The Guide to Anytime Fares on Southwest

If you happen to’ve ever flown Southwest Airways, you’ve seen that the service doesn’t differentiate its seats between top notch, premium financial system or financial system. Except bulkhead rows and emergency-exit rows that provide additional legroom, all seats look the identical.
Nonetheless, whenever you go browsing to e book a Southwest ticket, you would possibly discover three totally different fare varieties being offered:
If all of the fares put you in the identical sort of seat, what’s the distinction?
Wanna Get Away fares supply vacationers the perfect worth, whereas Enterprise Choose fares supply probably the most flexibility. The fares within the center, referred to as Anytime fares, fall someplace in between.
What are Anytime fares on Southwest Airways?
Southwest Anytime fares supply the perfect ratio of flexibility to value. Though this ticket sort prices extra, it comes with tangible perks, akin to greater rewards incomes charges on the price of your flight in addition to a versatile change and cancellation coverage.
Right here’s what you’ll be able to anticipate from reserving a Southwest Anytime fare:
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Earn 10x Fast Rewards factors per greenback.
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A full refund to your unique type of cost so long as you cancel your flight at the very least 10 minutes earlier than departure.
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Free same-day flight adjustments so long as there’s an open seat on a flight going to the identical vacation spot as your unique ticket.
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As much as two free checked baggage per particular person listed on the reservation — included with all fare varieties.
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Free in-flight leisure in your private machine — included with all fare varieties.
What’s the distinction among the many three Southwest fare varieties?
Every of the three fare varieties provides one thing distinctive to Southwest passengers — be it low value, change and cancellation flexibility, or precedence boarding. Your desire is dependent upon your journey fashion.
Southwest Wanna Get Away fare vs. Anytime fare
As a Fast Rewards program member, you earn 10 factors per greenback spent in your Anytime ticket. Wanna Get Away fares earn rewards at a decrease fee of 6 factors per greenback.
Anytime fares are additionally eligible for same-day confirmed and standby adjustments. Wish to fly on an earlier flight going to the identical vacation spot? Get on an inventory at no additional value. Wanna Get Away flyers should pay the fare distinction for the privilege.
Maybe the largest distinction between the 2 fare varieties is that Southwest Anytime fares are refundable and Wanna Get Away fares are usually not.
Though you’ll be able to cancel a Wanna Get Away fare with out paying charges, the ticket worth is issued within the type of a flight credit score to your Southwest account, which you’ll apply towards a future flight. The voucher additionally expires a yr after you e book the ticket. Anytime fares are absolutely refundable, and your money isn’t caught in an airline account.
Southwest Enterprise Choose fare vs. Anytime fare
Southwest Enterprise Choose fares don’t truly imply you get to fly in enterprise class. Southwest doesn’t supply a enterprise class cabin on its flights, so as an alternative of soft seats and further legroom, the particular therapy is measured by way of additional advantages.
To begin with, at 12 factors per greenback, Enterprise Choose fares earn probably the most factors per greenback spent on tickets.
Moreover, by reserving a Enterprise Choose fare on Southwest Airways, you’re assured a precedence boarding place between A1 and A15. This boarding place provides you a greater likelihood of getting a most well-liked seat onboard due to the airline’s open seating coverage.
Anytime fares don’t robotically embrace precedence boarding, however you’ll be able to add Early Hen Examine-In by paying $15 to $25 per passenger per flight. This profit improves your seat choice choices by checking you in robotically 36 hours earlier than flight time — a full 12 hours earlier than basic check-in begins.
Nerdy tip: Passengers who e book Anytime fares have precedence over those that buy Wanna Get Away fares and add Early Hen Examine-In.
Enterprise Choose flyers additionally get to go within the Fly By® precedence queue for check-in and safety screening on the airport.
Learn how to e book Southwest Anytime fares
Southwest fares aren’t searchable on Google Flights or different on-line journey companies, akin to Orbitz or Expedia, so you need to search for airfare instantly with Southwest.
Go to southwest.com and the method from there may be fairly simple:
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Enter your metropolis pair and journey dates.
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Examine whether or not you want a one-way or a round-trip flight.
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Choose the variety of passengers.
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Resolve whether or not you need to pay with money or with Fast Rewards factors.

On the following web page, you’ll be offered with flight choices and accessible fare varieties: Wanna Get Away, Anytime and Enterprise Choose. The flights are listed chronologically primarily based on departure time.

In case your dates are versatile, choose the “Low Fare Calendar” button and store by flight value.

While you’re again on the flight choice display, navigate the cursor over every fare sort to see what number of Fast Rewards factors it earns. Observe that factors are awarded primarily based on the bottom fare with out taxes or charges.

Choose your most well-liked fare sort, on this case Anytime, and end your reserving by getting into your passenger info. If you happen to’re logged in to your Fast Rewards account, this info shall be pre-filled for you.

Finalize your buy by submitting cost and luxuriate in your journey.
Are Southwest Anytime fares value the additional value?
As at all times, the reply is dependent upon the a part of your journey expertise you worth most. Let’s take a extra detailed have a look at what to anticipate whenever you e book Anytime fares on Southwest.
Let’s use a one-way flight from Salt Lake Metropolis to Denver in Could 2022 as our instance in each comparisons. The parameters are as follows, considering a valuation of 1.4 cents per Fast Rewards level, as per BaghdadTime’s estimate.
Fast Rewards factors earned |
Approximate worth of Fast Rewards factors earned |
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The worth of Southwest Wanna Get Away vs. Anytime fares
Wanna Get Away fares are the least costly fares Southwest sells. They arrive with free cancellations, however not refunds. In addition they supply the bottom rewards incomes charges.
For an additional $30 on this explicit itinerary, you’ll be able to e book an Anytime fare with additional cancellation flexibility on prime of a better incomes fee value an additional $8 when in comparison with what you’d earn by reserving a Wanna Get Away ticket. Peace of thoughts could be value the additional $22 — after subtracting the worth you’d earn in factors.
The worth of Enterprise Choose vs. Anytime fares
A Enterprise Choose fare prices an additional $40 over the Anytime fare on the chosen flight. The Enterprise Choose fare robotically places you within the A1 by way of A15 boarding group, comes with airport perks and an additional 2 factors per greenback spent over the Anytime fare.
The additional earnings listed here are value simply $9, which leaves you with $31 in additional value. If precedence boarding is necessary to you, shopping for an Anytime fare and including Early Hen Examine-In could be a greater transfer right here.
If you wish to e book a Southwest Anytime fare
Anytime fares on Southwest present passengers with extra flexibility than Wanna Get Away fares however with fewer perks than Enterprise Choose fares. The additional rewards add fairly a little bit of worth over Wanna Get Away fares, and the beneficiant change and cancellation coverage — which is value its weight in gold at the present time — makes the additional value value contemplating.
Learn how to maximize your rewards
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