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    • November 27, 2007

    Southwest & AirTran: “Off-Peak Day” Cheap Airfare Sales Lures Matches

    Filed under: Airfare Sales, Airlines, Cheap Airfare Sales — Rick Seaney @ 12:19 pm

    In the midst of $20 fuel surcharge increase by Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways, the airlines have fired out “off-peak travel day” cheap airfare sales through early spring next year. The legacy airlines are furiously matching these sales in the 10:00am EST airfare distribution.

    Flexible travelers should be buying now for travel into the wee days of spring. The Southwest sale is for Tuesday and Wednesday travel and AirTran adds Saturday as well:

    The Southwest Airlines airfare sale is for travel on Tuesday or Wednesday only $49+ to $99+ each way, must be purchased 14 days in advance and the sale ends on 17-December — the travel period is through 5-March.

    The AirTran Airways airfare sale is for travel on Tuesday/Wednesday/Saturday (other days except Sunday slightly higher), must be purchased by 13-December at least 10 days before travel through 27-February.

    I was just looking over my daily airfare distribution airfare feed report and all the legacy airlines are furiously matching these 2 sales, so there should be plenty of seats, it would be advisable to hurry.

    Remember these are off peak travel days and you’ll have to be flexible, and forget about those prime ski days around Presidents day (the airlines know our habits …).

    You have to check out our new domestic U.S. air travel deals blog where we will be hand posting the best of the best deals.

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    4 Comments »

    1. Does Fare Compare show Southwest fare prices?

      Comment by Dan wintz — November 29, 2007 @ 10:40 am

    2. Once again…the lure/advertisement of cheap airfare that just is not true. Five minutes after I got the e-mail from farecompare.com, I followed the appropriate links for an advertised $178 RT from Phila. to L.A., only to offered the “cheapest” fare of $414!! Just a bunch of crap to get you to use the website.

      Comment by Mike — December 1, 2007 @ 12:33 am

    3. There are no 3rd party sites that show real time Southwest price quotes — we would love to have them. Their policy is to only show them on their website right now (and quote them via their phone center).

      Comment by Rick Seaney — December 1, 2007 @ 9:47 am

    4.  
      I was able to find PHL-LAX on over 25 departure days in December and January for $178+ roundtrip. We send out notification when an airline drops THEIR cheapest price below all other airlines — and we do it in real time hours before it posts on the airlines website.
       
      The airlines decide how many seats and what days they will release THEIR “cheapest” price.
       
      In this case Northwest put out this cheap airfare, but they have blackouts on that airfare as noted in the calendar display.
       
      The days around Christmas and the days that everyone likes to travel Mon, Friday and Sunday they are charging a premium (at the moment, they could change their minds at any moment which is why most people are frustrated when buying) and are only quoting the 2nd, 3rd and 4th cheapest price.
       
      I understand shopping for airfare can be frustrating and we will continue to work on the technology to let you know earlier that the airlines are not selling THEIR cheapest price on the day you want to go — We work on these issues every day (it is our only business) — and will continue to make sure everyone that uses our service makes the best air travel buying decision.
       

      Comment by Rick Seaney — December 1, 2007 @ 9:54 am

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