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If you fly a lot in Southwest Airlines and want to take your Rapid Rewards points further, you're in the right place. Read along as we will be discussing the airlines' Low Fare Calendar and several other Southwest booking tips for you to maximize your savings.
What is the Southwest Low Fare Calendar?
The Southwest Low Fare Calendar shows the lowest price available on the airline for any particular month and allows you to find budget travel through Southwest. One-way, round-trip, or multi-city travel can be searched and there results can be viewed in dollars or Rapid Rewards points.
How Does It Work Low Fare Calendar Southwest?
Southwest's award system is on the value of fare and, thus, prices the number of points a flight is worth against converting it into cash instead of depending on a fixed award chart. If your dates are flexible, you might get the same trip but at fewer Rapid Rewards points, depending on travel dates. This is where the Low Fare Calendar comes in.
The calendar tool shows all daily pricing structures for an entire month, and it will allow the comparison of more than one month simultaneously. It is easy to tell if there is a different price than your original day of booking if you consider making travel arrangements for another day.
Most of the time, the fares traveling each way are the same. However, some disadvantages include variations in fares across dates. The good news is that if you are flexible, you might just save a few points.
You can book up to six months (or 180 days) in advance and even check quotes on a future trip.
For fixed dates of travel, this calendar view shows the least expensive award travel available for travel on your specified dates. If you have some flexibility, this can be a pretty powerful tool for furtherwise shopping smart when looking for budget-friendly travel on Southwest.
The Low Fare Calendar is located on the desktop website of this airline. Enter your destinations and approximate travel dates. Once the options appear on the screen, click on green Low Fare Calendar for a wider view.
The next screen will show available daily flights at the cheapest possible rates. Click on a certain date and discover which flight flying that day is the cheapest Southwest flight .
Cheap Southwest flights are usually early in the morning or late that same day. Although you can track flights, change your bookings, and check-in via the airline's user-friendly mobile app, searching for the lowest fares can only be performed in a calendar view on the airline's website.
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Some further tips on how to book budget-conscious travel on Southwest Airlines flights:
Book your flights through Chase's travel portal instead of transferred points.
While Southwest Airlines is a 1:1 transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards®, it does not always make sense to transfer your Chase points to a Southwest account.
If you are a cardholder of the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, you will most likely not want to transfer points from Chase. That card earns 1.5 cents per point when traveling is booked through Chase's travel portal. The valuation of Southwest Rapid Rewards points is 1.3 cents each, meaning you would be losing value transferring the points rather than booking with the Chase travel portal.
When you book a flight through Chase's travel portal, Chase is the one paying the airline for your ticket; it is treated as a revenue ticket from the airline's perspective, rather than one booked with points. That means you will be earning Rapid Rewards points on the flight segments booked through Chase. If your status with Southwest is A-List or A-List Preferred, then your status will be honored when using your Chase Ultimate Rewards® points to book.
Transferring points to Southwest would be a great option if you do not hold the Chase Sapphire Reserve® or need some Southwest points to top-up your account for a specific booking.
Rebook your Southwest flight using the Low Fare Calendar when fares drop.
Now that you've got the hang of the Low Fare Calendar, it's time to take your booking to the next level.
The airline has one of the most liberal cancellation and change policies around. Cancel or change your ticket within the 10 minutes of your flight without any charge.
While there are no extra charges to change your ticket, the difference in fare has to be settled. If the new fare you are trying to change to is more than what you would have paid, you will pay the difference.
If the fare for the flight that you are changing to is cheaper, then they will refund you the difference.
With this generous change policy, you can even rebook the same flight you already have paid for and get the difference credited to you. Just find your flight on the website and select "change flight." If the price has dropped from what you originally paid, just "change" the flight and you'll get the difference back.
If you paid in points, you'll get refunded in points. If you pay a nonrefundable Wanna Get Away fare, you'll get a credit in the form of a Travel Fund. Travel Funds are easy to view when you're logged into your Southwest Rapid Rewards account, and you can apply them to the cost of future flights.
What could be termed as "the Holy Grail" of travels, the Southwest Companion Pass can further help save serious amounts of money from flying with Southwest. Essentially, it is a "Buy 1 Get 1 Free" coupon for flying anyone you want along for practically nothing whenever you fly. Just pay the taxes and fees-that are usually just $5.60 one way for domestic flights-and you've got the whole connection all set.
The pass is valid for the rest of the calendar year in which it is issued and for the entire next calendar year. Therefore, getting the pass too early in the year means almost two full free years for your companion to fly. Also, you can change your companion as many as three times each calendar year. So, take a trip with your wife, and she can be your companion for the flight; later if you want to travel again with your buddy, you can change your companion.
Companion Passes work when you book your trip with Rapid Rewards points, too — you don't have to pay for your ticket in cash. You can use the Low Fare Calendar to find a cheap round-trip, book with Rapid Reward points and add your companion for a low-cost getaway.
Southwest bases its services in Kauai, Oahu, Maui, and Kona and Hilo in Hawaii. Southwest Rapid Rewards gets you into Hawaii and often does it low. It is not uncommon to see one-way fares costing less than 10,000 Rapid Rewards points from California to Hawaii.
Getting around by hopping from one island to another is not hard once you actually make it to Hawaii! You can often find inter-island flights for less than 5,000 points one-way. That is rock-bottom pricing, even better than what Hawaiian Airlines is offering — you would at least have to redeem 7,500 Hawaiian miles to get around Hawaii. You can redeem 6,000 JetBlue TrueBlue points for a one-way ticket on Hawaiian Airlines between the islands, while Southwest still takes the cake for the lowest points option. Hello!
Always observe the Low Fare Calendar, and check flights you've booked to snag the lowest fares. If you need to book an air travel through a Chase Sapphire Reserve® cardholder, do not transfer points to the Southwest. It will be wise to book through Chase's travel portal so that you also earn Rapid Rewards points on that ticket.
What is the Southwest Low Fare Calendar?
The Southwest Low Fare Calendar shows the lowest price available on the airline for any particular month and allows you to find budget travel through Southwest. One-way, round-trip, or multi-city travel can be searched and there results can be viewed in dollars or Rapid Rewards points.
How Does It Work Low Fare Calendar Southwest?
Southwest's award system is on the value of fare and, thus, prices the number of points a flight is worth against converting it into cash instead of depending on a fixed award chart. If your dates are flexible, you might get the same trip but at fewer Rapid Rewards points, depending on travel dates. This is where the Low Fare Calendar comes in.
The calendar tool shows all daily pricing structures for an entire month, and it will allow the comparison of more than one month simultaneously. It is easy to tell if there is a different price than your original day of booking if you consider making travel arrangements for another day.
Most of the time, the fares traveling each way are the same. However, some disadvantages include variations in fares across dates. The good news is that if you are flexible, you might just save a few points.
You can book up to six months (or 180 days) in advance and even check quotes on a future trip.
For fixed dates of travel, this calendar view shows the least expensive award travel available for travel on your specified dates. If you have some flexibility, this can be a pretty powerful tool for furtherwise shopping smart when looking for budget-friendly travel on Southwest.
The best days to book a flight and when to fly
Using the Low Fare Calendar to find budget-friendly travel by Southwest AirlinesThe Low Fare Calendar is located on the desktop website of this airline. Enter your destinations and approximate travel dates. Once the options appear on the screen, click on green Low Fare Calendar for a wider view.
The next screen will show available daily flights at the cheapest possible rates. Click on a certain date and discover which flight flying that day is the cheapest Southwest flight .
Cheap Southwest flights are usually early in the morning or late that same day. Although you can track flights, change your bookings, and check-in via the airline's user-friendly mobile app, searching for the lowest fares can only be performed in a calendar view on the airline's website.
How to get a refund on Southwest
Vacation more, spend less. Subscribe to our free newsletter for inspiration, tips, and money-saving strategies – delivered straight to your inbox.
Email address
Sign up NOW
By signing up, you will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.
Some further tips on how to book budget-conscious travel on Southwest Airlines flights:
Book your flights through Chase's travel portal instead of transferred points.
While Southwest Airlines is a 1:1 transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards®, it does not always make sense to transfer your Chase points to a Southwest account.
If you are a cardholder of the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, you will most likely not want to transfer points from Chase. That card earns 1.5 cents per point when traveling is booked through Chase's travel portal. The valuation of Southwest Rapid Rewards points is 1.3 cents each, meaning you would be losing value transferring the points rather than booking with the Chase travel portal.
When you book a flight through Chase's travel portal, Chase is the one paying the airline for your ticket; it is treated as a revenue ticket from the airline's perspective, rather than one booked with points. That means you will be earning Rapid Rewards points on the flight segments booked through Chase. If your status with Southwest is A-List or A-List Preferred, then your status will be honored when using your Chase Ultimate Rewards® points to book.
Transferring points to Southwest would be a great option if you do not hold the Chase Sapphire Reserve® or need some Southwest points to top-up your account for a specific booking.
Rebook your Southwest flight using the Low Fare Calendar when fares drop.
Now that you've got the hang of the Low Fare Calendar, it's time to take your booking to the next level.
The airline has one of the most liberal cancellation and change policies around. Cancel or change your ticket within the 10 minutes of your flight without any charge.
While there are no extra charges to change your ticket, the difference in fare has to be settled. If the new fare you are trying to change to is more than what you would have paid, you will pay the difference.
If the fare for the flight that you are changing to is cheaper, then they will refund you the difference.
With this generous change policy, you can even rebook the same flight you already have paid for and get the difference credited to you. Just find your flight on the website and select "change flight." If the price has dropped from what you originally paid, just "change" the flight and you'll get the difference back.
If you paid in points, you'll get refunded in points. If you pay a nonrefundable Wanna Get Away fare, you'll get a credit in the form of a Travel Fund. Travel Funds are easy to view when you're logged into your Southwest Rapid Rewards account, and you can apply them to the cost of future flights.
How to rebook and save when Southwest flight prices drop
Get almost free tickets for flying your companion with Southwest Companion Pass.What could be termed as "the Holy Grail" of travels, the Southwest Companion Pass can further help save serious amounts of money from flying with Southwest. Essentially, it is a "Buy 1 Get 1 Free" coupon for flying anyone you want along for practically nothing whenever you fly. Just pay the taxes and fees-that are usually just $5.60 one way for domestic flights-and you've got the whole connection all set.
The pass is valid for the rest of the calendar year in which it is issued and for the entire next calendar year. Therefore, getting the pass too early in the year means almost two full free years for your companion to fly. Also, you can change your companion as many as three times each calendar year. So, take a trip with your wife, and she can be your companion for the flight; later if you want to travel again with your buddy, you can change your companion.
Arwy Tip
Be sure to think about timing if you change companions. You cannot have two flights booked at the same time with different companions. This means you have to complete one trip, change your companion, wait for it to proceed, then book your next trip.Companion Passes work when you book your trip with Rapid Rewards points, too — you don't have to pay for your ticket in cash. You can use the Low Fare Calendar to find a cheap round-trip, book with Rapid Reward points and add your companion for a low-cost getaway.
The pros and cons of Southwest's Companion Pass
Utilize the Southwest Low Fare Calendar to get the sweet spots for your next trip. For example, you could hop around in Hawaii for less than 5,000 points for an interisland flight using Southwest. Southwest operates nonstop service to Hawaii from four California cities: Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento, and San Diego.Southwest bases its services in Kauai, Oahu, Maui, and Kona and Hilo in Hawaii. Southwest Rapid Rewards gets you into Hawaii and often does it low. It is not uncommon to see one-way fares costing less than 10,000 Rapid Rewards points from California to Hawaii.
Getting around by hopping from one island to another is not hard once you actually make it to Hawaii! You can often find inter-island flights for less than 5,000 points one-way. That is rock-bottom pricing, even better than what Hawaiian Airlines is offering — you would at least have to redeem 7,500 Hawaiian miles to get around Hawaii. You can redeem 6,000 JetBlue TrueBlue points for a one-way ticket on Hawaiian Airlines between the islands, while Southwest still takes the cake for the lowest points option. Hello!
Final thoughts on the Low Fare Calendar from Southwest
If you are traveling domestically and towards Hawaii or the most frequented places in Mexico and the Caribbean, it most likely flies southwest. Use the Rapid Rewards points to buy the trip, and if you change your mind or plans, you will receive a refund in cash or a credit.Always observe the Low Fare Calendar, and check flights you've booked to snag the lowest fares. If you need to book an air travel through a Chase Sapphire Reserve® cardholder, do not transfer points to the Southwest. It will be wise to book through Chase's travel portal so that you also earn Rapid Rewards points on that ticket.
