How to Make the Most of a Southwest Fare Sale (New 2025 Cyber Week Deal Announced!)

Are you making the most of Southwest Airlines fare sales? Major Southwest flight sales only happen a couple of times a year (with more minor ones in the mix regularly), so it's really important for travelers to know how to take full advantage of the savings when they pop up.

Whenever a Southwest sale is released, it's so easy to maximize value if you know how to really make the most of the system. I love flying Southwest for family travel, but I love it even more when I can save money flying the airline at the same time!

Tips to Maximize Southwest Airlines Sales

1. Book Early

As you can probably imagine, seats are limited in all airline fare sales. Although Southwest fare sales often extend three and four days long, you will find the most availability on the first day. The early bird gets the worm!

Southwest almost always announces major fare sales on Tuesday mornings (except for unique dates like Cyber Monday), so be on the lookout and clear your calendar to start the hunt when the prices drop.

Especially don't wait too long to book if you see alert notices saying "4 (or 3 or 2 or 1) left" under the flight of your choice when you search on the Southwest website. The cheapest seats can disappear in an instant.

Remember also that all fares, whether booked with points or cash, are fully refundable for 24 hours. So if I think a deal will go fast, I book it right away, take the day to talk it over with my husband or other family members, and cancel if needed before the 24 hours expires.

2. Book the Right Fare Type

In the past year, Southwest has changed the names - and the associated perks and restrictions - of all of its fare classes. It's really important that you book the right Southwest fare class and understand the risks and benefits so you don't ultimately lose money on what looks to be a good deal at the outset.

Southwest's sale fares usually only are available on advance purchase tickets on its two cheapest fare classes - now called "Basic" and "Choice." These are the roughly the successor fares to Wanna Get Away and Wanna Get Away Plus, but with some important limitations that you really need to understand.

Depending on your specific travel needs and preferences, you may or may not want to book Basic. Basic fares are technically not changeable, do not come with an advance seat assignment, and only give you a credit valid from 6 months of the date of booking if you need to cancel.

Choice fares can be changed, also come with an advanced seat assignment included, and give you a credit valid 12 months from the date of booking if you need to cancel.

If you aren't sure you are going to take the trip or are booking many months in advance, you may not want to risk it with Basic fares. If you do have to cancel, the fare credit may expire before you can use it on another flight.

Choice gives you double the time to reuse the credit which is more flexible for a lot of less frequent travelers - especially families. If, however, the trip is a few weeks away and you see a screaming deal that is worth the risk, Basic can definitely pay off for many travelers.

3. Go Crazy with Tentative Points Bookings!

So far we've been talking mostly about reservations made with money. But for those of you with Southwest Rapid Rewards points to burn, Southwest sales present an even bigger opportunity.

Unlike cash bookings that have expiration dates to watch if you need to cancel or change, points reservations are fully refundable. That's right. There's no fare credit expiration limitations to worry with. None.

If you book a flight with points during a sale and later cancel it, those points will be almost instantaneously redeposited to your account with no restrictions. (The $5.60 per flight airport security fee that you must pay with money can be refunded directly to your credit card too). You can use the points to book another flight next week or next year.

This means using Rapid Rewards points is the last truly and fully flexible way to book Southwest. If you have trips you are unsure whether you will take, you can make speculative bookings galore during fare sales with no risk. There are no strings attached no matter what fare type you book - Basic, Choice, or otherwise.

So if you have the points to spare during a fare sale, book now and ask questions later.

4. Claim Fare Drop Credits

So many people groan when they see that their airline of choice is having a fare sale not long after they booked flights, thinking they missed out on the deal. With Southwest, however, there is usually no need to despair!

Believe it or not, Southwest's rules will allow you to claim a credit back on (almost all) pre-existing reservations if the price drops later on your booking. So many infrequent travelers still don't know about this option, so I've made it my mission to spread the word. I personally have saved thousands of dollars in claiming fare credits like this for my family the last few years.

Under the newest rules and fare classes implemented in 2025, however, how you claim that fare credit has changed though. How does the process work now?

If you have booked a Basic fare, that fare isn't changeable. You instead have to cancel, bank the credit, and use the credit to rebook at the lower price. There are some caveats to think about though, so remember the following:

• The credit has an expiration 6 months from the date you booked the original flight so you may have to act fast to spend it.
• If you booked the flight more than 6 months in advance, you should definitely not cancel and rebook because the fare credit will already be expired! (This is why I never would book a Basic fare more than 6 months in advance with cash.)
• If you have booked a roundtrip, you have to cancel the entire itinerary. If one flight has gone down in price but the other has gone up, you might only break even or pay more when you rebook. Check the whole itinerary! (This is why I only book one-ways now on Southwest when booking Basic fares.)

If you have booked a Choice fare, however, you can handle the flight rebooking and banking of the credit in one single step. It looks just like you may have been used to from before all the big 2025 updates. You can even change one flight on a roundtrip without affecting the other one as well.

Simply log into your Rapid Rewards account, go to My Account and then scroll to Upcoming Trips. Go into your itinerary in question and click the "change flight" link. Then search for your same flight or flights again to see the fare drop.

You can claim the credit (or points refund) by simply completing the process to book the very same flights at the reduced price. The website will show you the credit in dollars or in points at the final step before rebooking. You can also use this process to change to a different flight, perhaps if you see that a flight at a different time of day is a lot cheaper.

Remember - the fare credit you get with changing Choice fares is good 12 months from the date you made the original booking, so note the expiration dates. Choice fares are also transferrable, so if you can't use the credit in time before that 12 month clock runs, you can use them to book for a family member or friend.

5. Use the Low Fare Calendar to Find Deals

I see regularly on social media that so many travelers plug date after date into Southwest's booking engine only to become frustrated and say they cannot find the advertised fares for a given sale. So I thought I'd publicize a little pro tip so you aren't one of those people.

There is no need to waste this kind of time! Why? Because Southwest has a tool that lets you easily see the dates where the prices are lowest for any route of your choice. Look for the little box that says "Low Fare Calendar" and use it as a starting point for a lot of searches very quickly.

For example, I always check my home airport of Oakland down to Long Beach for last-minute Disneyland vacations. Here is what the search results look like for me using this tool. Under the most recent sale, there is lots of midweek availability at the $75 sale fare and even more at a pretty solid discounted rate of $99.

5. Always Be Planning for the Next Big Sale

If you can't take advantage of the current fare sale, I want you to be ready for the next one! I always am and want to share my secrets for how you can do that too.

First, always have a healthy stash of Southwest points in your Rapid Rewards account. One easy way to earn points is getting a Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card from Chase. These cards regularly have big signup bonuses for new customers and, of course, you earn Rapid Rewards points on all spending you put on the card (including increased multipliers for Southwest spending!).

Be sure to read my guide to which Southwest credit card is right for you for all the details on specific card choices.

Second, always make sure you are earning points for all the travels you are already doing. So many family travelers forget to sign their kids up for frequent flyer accounts. You and everyone in your family - even babies! - can have a Rapid Rewards account.

Third, consider other ways to earn Southwest points. I am personally a fan of Chase Ultimate Rewards points, for example, which transfer at a 1:1 ratio to Southwest points whenever my balance gets a tad low. That way, I always have enough points to be able to take advantage quickly when sales are announced (and I can also use these points for other airlines or hotels as needed).

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card is an excellent choice for many family travelers to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points. My family has had this card or its higher annual fee cousin the Chase Sapphire Reserve card in our wallets for nearly a decade now (find out why it makes my list of the Top Credit Cards for Family Travelers).

Finally, make sure you are subscribed to all Southwest Airlines email alerts. I know we all hate getting extra email in our inboxes, but I find the Southwest emails often save me big money. They alert me to these fare sales (there was one in my inbox before I even woke up this morning!), let me know when there are special promotions that help me earn more miles, and keep me aware of new routes that might allow me to fly Southwest to destinations I previously could not.

The Bottom Line

Southwest fare sales are an excellent opportunity for traveling families to save big. With a little preparation and know-how, you can make the most of these deals to fly more often for less!

Want even more Southwest Airlines tips and tricks? Read these related posts:

Did you snag some deals in a recent Southwest sale? How are you preparing to take advantage of the next one?

Disclosure: I was a paid #SouthwestStorytellers brand ambassador for the airline in 2018. This post has been updated multiple times independent of that relationship. All opinions are my own.