Southwest award

[abc31]

I know that southwest used to honor awards at any time as long as there were seats available. Now that that has changed, how hard is it to book a holiday week without converting to freedom awards? I have enough reward points (through Amex) to get rt tickets for my family of 4 and would like to try for Presidents week. I checked and that is not a blackout date. Any advice for increasing my chances?

[gorevs9]

Originally Posted by abc31

I know that southwest used to honor awards at any time as long as there were seats available. Now that that has changed, how hard is it to book a holiday week without converting to freedom awards? I have enough reward points (through Amex) to get rt tickets for my family of 4 and would like to try for Presidents week. I checked and that is not a blackout date. Any advice for increasing my chances?

Were you going to use your Amex express reward points to convert to SW certificates?
During President's week, it will be difficult to get a ticket using the basic reward, especially if traveling on a weekend. To increase your chances you have to be ready to book when the schedule opens for that date, and you night have to fly on days other than a weekend.
You might consider combining the four SW awards into two Freedom Awards, which has no travel restrictions beyond the blackout dates. Unfortunately, you will still need to buy two more tickets.

Would it be easier to purchase 4 tickets through the Amex travel department and pay with your points? This way you are not restricted to one airline and you can start search for tickets now instead of waiting until SW opens the schedule. Again, depending on ticket prices at the time of purchase you might still have to spend some extra money to complete the transaction.
Good Luck

[pointsjunkie]

if you are on-line when they open the dates you need, you should be abel to get the reward you want. go on flyer talk to find out when they will be extending the dates to February. i was able to get them last year.

[abc31]

Thank you. I thought about going through Amex travel, but since I live closest to Islip airport, southwest is the best option. So either way, I have to wait for southwest's schedule to open up. I will try flyer talk. Do I just ask on the forum? Or is it usually posted on there somewhere?

Thanks
Amy

[Dave M]

The FlyerTalk Southwest fare extension prediction thread is no longer active because Southwest now usually announces well in advance its plans for extending the schedule. Thus, mark this link as one of your favorites (or simply go to the Southwest site and click on "Travel Tools"). Then check the page every week or so for updates. The sentence at the top of the page ("We are currently accepting air reservations through October 30, 2008.") will likely be modified sometime within the next three weeks or so to include a statement regarding Southwest's plans for the next extension.

There have been some predictions that the next schedule extension will occur on or about June 12, but that hasn't been confirmed by Southwest. When the schedule is extended, it normally occurs a few minutes after 11:00 a.m. Eastern time.

[KathyJed]

You can also use reward tix on one way flights. If your outbound is available, but your inbound isn't, you can pay for your inbound and use reward tix on getting there. This really works if one way is significantly more expensive than the other and you are limited on reward tickets.

Kathy

[abc31]

Thanks. That's some great advice!