Southwest Airlines Offers Discounted Tickets to Fast-Acting Customers

By Jessica Madison on July 8th, 2009

In a surprising move earlier today, Southwest Airlines announced new, super-discounted tickets for customers looking to travel on the cheap. The generous offer includes one-way tickets, at prices as low as $30, $60 or $90, to anywhere in the country, depending on the distance. However, the discounted tickets can only be bought for flights taking place between September 9 and November 18 – a season typically slow for airlines – and they can’t be for Friday or Sunday flights either. The final catch? You have to purchase the tickets by midnight, tonight. So you have to act fast.

According to the airline, this move represents “one of the biggest fare sales in the company’s history.” The question, then: Will other airlines follow suit? As consumer demand continues to dwindle (thanks to the economy) and fuel prices rise, it just might. Or it might not. (How’s that for analysis!). So far a few other airlines have jumped on the bandwagon, in specific regions, but none have discounted their prices quite like Southwest Airlines has.

Making this deal even sweeter, is the fact that Southwest also offers a “Bags Fly Free” service, in which, uh, your bags fly free. A perk that is, needless to say, becoming increasingly rare.

Here’s the full details:

For trips 400 miles or shorter: $30
Trips 750 miles or shorter: $60
Trips longer than 750 miles: $90