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Sales idea amidst pandemic.

DaddyPlunkett
Explorer C

 

Why not sell one-way and/or round-trip tickets for a fixed price at any point in the next two years assuming availability.  In other words, provide the opportunity to give the gift of travel this holiday season without predetermining the dates of travel. 

In my particular situation, I recently found out that I have a 37 year old daughter that I didn’t previously know about.  Her mother never told me.  I only found out via a 23&me test that my brother and another (known) daughter had taken along with my newly discovered daughter.  Not only did I learn of a new child but 3 grandchildren as well.  I would love to give each of the grandkids a round trip ticket between Phoenix and Seattle and leave the timing to be determined later; hopefully after the worst of the pandemic is over, school is out and just the general timing works for everyone.

Please let me know your thoughts.  You could call it the “hope fares” or something similar…

3 REPLIES 3

Re: Sales idea amidst pandemic.

dfwskier
Aviator A

You can do something like that by giving a Southwest gift card.

 

You decide the amount. It never expires, and then recipient can travel anywhere or even use the funds to buy someone else a ticket.

Re: Sales idea amidst pandemic.

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

Interesting idea. I believe some airlines have sold similar passes before that allowed the owner to either unlimited flights or a set number of flights within a time period. The issue I see is based off the recent uptick in fares, particularly for holiday travel, Southwest believes it can sell seats at close to normal market prices. That aligns well with no longer blocking middle seats, Southwest thinks it can sell the seats. This means they don't feel like they have much incentive to discount prices or offer a fare like you are seeking. Often Southwest has some reasonable last minute fares if you have some flexibility in the timing of your flights, that might be your best bet if you want to extend the offer to your grandkids. 

 

You could certainly submit the idea to Southwest, Contact Customer Relations

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Sales idea amidst pandemic.

SWFlyer007
Aviator C

Well even if SWA seat sales go up with selling the middle seat, I don't think they are going to recover the 17 million a day loss.  This would be a great way to increase income in the short run and end the quarter a bit stronger, I would buy several of these packages.  It would be like the old voucher system, (THAT I LOVED) when you volunteer to give up your seat, or when they messed up your flights.  You would just get a voucher, to be used on any flight regardless of where you are going or price.  Now I do admit, they didn't go to Hawaii, lots of the Islands, and places in Mexico then.  But say buy a voucher for $250 that puts you on any flight anytime, RT, I would buy about 10 of them, honestly.