Southwest Airlines this morning launched its annual fall fare sale. The airline, one of the busiest carriers in Phoenix with 170 daily departures from Sky Harbor International Airport, is offering one-way flights for $49, $99, $129 and $149 depending on travel distance. The rates are the same the airline offered a year ago but significantly higher than Southwest's first sale of this kind during the recession in 2009, when one-way fares were $30, $60 and $90 one way.
The cheapest flights from Phoenix are for short hops to cities including Los Angeles, San Diego and Las Vegas. The $149 rate applies to flights to cross-country flights, including Phoenix to Atlanta, Baltimore and Newark, N.J. There is fine print galore, of course. As with previous sales like this, Friday and Sunday travel is excluded, ruling out weekend getaways. And travelers hoping to book a long weekend in Las Vegas with the sale are out of luck, Southwest's fine print says travel to Nevada and Florida at the sale prices is only good Sunday-Wednesday.
The three-day sale ends Thursday and covers travel between Aug. 25 and Dec. 17. In addition to Fridays and Sundays, the blackout dates are Sept. 1 and Nov. 21-Dec.2, which includes the busy Thanksgiving travel period. As is always the case with an airline fare sale, there are mixed comments about the offer on Southwest's Facebook page. Some travelers thanked the airline for the starting fares of $49, down from its standard lowest rate recently of $69 one way. Another said it's impossible to find the $49 flights out of San Francisco.
"The last time I was able to get a $49 flight was in 1999! Aren't you guys in a little bit of trouble for posting fare prices that don't exist?''
The post was a reference to last week's news that Southwest was fined $200,000 by the U.S. Department of Transportation for advertising low fares out of Atlanta but offering no seats at that price.
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