Thread: Happy 40th: Southwest rolls out blockbuster fare sale

Thought you nigs might need to go somewhere on the cheap.




Southwest today unveiled a broad fare sale with fares starting at $40 each way.Southwest's sale extends to every city in its network and includes routes flown by its new subsidiary AirTran.

The move ended weeks of speculation about whether the low-cost giant would celebrate its 40th anniversary -- which came this past Saturday -- by lowering fares to $40.

Similar to blockbuster deals its offered in the past, Southwest's fares are prorated based on distance.

Flights of up to 450 miles are on sale for $40 one way while flights between 451 and 1,250 miles are on sale for $80 one way. Flights over 1,251 miles are $80 each way. Taxes and fees are not included in those fares.

Tom Parsons, CEO of Bestfares.com, calls Southwest's anniversary promotion the "biggest airfare sale of 2011."

"This is the first time that I can remember in my 30 years of tracking airfares that I have seen airfares from over 100 U.S. cities as low as $40 one-way," Parsons says.

But customers must act quickly to lock in one of the sale fares.
The sale ends Thursday at midnight PT, and the number of seats being sold at the sale fares are limited -- though a search on Southwest's website showed wide availability as of 11:20 a.m. ET.

The sale fares are good for travel from Aug. 23 through Nov. 16, though Fridays and Sundays are blacked out from the cheapest fares. Four days around the Labor Day and Veterans Day holidays are blacked out (Sept. 1, 5, and 6; and Oct. 10).

Fuck that. Vegas flights are all $189 each way. What a bunch of dicks. I wanted to go on my birthday.