying United.

I know for a fact that Southwest has changed their policy on giving out credits because I ran into a huge prob. I buy tickets for each of us a fam of 4. When you trade your ticket in for a cheaper price. Well, each person in your fam gets that credit. So, you the adult buy a ticket for your self and your 2 children and you get a credit. Now, you cant use your kids credits. Each credit is givien to each person on that same confirmation number. So, my 2 sons have each a $150. credit. I will lose that credit because they are not going to fly this year. So, I will lose $300. My husband and I have used our credit when we went to the food and wine festival. What im trying to say is dont buy your tickets to early if your trying to get cheap rate watch them.

That sort of stinks. Have you asked the airline if you can get around that at all?

[Goofyfan]

cy1229: I hope you have good luck and a good flight. We seem to have crappy flights everytime we fly. If you are looking for price, I belive Southwest or Jet Blue is the way to go. The thing I didn't like about Southwest is that you are not guarenteed assigned seating. We had an issue with our kids flying for the first time in 1998. We had four seats with (A) tickets (which are seated first) that were all seperated. We were treated like 2nd class citizens when we tried pleading with them to at least have sets of two so the kids would not be alone. they finaly did find us something .... I am not sure if that is still the way they do business A-B-C seating tickets. We prefer Delta or US air. They seem the most friendly. Now that the kids have moved out and on their own, my wife and I are very fortunate to be able to drive down. It takes us 2 full days to get there, but we get to see the sites and stop when we want. I am not the skinniest guy around, and I feel that i need a shoe horn to fit my hind quartes in on of those plane's seats (lol). Hope you have a great trip cy1229. 22 days until disney (yay)

[Amy]

cy1229: I hope you have good luck and a good flight. We seem to have crappy flights everytime we fly. If you are looking for price, I belive Southwest or Jet Blue is the way to go. The thing I didn't like about Southwest is that you are not guarenteed assigned seating. We had an issue with our kids flying for the first time in 1998. We had four seats with (A) tickets (which are seated first) that were all seperated. We were treated like 2nd class citizens when we tried pleading with them to at least have sets of two so the kids would not be alone. they finaly did find us something .... I am not sure if that is still the way they do business A-B-C seating tickets. We prefer Delta or US air. They seem the most friendly. Now that the kids have moved out and on their own, my wife and I are very fortunate to be able to drive down. It takes us 2 full days to get there, but we get to see the sites and stop when we want. I am not the skinniest guy around, and I feel that i need a shoe horn to fit my hind quartes in on of those plane's seats (lol). Hope you have a great trip cy1229. 22 days until disney (yay)

We probably pay a little more because we fly Delta, but it makes me feel better when I hear these stories about Southwest. They don't sound like a customer friendly airline at all

[Len90]

You have plenty of time and plenty of options. Wait off and periodically check. You can also track the occupancy on the planes by monitoring the seat maps. If you see flights filling up then you want to start moving. If flights are wide open then hold off.

Is there a good website for checking seat assignments?

The airline websites actually give it away. With united/continental when you pull up the list of flights you can simply click the view seats to gauge how full the flight is. With jetBlue you actually have to select your flights and then enter in all the traveler information to get to the "select your seat" page. I usually just check for one person so I can get an idea of what is going on. Southwest will not show you a seat map as they don't have assigned seating. US Airways and Delta will be similar to Continental/United. For AA on the list of flights you will have to select the flight details to bring up all the information and then select the view available seats. The system is only good in helping you determine the availability. It can sometimes predict the price trend but will not always be the case. I have used this in the past and have been pretty successful in booking.

[cy1229]

cy1229: I hope you have good luck and a good flight. We seem to have crappy flights everytime we fly. If you are looking for price, I belive Southwest or Jet Blue is the way to go. The thing I didn't like about Southwest is that you are not guarenteed assigned seating. We had an issue with our kids flying for the first time in 1998. We had four seats with (A) tickets (which are seated first) that were all seperated. We were treated like 2nd class citizens when we tried pleading with them to at least have sets of two so the kids would not be alone. they finaly did find us something .... I am not sure if that is still the way they do business A-B-C seating tickets. We prefer Delta or US air. They seem the most friendly. Now that the kids have moved out and on their own, my wife and I are very fortunate to be able to drive down. It takes us 2 full days to get there, but we get to see the sites and stop when we want. I am not the skinniest guy around, and I feel that i need a shoe horn to fit my hind quartes in on of those plane's seats (lol). Hope you have a great trip cy1229. 22 days until disney (yay)

I have flown Southwest several times, and most of those with the girls. There was one time when I couldn't find 3 seats together when we boarded, and the girls were rather young. However, the flight attendant was really helpful and did locate someone willing to move. I like Southwest's seats - they're roomier - and I like that they aren't charging out the wazoo for every single little thing. If I'm flying by myself (going to Vegas on business next month) I don't care much where I sit.

I also fly United a lot (frequent trips to DC) and am happy with their service, but they charge for every stinkin' little thing. When I'm flying on business it doesn't matter much. When I'm flying with my family, $25 per checked bag can add up quickly.

Thanks, everyone, for the input.

[cinderella75]

What's Southwest's fare out of Midway? If you're gonna drive all the way to Chicago you might as well check the Southwest prices because Southwest will adjust your fare without penalty if the fare goes down between now and the day of travel. You will get a credit for the difference, not a refund. I believe the other airlines will do the same BUT also charge you a change fee on what I can only assume is a non-refundable fare.

Also, in my opinion it is way too early to buy October tickets. Being a 16 year veteran of the airline industry, I can tell you you would be in the minority booking that far out. Stil, if you want peace of mind you still might want to book now, only check Midway before buying United.

I know for a fact that Southwest has changed their policy on giving out credits because I ran into a huge prob. I buy tickets for each of us a fam of 4. When you trade your ticket in for a cheaper price. Well, each person in your fam gets that credit. So, you the adult buy a ticket for your self and your 2 children and you get a credit. Now, you cant use your kids credits. Each credit is givien to each person on that same confirmation number. So, my 2 sons have each a $150. credit. I will lose that credit because they are not going to fly this year. So, I will lose $300. My husband and I have used our credit when we went to the food and wine festival. What im trying to say is dont buy your tickets to early if your trying to get cheap rate watch them.

That sort of stinks. Have you asked the airline if you can get around that at all?

Yes, I have asked and I was told that I might be able to get some of my money back if I call southwest the day after my 2 sons credit expire but there is no guarantee. I was also this riled was inforced by of course the federal government. I told the rep I paid for my sons tickets and they dont have jobs. Since I paid for them I should get to use the credit.