Great Deals from Southwest

Spring is right around the corner, and Southwest Airlines is offering some solid deals if you book by January 14, 2021, and fly a bit later. Southwest is known for having some of the cheapest fares in the industry and they have a loyal fan base for the way they treat their customers.

Source: southwest.com

One way fares start at $39, and you have to fly by August. There are some blackout dates, but the calendar is wide open. I mocked up a trip to demonstrate the cost of a typical roundtrip ticket from two major hubs. I chose New York’s LaGuardia Airport flying to Miami during an arbitrary week in March.

Source: southwest.com

As you can see from the chart above, there weren’t any fares available for $39, but they were still really cheap. I found fares for as little as $58 each way. What I really liked was that Southwest does have a user-friendly chart making the fares completely transparent as you navigate through the dates.

Source: southwest.com

I chose two dates with the cheapest fares for a quick three-day getaway. The next click took me to the screen with the actual flights and price breakdown. On a quick aside…look at the incredible price difference for the different ticket classifications. These prices are for the SAME seats. Sure, the ‘Wanna Get Away’ special fare has some restrictions, but why would anyone pay over 10X for the same seat on the same flight? Obviously, I chose the ‘Wanna Get Away’ in this example.

Source: southwest.com

My mock-up trip came to a total of $115.95, after all the taxes and fees. That fare fantastic. The process took me no longer than five minutes, and I didn’t make any effort at all to search for the cheapest $39 advertised fare. My Uber to/from the airport would be more than the cost of the ticket–literally.

Remember that airlines, Southwest included, no longer charge change fees. If you need to change your flight after you book, you won’t pay a fee–but keep in mind that you will have to pay the difference in fare, if any.

Will you take advantage of these cheap Southwest fares?