Southwest Airlines, hoping to duplicate the success of a July promotion, launched another fare sale Tuesday with tickets as low as $25 each way.
“The last time Southwest Airlines offered airfares as low as $25 one way was 13 years ago,” said Tom Parsons, chief executive of BestFares.com. “This occurred during July 1996 for their 25th-anniversary sale.”
The July sale helped Southwest set monthly records for percentage of seats filled in August and September and probably will do so for October. In addition, while most competitors reported less revenue per seat mile flown in September, Southwest enjoyed a 3 percent increase in unit revenue despite the cheap fares.
“Southwest Airlines saw great success with our wild, 48-hour fare sale in July and wanted to offer even more discounts to customers,” said Kevin Krone, Southwest’s vice president of marketing, sales and distribution.
The response was so strong that customers complained on the airline’s Web site that they couldn’t get through to make reservations. At midafternoon, the Dallas-based carrier posted a message saying it thought the problems had been solved.
Other carriers selectively matched Southwest’s fares or lowered their existing fares in response. Fort Worth-based American Airlines Inc. initially offered some $39 fares in markets where Southwest had offered the $25 fares, such as Austin-Dallas, but American later lowered fares on some flights to $25.
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“San Antonio, Houston, Austin, they’re all back down now to $25, matching Southwest dollar for dollar,” Parsons said. “They did the same thing in Chicago. They were $39.”
The sale fares, which must be purchased by the end of Thursday, were set at $25 each way for trips of up to 375 miles, $50 up to 549 miles, $75 to 999 miles and $100 for 1,000 miles or more.
Travel must be taken Dec. 2-16 or Jan. 5- Feb. 10 and not on Sundays. The prices do not include fees and airport charges.
While Southwest doesn’t charge for the first or second checked bags, most other airlines do, raising the prospect that a passenger could pay more for bags than for a ticket.
For example, someone with two checked bags flying round-trip on United Airlines Inc. between Chicago and St. Louis would pay $50 for their ticket, but up to $100 for the bags.
Parsons said a person flying round trip on Southwest between Dallas and Houston could fly for $50, but a little dog or cat carried onto the flight would cost $150.
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