Southwest often has the lowest fares and best deals to many cities in the country. Other budget airlines like JetBlue and AirTran also offer low fares and are an alternative to the big airlines. With all these low fares, have you ever wondered why Southwest fares are so low compared to other airlines? We will examine some of the reasons behind these low fare offers.
While Southwest announces these fare deals every week, there are also some other promotions and opportunities. Now you can earn reward trips even faster and win a free trip to Washington DC!
Why Southwest fares are low
Southwest, JetBlue, and AirTran are the budget airlines competing with the corporate giants of Delta, Continental, American, United, and US Air. Many people may notice that they can find fares for the big airlines on places like Orbitz, Travelocity, and Expedia as well as the newer sites like kayak and vayama. However, Southwest is nowhere to be found. Does this help Southwest?
When Orbitz was first created, the major airlines invested a $100 million dollars to start a new online travel agency. Now Orbitz offers fares for many different airlines all over the world and has partnered with CheapTickets, ebookers, RatesToGO, the Away Network, and Asia hotels to offer deals on airfare and hotels. When booking with Travelocity, Expedia, kayak, Mobissimo, SideStep, Bing, or other sites, you can find some decent fares as well as they all have their search engines designed to find the best fares. Unfortunately, it is hard to know which site is best and which one will give you the lowest price. While you might find a good deal on these sites, many charge fees to book your flight. Others will find the price of your flight and then re-direct you to another site or the airline itself to book your flight (even then, the price often changes once you are re-directed).
So all that information and history is nice, what does this have to do with Southwest you ask? Cost. When airlines allow their fares to be booked on other sites, this distribution means that commission must be paid to online sites or even offline travel agencies. For years, Southwest has cut out the middle man and only advertised their fares through their site. After doing this for many years, Southwest has built up a network of loyal followers to their site. This has allowed Southwest to announce their deals, publish discount fares for brief periods, and offer fares through their Ding program for last minute, discounted airfares. If people know to go to an airline's site for their airfare, they can sign up the the Ding application, become Rapid Rewards members, sign up for their newsletter, and even follow them on Twitter.
Southwest has benefited from the online confusion. Now the big airlines have learned something from Southwest and now offer many of the lowest fares on their own sites. Southwest is still able to keep its overhead costs lower than other airlines because they don't advertise on online sites. There are a number of other factors in their pricing as well. Flying into smaller airports may also help Southwest.
While Southwest may not always be the cheapest option, lower overhead costs, customer loyalty, and their discount programs and alerts allow for some good deals on Southwest. It's a trend the bigger airlines are starting to follow to help build more customer loyalty. However, Southwest beat them to the punch many years ago and eliminated some of this advertising and booking costs. Many of their customers have benefitted as a result.
Earn double credits on Southwest
From now until May 26, you can earn double credits as a Rapid Rewards member on Southwest airlines. Every flight on Southwest now earns a bonus credit so a round trip flight now earns 4 credits. 4 roundtrip flights will earn a free flight. The important to budget travel is to prepare in front. When it comes along to family trips, globetrotting, well-deserved trips and/or going to see new destinations we have never been before, the actuality of expense and budgeting is often in the back of our mind. Preparation and spending our travel budget carefully is a priority for most families. Reducing expending and charges, while still delighting your vacation to its fullest, is the key to certain achievements and fiscal responsibility. Your pocketbook and family will thank you! The reasoning behind protecting money while journeying is simple: Even if your personal budget is highly limited, you can still take a break and enjoy life! Simply put, life is just too short to never step out of the door or departing the homestead! Also keeping in mind that while traveling, regardless of whether on a finances or not, even the smallest of things can all add op to a huge vacation or travel expenses!. However, you must register to receive the double credits on flights through May 26. In California, there are many cities and destinations available for Sacramento, Oakland, San Francisco, LA, and other cities so it's easy to get credits. Sign up at Double Credit Days.
Win a free trip to Washington DC
Even if you aren't a Rapid Rewards member, you can sign up to win a weekend vacation in Washington DC. Get round trip airfare for two, 3 nights stay in a hotel, and a rental car for your trip to our nation's capital. For entry, rules, and information, visit www.southwest.com/washingtonvacation/.
Stay tuned for more deals on Southwest, including special deals in California.
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