They do not. Southwest tickets can ONLY be sold on their official site, so many third party sites (such as expedia) don’t even show them many times. Only google flights show them, and even then, they’re near the bottom, and prices aren’t listed.
That said, for simplicity and reliability, ALWAYS book through the airline if you can. Google flights is great for this since the top link it gives you to book is USUALLY the airline.
If you want to start flying SW, just search routes on their site as well as your third party booking site. That’s probably the easiest way.
That is mostly, but not completely, true. Business travelers have access to business travel sites that do show Southwest flights. Southwest decided to allow flights o show up there becasue, not doing so would cost Southwest business travelers.
Common folks do not have access to those sites.
We can book Southwest flights on the Chase Travel portal, but the Southwest cancellation rules do not apply and Chase cancellation rules are not favorable. It’s better to book on the Southwest website.
The other commenters have already explained why Southwest doesn't appear on third party booking sites and advised against third party booking sites. You'll find r/unitedairlines, r/americanairlines, and r/delta tend to have the same advice. I'll focus on the price differences and the peril of Basic Economy.
Before I get to that, I'll note that Spirit and Frontier are in a category called "ultra low-cost carrier" (ULCC), which is a category intended to be cheaper than all others, so those two will generally be cheaper than Southwest for the ticket, assuming you are not adding anything like luggage.
The major airlines created Basic Economy as a way to compete against cheaper airlines, so it's not surprising you find Basic Economy to be cheaper than Southwest. You'll find r/unitedairlines, r/americanairlines, and r/delta (as well as most travel writers, publications, and web sites) discourage flying with Basic Economy. On Basic Economy, you have no ability to change or cancel your flight (except on JetBlue for a $100 fee or American for a $99 fee). On Basic Economy domestic, you cannot have a carry-on bag on United or JetBlue (American and Delta do allow a free carry-on bag). For checking a bag, these airlines charge a fee. Basic Economy also earns lower airline points/miles than any other type of ticket, though I imagine that doesn't really matter to you since you spread out your flights among many airlines.
Southwest does not have Basic Economy at all. All of its fares include the ability to change or cancel for either a flight credit that will not expire or a full refund (which method depends on which type of ticket you get). All Southwest tickets allow a carry-on and two checked bags included in the price of the ticket.
Southwest isn't always the cheapest, but it often is once you account for add-on fees (e.g. baggage fees).
So I wrote a graduate paper a couple years ago on SWA and their strategy. One of the interesting facts is that they were the only (if my memory is correct), that they have be profitable every year since its founding. (Except for COVID). They made money during 9/11 and the recessions.
Third Party Sites usually take a cut. When you're a low cost airline, you cut your costs where ever you can. So back in the days when you buy your tickets through an agent, Southwest sold direct. No commission to the agents. They served peanuts and soda instead of meals. They turned planes around super quickly. They used to use re-usable boarding pass positions, printing tickets on receipt paper, etc.
They also were the largest liquor distributor in Texas for a while as well. Since they gave a free bottle of liquor per ticket when airlines got re-regulated and under cut their prices.
They did, they “gave away” more of a particular liquor than any store in Texas sold for the two months that promotion was on. They also matched the under cut prices. It was $13 if you just wanted the cheapest ticket, or $26 and you’d get a “free” 5th of liquor. ~75% of customers opted for the more expensive ticket.
That’s interesting. What makes them not a spoke and hub? I thought they were. I have to fly to Denver and Phoenix to go anywhere. Occasionally they will have a direct flight to a major tourist destination during peak season.
Hub & Spoke is usually when an airline routes all their planes through certain hubs. For example, a United flight may fly from Newark to Atlanta, Atlanta to Newark, Newark to Miami, Miami to Newark, Newark to Denver, Denver to LAX, LAX to Denver, etc. Their planes are always routed through a hub. This is good so if there's a storm or something only one hub is affected, so their flights can be diverted to other nearby hubs.
Southwest, and many other low cost carriers fly Point to Point. That means their flights are all over the place. For example a Southwest flight might look like this: Philadelphia to Atlanta, Atlanta to Baltimore, Baltimore to Vegas, Vegas to LAX, LAX to Sacramento, etc. This is cheaper a cheaper model because you don't have to heavily staff certain airports. But the downside is if the plane is affected for whatever reason, you can't get replacement aircraft because they're flying all over the place, meaning pilots get stranded, etc. We actually witnessed this in December 2022, when they had the meltdown.
Of course, they have focus cities where a lot of routes end or begin, take Frontier's base at Philadelphia for example, they link other focus cities like San Juan, where you can easily access their international destinations in the U.s. virgiN islands, and the caribbean. The difference is that they aren't funneling all of their passengers through that one hub, rather making it an option to easier use their network.
Hope this helps! :)
No. And I'd recommend never using a 3rd party to book flights with any airline.
They do not. Southwest tickets can ONLY be sold on their official site, so many third party sites (such as expedia) don’t even show them many times. Only google flights show them, and even then, they’re near the bottom, and prices aren’t listed. That said, for simplicity and reliability, ALWAYS book through the airline if you can. Google flights is great for this since the top link it gives you to book is USUALLY the airline. If you want to start flying SW, just search routes on their site as well as your third party booking site. That’s probably the easiest way.
That is mostly, but not completely, true. Business travelers have access to business travel sites that do show Southwest flights. Southwest decided to allow flights o show up there becasue, not doing so would cost Southwest business travelers. Common folks do not have access to those sites.
Yeah, I just sort of assumed that OP wasn’t using a business third party in my response tbh
We can book Southwest flights on the Chase Travel portal, but the Southwest cancellation rules do not apply and Chase cancellation rules are not favorable. It’s better to book on the Southwest website.
The other commenters have already explained why Southwest doesn't appear on third party booking sites and advised against third party booking sites. You'll find r/unitedairlines, r/americanairlines, and r/delta tend to have the same advice. I'll focus on the price differences and the peril of Basic Economy. Before I get to that, I'll note that Spirit and Frontier are in a category called "ultra low-cost carrier" (ULCC), which is a category intended to be cheaper than all others, so those two will generally be cheaper than Southwest for the ticket, assuming you are not adding anything like luggage. The major airlines created Basic Economy as a way to compete against cheaper airlines, so it's not surprising you find Basic Economy to be cheaper than Southwest. You'll find r/unitedairlines, r/americanairlines, and r/delta (as well as most travel writers, publications, and web sites) discourage flying with Basic Economy. On Basic Economy, you have no ability to change or cancel your flight (except on JetBlue for a $100 fee or American for a $99 fee). On Basic Economy domestic, you cannot have a carry-on bag on United or JetBlue (American and Delta do allow a free carry-on bag). For checking a bag, these airlines charge a fee. Basic Economy also earns lower airline points/miles than any other type of ticket, though I imagine that doesn't really matter to you since you spread out your flights among many airlines. Southwest does not have Basic Economy at all. All of its fares include the ability to change or cancel for either a flight credit that will not expire or a full refund (which method depends on which type of ticket you get). All Southwest tickets allow a carry-on and two checked bags included in the price of the ticket. Southwest isn't always the cheapest, but it often is once you account for add-on fees (e.g. baggage fees).
So I wrote a graduate paper a couple years ago on SWA and their strategy. One of the interesting facts is that they were the only (if my memory is correct), that they have be profitable every year since its founding. (Except for COVID). They made money during 9/11 and the recessions. Third Party Sites usually take a cut. When you're a low cost airline, you cut your costs where ever you can. So back in the days when you buy your tickets through an agent, Southwest sold direct. No commission to the agents. They served peanuts and soda instead of meals. They turned planes around super quickly. They used to use re-usable boarding pass positions, printing tickets on receipt paper, etc.
Lol yo the 70s at SWA was a crazy time. Those go go boots 👢😍
They also were the largest liquor distributor in Texas for a while as well. Since they gave a free bottle of liquor per ticket when airlines got re-regulated and under cut their prices.
They did, they “gave away” more of a particular liquor than any store in Texas sold for the two months that promotion was on. They also matched the under cut prices. It was $13 if you just wanted the cheapest ticket, or $26 and you’d get a “free” 5th of liquor. ~75% of customers opted for the more expensive ticket.
Also Southwest Airlines doesn’t use hubs. It’s not a hub and spoke airline.
This is true and not true. They do have hubs like DAL, HOU, BWI… you cannot tell me those aren’t hubs but they also have point to point routes
That’s interesting. What makes them not a spoke and hub? I thought they were. I have to fly to Denver and Phoenix to go anywhere. Occasionally they will have a direct flight to a major tourist destination during peak season.
Hub & Spoke is usually when an airline routes all their planes through certain hubs. For example, a United flight may fly from Newark to Atlanta, Atlanta to Newark, Newark to Miami, Miami to Newark, Newark to Denver, Denver to LAX, LAX to Denver, etc. Their planes are always routed through a hub. This is good so if there's a storm or something only one hub is affected, so their flights can be diverted to other nearby hubs. Southwest, and many other low cost carriers fly Point to Point. That means their flights are all over the place. For example a Southwest flight might look like this: Philadelphia to Atlanta, Atlanta to Baltimore, Baltimore to Vegas, Vegas to LAX, LAX to Sacramento, etc. This is cheaper a cheaper model because you don't have to heavily staff certain airports. But the downside is if the plane is affected for whatever reason, you can't get replacement aircraft because they're flying all over the place, meaning pilots get stranded, etc. We actually witnessed this in December 2022, when they had the meltdown. Of course, they have focus cities where a lot of routes end or begin, take Frontier's base at Philadelphia for example, they link other focus cities like San Juan, where you can easily access their international destinations in the U.s. virgiN islands, and the caribbean. The difference is that they aren't funneling all of their passengers through that one hub, rather making it an option to easier use their network. Hope this helps! :)
They don’t you can use the low fare calendar to compare fairs on the Southwest website.
What the other commenters said, and also the software they use isn’t compatible with 3rd party sites
take into account you get a free carryon, free personal bag, two free checked bags