Southwest is offering $49, $99, $129, and $149 one way fares if you book by tomorrow (June 4) and fly between August 25 and December 16. Fridays, Sundays, September 3-5, September 7, and November 20 – December 1, 2015 are blacked out.
For other restrictions and all the city pairs, see the sale page. Here are the $49 fares from Baltimore:
There are even a few sale prices under $49.
If you prefer to fly with another carrier, check to see if they are matching the sale. United is matching Southwest’s $99 fare from Houston to Tampa on some dates (though the Southwest fare comes with free checked bags, free changes, and free cancellations, and United charges for all of those things.)
Southwest has a great calendar search feature, so it is easy to see which dates the fare is available. The $49 fare from Baltimore to Boston is available all the promised days on the sale page.
The sale is also available with points. Most Southwest fares cost 70 points per dollar. The $49 fares are working out to 2,273 points + $5.60 one way.
Fees
Southwest offers two free checked bags, free soft drinks, and free snacks onboard. There is no seat selection before the flight. At check in, you are assigned a number. You board based on that number and can pick any empty seat.
You can cancel a Southwest ticket and get a credit in the full amount of the original ticket that you can use for one year from the original booking date. You can change a Southwest ticket for no fee, just the fare difference. If you have a ticket booked on Southwest for this Fall and the price just dropped, rebook and pocket the price difference as a voucher.
If you have some dates you might want to travel this Fall, this is a great time to book speculatively with cash or points, but especially points. If you later need to cancel the award, you’ll get back all the points for free and the $5.60 in taxes as a voucher for a future flight.
Getting These Flights for Free
There’s no need to actually pay cash for cheap, cash fares. The Citi Prestige® Card comes with a $250 Air Travel Credit every calendar year that will cover the purchase of this ticket. If you haven’t used the credit yet, buy this fare with your Prestige, and you will receive an offsetting credit on your next statement, so you’ll get a completely free ticket. The Air Travel Credit will also offset seat selection, baggage, and food fees.
Alternatively you can redeem ThankYou Points earned on the Citi ThankYou® Premier Card at a rate of 1.25 cents each to purchase any airline ticket. That means a $49 fare would be 4,920 ThankYou Points and $0.
The Citi ThankYou® Premier Card is now offering a 50,000 point sign up bonus worth $625 in free flights on any flight, any time, on almost any airline with no blackout dates.
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Earn 50,000 bonus points (worth $800 in American Airlines flights) after spending $3,000 in the first three months on the Citi Prestige® Card. Plus get a $250 Air Travel Credit each calendar year and free airport lounge access worldwide for only a $450 annual fee. Why I got the card.
Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers.
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