Southwest is my go-to airline for cheap domestic flights. I’m flying to Chicago this summer for a wedding and decided to use points to book flights for my boyfriend and me. Upon first glance, Southwest showed a flight to Chicago for 11,294 points.
I realized I had only searched for one ticket so I changed the search to two adults. Doing this made the cost of the flight jump about 2,000 points!
This occurred because there was only one seat left at the lower fare of 11,294 points. Southwest will allow you to use points for any booking, but the number of points you’ll need can vary depending on when you book. In this scenario, if you are looking for more than one seat, you are automatically charged the higher fare for both tickets!
To save 2,000 Southwest points, I decided to book our seats separately. I went through the checkout process for my ticket at 11,294 Southwest points. I then did the same for the second ticket at 13,273. Five minutes of extra work saved me 2,000 points. This is enough for certain Southwest routes if you book early enough!
I would venture to say this would happen with other airlines like JetBlue that allow you to book any flight with points. It could also happen with award bookings on airlines like Delta and United that have a saver option. However, since traditional frequent flyer programs have less award availability, I’m more inclined to book the two seats the moment I see them.
Have you ever run into a scenario like this when booking a flight with points?
