Are you thinking about planning a sports road trip this fall? Well, Southwest may have a deal for you. From September 23 to September 25, travel between select markets is on sale for as low as $39 each way.
But even for longtime Southwest flyers, you need to read the fine print.
As many are aware, Southwest has undergone changes to its operations over the past few months, introducing new policies for assigned seats and baggage fees, among others. One of those others is their new fare structures, including the introduction of “Basic Fares”.
What are Basic Fares?
Historically, all tickets sold on Southwest could be canceled and changed, with the lowest fares (formerly “Wanna Get Away Fares”) allowing the customer to receive a credit for the full value of their ticket, reusable for up to one year from the date of purchase.
But that policy has now changed, which means that sports fans need to take care to know what they are booking during fare sales such as this one.
If you read the fine print of this promotional sale, the discount only applies to Basic Fares, and those fares come with new restrictions when it comes to changes and cancellations.
For changes, well … you can’t change these tickets. You can only cancel them, and then use the proceeds (if available) to rebook a different flight. Sure, that’s inconvenient, but not necessarily a dealbreaker. It’s just an extra inconvenient step.
But the cancellation part is where the catch is. Instead of a flight credit being valid for a year from the date of purchase (as was previously the case), flight credits for Basic Fares are only valid for six months from the date of purchase. Which means if you purchased the ticket five months ago, you would only have one month left to use the credit.
The rest of the fine print
Here’s what you need to know about this sale.
–21-day advance booking is required.
–There are a number of blackout dates for this sale, so make sure you can get both to AND from your destination.
–Sale dates run through March 4, 2026, except for inter-island travel in Hawaii.
Should you book a sports road trip using this promotion?
Well, if you’re looking to book a flight for this football season, it may be worth it. If your plans changed, you’d still have a few months to reuse the flight credit.
But if you’re looking at events after the calendar year, you may want to reconsider whether this fare sale is for you. Booking a trip to Phoenix for the Waste Management Open in February sounds like a good idea, but if anything was to change and you had to cancel last-minute, you’d have very little time to use your flight credit.
And if you’re looking at events beyond six months, we’d suggest avoiding this sale, as you would not receive a flight credit in the event that you canceled your plans.
We always recommend using a flight searching tool such as Google Flights (which is free) to look at all of your fare options, since you never know if a fare sale by one airline is as good as other existing fares to your destination.
