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The Great $49 Southwest Sale Is On! Time to Book and Save!

the front of a blue and red airplane
Written by Charlie

Southwest’s big sale for flights starting at $49 for around the country is going on now! You can redeem with points for as little as 2,300 points or pay as little as $49 for some great city pairs all over!

 

A couple of times each year (last time was in October), Southwest runs their very best sale. This sale starts at $49 and then goes up in increments – $79, $99, and $129, depending on the distance. This is that big $49 Southwest sale and it starts now and goes for 3 days so book now!

The Great $49 Southwest Sale Is On

$49 southwest sale

Link: $49 Southwest Sale

While Southwest runs sales very often, they normally put select cities at the $49 rate. This $49 Southwest sale covers cities and destinations all over since it is their special WOW sale and even the further distances at the $129 price are still better deals than the normal prices.

$49 Southwest Sale Details:

  • Book from June 6 through June 8, 2017, 11:59 p.m. in the respective time zone of the originating city.
  • Domestic travel valid August 22 through December 13, 2017
    • Travel to/from San Juan, Puerto Rico valid September 6 through December 7, 201
    • International travel valid August 22 through December 13, 2017.
  • Domestic Blackout Dates: September 1, September 4, & November 17-28, 2017.
    • Sale fares to international destinations blacked out September 1-2 and November 18-20, 2017
    • Sale fares from international destinations blacked out September 4-6 and November 25-28, 2017.
  • Domestic travel is not valid on Fridays and Sundays.
    • Travel to Florida and Nevada and from Florida to Nevada is valid only on Sundays through Wednesdays.
    • Travel from Florida and Nevada and from Nevada to Florida is valid only on Tuesdays through Fridays.
    • Travel to/from San Juan, Puerto Rico is valid Monday – Thursday.
    • International travel is valid only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
  • Fares valid only on nonstop service.

As with other Southwest sales, you can use cash or points to book these sale prices (award prices start at 2,300 points for one way travel).

$49 southwest sale

Check Your Reservations to Save Money/Points!

One of the great benefits with these sales is to check your existing Southwest reservation and see if the fare is any cheaper right now. This is very common because many people will book as far out as they can when the schedule opens to ensure they have the flight. Then, with Southwest’s generous cancellation/change policy, you can make changes to the reservation and always make sure you are booked at the lowest price.

Cancellation and Change Policy

If you have already booked your tickets in the past, you can still take advantage of the sale. Southwest has the best cancellation/rebooking policy of the US airlines. Basically, as long as you cancel by 10 minutes before the flight, you get the points back in your account for free and with no penalty. That means you are free to make any changes you want without any problems or loss of points or cash!

New this year: with Southwest’s new system, cancelling a flight will put the taxes back as a travel voucher good for a year. Better to simply change the flight if you don’t want the travel voucher. But, for all domestic flights, the taxes are just a small amount anyway so it may not be that big of a deal.

Check Your Already-Booked Reservations For Price Difference

So, now is the time to search for your tickets within this sale and see if you have a better price available now than when you had booked it. If the price has dropped, you simply select to change the flight and look at the same dates and flights again. Once you go through and confirm, you will receive a refund of the difference in miles and the cash for the taxes will be transferred for the new ticket.

In 1 Minute, You Can Have Your Points Back!

The whole process takes less than 60 seconds and you could save a lot of money or points! If you had booked your ticket in the past using cash, you will receive a refund in the form of a credit that is usable for 1 year from the time you originally booked the ticket. If you booked it with points, you will receive the points back in your account for the difference.

Summary

It is a great time to lock in reservations now and then you can always change later (for free) if the dates or travel no longer suits you. If you booked a while ago, you will have a decent shot at getting some money/points back with this sale. That is always a good thing and a great reason to shop with Southwest.

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About the author

Charlie

Charlie has been an avid traveler and runner for many years. He has run in marathons around the world for less than it would cost to travel to the next town - all as a result of collecting and using miles and points. Over the years, he has flown hundreds of thousands of miles and collected millions of miles and points.
Now he uses this experience and knowledge to help others through Running with Miles.

12 Comments

  • I am not very familiar with Southwest, but ready to give it try now that AA is getting worst and worst… Question: If I pay for a ticket and cancel later on in order to use the credit refund valid for 1 year do I have to keep the same origin and destination or can I apply the credit to any future flights?

    • If you cancel later on, you will have credit with Southwest that will be valid for one year from the day you BOOKED the reservation and it can be used on any Southwest flights – not the same cities you had before.

  • any chance they will have an xmas sale – I booked my flight from BWI-MBJ the day the schedule opened and they have not issued one wanna getaway flight for the day (and before and after) that i am flying – how frustrating!

    • Unfortunately, they never do. The airlines know they don’t need to lower prices since they will be able to sell the seats no matter what. It you already booked with Southwest, it will be worth checking every so often to see if prices drop but they normally do not.

  • Hello Charlie, this is an awesome airlines the best that I’ve traveled so far. I want to know how do book my trip if I already have a one way credit and want to buy for the return home? I hope I made sense . Anyway I appreciate any help I can get. Linda

    • Hi, Linda! With domestic travel, booking one way vs roundtrip does not make the price go any higher (like with flights to Europe). So, if you have credit from a cancelled/changed flight, you can go ahead and select both legs of your trip (outbound and return) and then apply that credit at checkout and pay the difference with a card. Hope that makes sense and let me know if that doesn’t answer question completely. charlie@runningwithmiles.com

      • Thank you Charlie I don’t know if you got that message, so I want to make sure you know I appreciate it.

        • I hadn’t received a messaged! Sorry about that! But, thank you very much for coming back to let me know! 🙂