How To Use Southwest’s Low Fare Calendar For Bargain Flights

Southwest Airlines is the country’s third-largest carrier and offers some great deals on flights across the US, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. The airline is well-known for its open seating policy, as well as several standard inclusions per ticket, including two free checked bags for every passenger.

In an extra bonus, Southwest Airlines utilizes a special tool to help travelers find the cheapest flights. The Low Fare Calendar helps travelers find when their flights are significantly cheaper or assist in tracking price changes before booking. Let’s take a look at how the Low Fare Calendar works and some other tips that many travelers may benefit from in the future.

How the calendar works

The Low Fare Calendar can be found on the Southwest Airlines website home page. The calendar displays the starting price of tickets between two selected destinations per day on a month-by-month basis. The calendar makes it easy for travelers to see which day would be the cheapest to travel to their intended destination and back to their original departure city. The image below shows the Low Fare Calendar for a dummy booking of a flight from Las Vegas (LAS) to Los Angeles (LAX) in July 2024:

Image: Southwest Airlines

For travelers looking for cheaper flights, users can open the Low Fare Calendar under the flight booking interface. The traveler can then enter a departure city and arrival city. The user also selects a month to display flight prices. The Low Fare Calendar then shows the cheapest ticket price for each one-way route to the desired destinations in the given month. Clicking on a day of travel will display all flight options for that day. This provides a clear display of ticket prices for travel between specific cities.

Image: Southwest Airlines

In the example Low Fare Calendar shown above, the cheapest price for a one-way ticket from Las Vegas to Los Angeles on July 24th is just under $84. This is one of the carrier’s most popular routes, with up to eight flights per day between the two cities. The low-cost carrier goes head-to-head with several other airlines on the route, including:

• Alaska Airlines
• American Airlines
• Delta Air Lines
• Frontier Airlines
• Spirit Airlines
• United Airlines.

Photo: Joe Kunzler | Simple Flying

In total, across all commercial airlines, more than 1.3 million passengers traveled last year between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, making it by far the busiest route out of Las Vegas, ahead of Denver (1.1 million passengers) and Seattle (967,000 passengers).

Tips for finding great prices

There are a few other ways to utilize the Low Fare Calendar to secure budget-friendly tickets. One way travelers have found to take advantage of Southwest Airlines’ policies is by rebooking flights when the price drops.

Southwest Airlines has unique cancelation and flight change policies, and travelers can use the Low Fare Calendar to wait for price changes on days they have already booked flights. If the flights drop below what they initially paid for the tickets, the passenger can rebook the flight at a lower cost. Southwest Airlines will credit the difference back to the passenger. This difference can either be paid in travel credit or, for members of the airline’s loyalty program, in Rapid Rewards points.

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

The Low Fare Calendar also has a search option for passengers trying to pay for tickets with Rapid Rewards points. This allows users to take advantage of cheaper flight opportunities while also using up some of their earned reward points. The point offerings are also flexible for certain days, indicating that some days have much cheaper travel fares. For example, the below image shows the Low Fare Calendar for dummy booking for a flight from Dallas (DAL) to Long Beach (LGB) in July 2024:

Image: Southwest Airlines

Just as the price of a ticket in cash can vary depending on the date and time of the flight, the same goes for when paying with Rapid Rewards points. In this case, fares range from 17,248 points to 11,534 points, with mid-week flights generally being cheaper than those on Fridays and Sundays, which are traditionally peak travel days.

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Further benefits for Rapid Rewards members

There are also other options for Rapid Rewards members to find cheap fares. Members can take advantage of Southwest Airlines’ Companion Passes, which allow someone to fly with the member for free, by earning and spending Rapid Rewards points. One of the ways in which this benefit can be acquired is by earning 135,000 Rapid Rewards points throughout the year, although there are several other ways to earn a Companion pass too, some without even leaving the ground.

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Have you used the Southwest Airlines Low Fare Calendar when booking your flights? Which route were you flying on, and how much money were you able to save compared to booking with other airlines? Share your experiences by commenting below.