Spring Break, Southwest Style

The accidental Southwest Airlines change trick is back for March through late April. If you’re planning on traveling for Spring Break, now is the best time to lock in the lowest fare. A primer:

• Use the lowest fare calendar on the city pairs you want to travel between (e.g., LAX-DEN)
• Find the lowest fare two weeks before or two weeks after your desired travel date
• Book the lowest fare
• Log out and log back into your Southwest account
• Under ‘My Trips’, choose ‘Change’
• Switch your flight to the desired routing, date, and time with no up-charge

In case this booking window closes, make sure you do the above within 24 hours because you’re entitled to a full refund for the initial booking in that period.

These free changes are a weird conglomeration of Southwest’s antiquated reservation system, the 737MAX, and COVID travel waivers. It’s been around for a couple of years and I’ll be sad when the trick vanishes.