Booking with Points?

[kobiezma]

We were nailing down our vacation plans for the summer last night. I price checked flights but (stupidly) didn't book. I plan on booking 2 trips with points.  Last night our flight to Cancun was 54k points, today is it over 80k points for the exact same flights. Is this because its the weekend? Should I wait until Monday to see if it goes back down or should I book incase this is the start of price increases?

[dfwskier]

Prices on flights change all the time. They go up and they go down.

remember that SW allows you to change at anytime and get a refund (of points in your case) if the flight you change to costs less.

if your flight is more than a month from now, you could wait a few days to see if the fare drops. If the flight is in the near future, you may have passed the minimum time to buy the cheapest tickets.

[kobiezma]

This flight is not until June. If I book now while its high how do I get my points back when and if rates drop?

[bec102896 · Accepted solution]

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@kobiezma wrote:

This flight is not until June. If I book now while its high how do I get my points back when and if rates drop?

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Yes if you see the price for the flight in points go down you can change to the cheaper points ticket and the points will go back into the account the points cane from. 

Keep in mind if the taxes go up you would need to pay that fare difference. 

-Blake

[elijahbrantley · Accepted solution]

I agree -- book it at the higher rate if you are willing to go at that fare price and then hope it comes down again. It likely will with the next fare sale.

Here is how you can rebook if the price goes down.

Enjoy!

[elijahbrantley]

One more thing, @kobiezma. A fare sale just started today (thru Thursday). Might be worth checking those points rates again!

Let us know.

[kobiezma]

I booked today, they were cheaper today than yesterday but still not down to this past weekends rate. 

[elijahbrantley]

@kobiezma Keep looking. Remember you can always rebook in the future if they do make it back down to the original rate you saw. 

A best practice -- if you are booking on points and you find a great rate, just book it! You can always cancel later.

Have fun!