Does Southwest add flights if they get sold out early on certain flights?

[Bete]

I'm a planner and a friend is joining us in late November at Disney World. I sent her an e-mail about her flights and costs thereof for leaving 11-27 and returning 12-4 from Phoenix.

Anyway, her flight on 11-27 is the only one available right now to go to Orlando and the price is going up; I checked about 6 hours later. I called to tell her she should book now before it gets worse on price. She won't listen. She claims Southwest will add other flights for that day. That it's early and there's no rush to book a flight for November, right now.

Is she right? If a flight gets sold out early will they add another flight that day?

I'm afraid she's jeopardizing the trip by not acting now. I don't want to be an alarmist, but I can see her just cancelling all together if this doesn't hold true. She won't pay for a high priced airline ticket and she won't listen to me. She claims she wants to go, but she's slow on committing to airline tickets.

 

[FCDub]

Likely no.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Wow I just went and looked up the dates and the airports. That's crazy that only 1 flight (and it's a non-stop too!) is available for WGA. So technically what it is is all but one flight shows SOLD OUT but only for WGA. Every single flight is available for Anytime and Business Select. So truthfully it's that right now she can still buy a flight but it will be more expensive.

11/27 is the Monday after Thanksgiving so I can see why currently WGA are sold out except for that one flight. I have seen sold out flights for a fare class become available again. I can't know for sure but it's possible that it's due to people canceling for that particular flight that had initially bought a WGA fare.

Does she see herself flying within 365 days from booking? Only asking that in regards to if she buys the tickets now and she either needs to cancel or the price goes down she can get a credit to fly SWA within a year of the original booking. She can also adjust the flight to a different one if need be should another flight be added (but I'm really doubting another flight would be added).

 

[PatMcDuck]

I have seen Wanna get away fares sold out, and pop back up. Rarely. I have not seen them add a flight, but maybe I would not have noticed, although I check and recheck my flights often/

 

[RedAngie]

99% chance of Southwest NOT adding additional flights.

 

[beccasmom]

I'd be really surprised if they did so, sad to say.

 

[Bete]

Thanks everyone!

 

[NotUrsula]

They won't add other flights. What they will do in the case of higher-than-expected demand is make sure that their largest aircraft is on the route. For SWA, that's 175 seats, as opposed to the more usual 143.

HOWEVER, waiting in this case is probably not a poor strategy. The previous week certainly would be a sellout, but most Thanksgiving passengers will be heading home by the 27th this year, so this isn't likely to be a case of exceptionally high demand. It's fairly unlikely that the flight will sell out more than a month before departure. Prices are likely to fluctuate up AND down in the meanwhile. Her best price is likely to turn up in early October. (However, if you see a fare of less than $250 r/t at any time, take it. That's good enough that it isn't worth sweating over.)

 

[Kaytie]

Does it have to be Southwest? American has non-stop both ways for $495.