Southwest Airlines is popularly known for its approach of providing inexpensive flight tickets while also focusing on positive customer experience. One of the tools they offer to help passengers find the best deals is the “Southwest low fare calendar.” It is a feature that enables travelers to check the cheapest flight prices across different dates, which is particularly useful for budget-minded travelers. If you also seek to save the most money on your flight, you can check out the low fare calendar on the Southwest portal, although it may have limitations as well.
Explaining Southwest Low Fare Calendar
In simplest words, the Southwest low fare calendar is a digital tool that travelers can use to view the cheapest flight prices on different dates within a given month. This allows travelers to see which date provides the best deal and plan their trip accordingly. However, this tool is usually helpful when you are flexible with your travel dates; having fixed departure and arrival days makes no sense when using this tool while booking.
Different from other flight search tools, which only show a small selection of deals or special offers, the Southwest Airlines Low Fare Calendar provides you with a comprehensive view of flight fares for every day of the month. In a way, this tool will let you identify the patterns of pricing and help you choose the cheapest day to fly based on the given data.
How Can I Find the Lowest Fare for My Southwest Flight?
Let’s explore the process of finding the best and most affordable deals by using the low fare calendar on Southwest’s website.
- You can access the Southwest low fare calendar through the official website. Right beneath the “Depart” and “Arrive” box, you will find the option for the low-fare calendar tool.
- Clicking on that option will open a new page on your browser. Now, fill in the boxes with your flight information, such as departure airport, arrival airport, month of travel, and total number of passengers. Keep in mind that you can only look for fares within a month-long window, applied to both departure and return days. Also, select the preferred method of purchasing the flight, i.e., dollars or points.
- You can type in the number of passengers up to 9 members. For group bookings, select the option right next to the “Passengers” box. Also, you can check the fare prices for round-trip, one-way, and multi-city tickets. When you have typed in all the details according to your travel needs, hit the “search” button to check the best deals.
- The page will show the prices for the month you selected on the previous page. It will have two sections: Departures and Returns. For the selected month, the Southwest low fare calendar will display the lowest fares available each day in calendar format. You can select the different months in the top section to compare prices.
When you have found the best deal for yourself on the calendar, select the preferred price to choose the departure flight. Other price options for the departure flights will black out on the page so that you can focus on the return flight date. Similar to this, you can sort the return flight. After that, you can choose the type of travel class you want to fly in for the select flight options.
Get Discounted Flights Using Southwest Fare Calendar
While the Southwest low calendar fare helps you find the cheapest flights, it also gives you access to discounted options. You can type in a promotional code right before hitting that search button. These codes are provided on in your Southwest profile or the special offers page.
Benefits of the Southwest Fare Calendar
The Southwest low fare calendar showers passengers with multiple benefits; some of the best perks of using this tool are as follows:
Help You Save Travel Money
According to our research, the most useful benefit of utilizing the low fare calendar is that it allows you to toggle travel dates to score great deals. This is doable if you are flexible and can change your departure and arrival dates according to the available fare options. In short, if you are flexible with your travel dates, you can save a lot of money on your upcoming adventure!
User-friendly Interface
Southwest Airlines has designed the low fare calendar to be simple and user-friendly. This means that even if you are not aware of the digital platforms or such technologies, you can still easily navigate through the calendar options with little experience. In a way, making it easier for you to find the cheapest deals without any complex navigation.
Straightforward and Transparent Pricing
Southwest Airlines brings transparency to its pricing model. This means that if you have a look at the flight price shown on their “Low Fare Calendar,” you can be confident that the displayed price is the actual cost. There are no hidden charges or fees for baggage or seat selection added later during checkout. All the charges levied on your flight are displayed on the checkout screen so that you are fully aware of the things you are paying for, bringing complete transparency to the pricing structure.
Useful Tool for Frequent Flyers
Aside from scoring great deals, the frequent flyers signed up for the loyalty program can use the Southwest Airlines low fare calendar to check which flights will earn them the most points. This helps frequent flyer members to use their accumulated points for a great deal, as the calendar displays the number of points required for flights on different dates throughout the month.
Possible Drawbacks of the Southwest Fare Calendar
Just like any other travel tool, there are also some downsides to using the Southwest low fare calendar for your future flights.
Limited to Only Southwest Network
This tool for locating cheap flights is only valid for flights operated by Southwest Airlines. In a way, you can use this tool only within the route network of the airline, which primarily focuses on domestic flights and a few international destinations. So, if you are planning to fly to a destination that is out of the coverage of Southwest Airlines, you might have to use another tool!
Doesn’t Provide Real-time Seat Availability
While it’s true that the Southwest low fare calendar displays the cheapest flight options, it might not always accurately reflect how seats are available for that price at the moment you try to book. This means that the opportunity to get a flight on the displayed flight could be gone by the time you purchase it due to uncertainty of seat availability. This could highly impact your journey if you are looking to book a last-minute flight at a time when prices change rapidly. Therefore, make sure to purchase the flight as soon as you find it.
Flight Prices for a Specific Fare Class
The cheapest flight options displayed on the low fare calendar are usually the prices for flights under the “Wanna Get Away” fare category. It is the most basic and cheapest ticket type of Southwest Airlines. If you want to fly in premium classes like “Anytime” or “Business Select,” you will have to select the specific date to seat the available fare classes. Mind you, the prices will become more expensive than what was initially shown on the calendar.
No Guarantee of Preferred Seats
Another thing worth noticing is that Southwest Airlines follows a first-come, first-served seating policy. This indicates that when you book a flight, you cannot select the seat in advance. Instead, you must board the plane and pick any vacant seat available when you get on. So, the Southwest Airlines Low Fare Calendar might get you the cheapest fare of all, but it cannot offer you any option for reserved seating.
Is Southwest Low-Fare Calendar Worth It?
By weighing down all the pros and cons of using the Southwest Airlines low fare calendar, we have arrived at a final conclusion. The tool is not perfect and might have some limitations to it; the travelers can still use it effectively to find the cheapest flight deals. Of course, factors like flexibility with travel dates and destinations also play an important role in making it possible. Unlike other fare tools, the Southwest low-fare calendar helps you check the lowest fares across a range of dates.
Questions You Might Ask:
The Southwest low fare calendar is a tool that helps travelers check the lowest fare on different dates within a month. This enables travelers to grab the best deal at the cheapest prices.
The benefits of using a low fare calendar include the ability to check the price of the same flight on different dates and help travelers grab the cheapest deal!
It is often observed that Southwest flight prices go down on Tuesdays and during mid-week. However, there is no official statement regarding this.
Southwest Airlines frequently comes up with fare offers, including weekly sales and other promotions.
The Southwest low fare calendar can help you find the cheapest flight for a whole month at a glance, enabling you to find the most affordable day to fly.
