# How come Southwest is only booking through Oct. 30



## jehb2 (Jun 20, 2008)

It's been that way for at least 6 weeks or more now.


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## JudyS (Jun 20, 2008)

That's just part of SW's business strategy.  They do not allow booking too far out.  They say this helps them avoid making changes to flight times. 

There's always lots of speculation as to when SW will open up bookings for further out.  I imagine other posters here might have some idea when bookings for later in 2008 or early in 2009 might be added.


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## Kingwayne (Jun 20, 2008)

*July 3*

around July 3 the next  set of dates should come out


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## vacationhopeful (Jun 20, 2008)

June 26 - that is the date from them last week thru early Jan booking


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## Dave M (Jun 20, 2008)

June 26 is correct. When Southwest is ready to announce their plans for extending the schedule, they post the info at the top of the "Travel Tools" page at their site:





> We are currently accepting air reservations through October 30, 2008. On June 26, we plan to open the schedule for purchase through January 9, 2009. This date is subject to change. Please check back frequently.


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## jehb2 (Jun 20, 2008)

You guys are awesome, thanks.  I need to book a ticket for a conference.  Even with the price increase I'm sure SW will offer a lower price than AA.  But I was getting scared and almost booked with AA.  I can wait a little more and see what SW offers.


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## Judy (Jun 20, 2008)

I need to book flights on SW for my trip to New Orleans April 28 - May 5.  
Is it possible to sign up with SW for notification of when those flights will be posted?
If not, any idea when I should start looking?


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## Dave M (Jun 20, 2008)

Southwest's published schedule normally goes out in the future for a period of from about 120 to 180-200 days. As an example of that, when the schedule is extended on June 26, the schedule will be for 197 days. Southwest will likely let it run down to somewhere in the range of 120-130 days, as it is doing this time, before extending it again. 

Thus, you can expect the next extension, probably in late August or early September, to be through early March. Then the following extension, likely to come in late October or early November, would probably be into early to mid May. 

Well before those dates, you should check the website's "Travel Tools" page for updates on plans for the next extension.


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## KevinRS (Jun 25, 2008)

*Does anyone know what "time" they load the schedule*

Is the schedule loaded at Midnight Houston time?  or is it just whenever?

I have some Christmas tickets to book...

Thanks


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## riverdees05 (Jun 25, 2008)

If I remember correctly the time varies when they load the extensions.


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## rickandcindy23 (Jun 25, 2008)

I just checked their website and no new dates.  I am trying to book Orlando or Tampa for January.  I may wait for a sale.


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## thinze3 (Jun 25, 2008)

rickandcindy23 said:


> I just checked their website and no new dates.....




Not until tomorrow. See Dave's post above.


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## Dave M (Jun 25, 2008)

If Southwest follows its normal practice, the extended schedule will be available for reservations a few minutes after 11:00 a.m. EDT on June 26.


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## JudyS (Jun 26, 2008)

Thanks for the info, Dave!

For those who don't know, Southwest has an *extremely* liberal policy on changes.  In fact, they are so flexible that I found it hard to believe at first.

If you make a "nonrefundable" reservation, you may cancel at any time and receive a credit towards any future Southwest travel, with no penalties or change fees.  I believe the credit is good for travel up to one year from the date that you originally booked.  If you can't use the credit yourself, you can give it to a friend, or even sell it on eBay!

My theory of why Southwest allows credits, but not refunds, if that they want to protect themselves from having to give many refunds in the event of, say, a terrorism scare that doesn't ground planes but that causes many people to cancel their travel plans.  If they unexpectedly had to give out large sums in refunds, it could badly hurt their cash flow.  By allowing people to make changes and to transfer travel funds to someone else, they provide a great deal of flexibility, but don't have to worry about coming up with lots of money to give back.  (Southwest does also offer fully refundable fares, but these cost more and I would guess that few people use them.) 

With this very liberal change policy, there is little downside to booking now.  You can change your travel plans if desired.  Also, if the fare later drops, Southwest makes it very easy to get the new fare.


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## Luanne (Jun 26, 2008)

JudyS said:


> With this very liberal change policy, there is little downside to booking now.  You can change your travel plans if desired.  Also, if the fare later drops, Southwest makes it very easy to get the new fare.



I agree with everything you've said.  I find Southwest extremely easy to work with, and I love their website.  Over the past few months I've ended up with almost $300 worth of credits due to the some flight changes and price reductions that occurred on flights I'd booked.  You do need to keep checking from time to time to see if prices have changed, but it's well worth it.  Personally I'd book as soon as the flights come available, then just monitor to see if they go down.


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