Friday Last Day to Take Advantage of Southwest Airlines $49 Ticket Sale

Update Due to the problems on their website during the promotion, Southwest has announced the sale has been extended until Friday.

For those looking to save money on airline tickets in the fall, you’re in luck, but you’ll have to act fast. Southwest Airlines recently launched a 72-hour sale for one-way fares ranging from $49 – $149, with travel dates between August 25 through December 16, 2015. This isn’t a one or two city promotion. There are $49 flights available to and from a large number of cities Southwest flies to making this a deal which many can take advantage of.

As long as you book your flight by today, you can take advantage of this deal. Even if you’ve purchased your ticket for these travel dates before the sale launched, you can search Southwest Airline’s website to see if you’re eligible for a lower fare. However, the following blackout dates do apply: September 3-5, 7, and November 20 – December 1, 2015. A complete list of the terms, conditions and exclusions can be found here.

As you run to your laptop, PC or smartphone to try to take advantage of this stellar offer, beware. Southwest Airline’s website has been experiencing issues with the overwhelming response by consumers to take advantage of the savings. Demand for these incredibly low fares has made it nearly impossible to book a trip, with many getting a warning that the portion of the site to book flights isn’t currently available.

The airline released a statement on Twitter Wednesday to complaining customers saying, “We currently are working to resolve the issue. We hope to have it back up soon.”

If you think booking your flight the old-fashioned way via telephone will make you smart in a world dependent on apps, and Internet connection when problems like this arise, you’d be wrong. Although Southwest advised customers having trouble to contact them by phone, those who followed this advice spent an average of 30 to 60 minutes on hold for customer service/booking.

“Our teams are continuing to work on identifying the functions impacted by the high customer demand,” Brandy King, a spokeswoman for Southwest said by e-mail. She said the airline, based in Dallas, Texas began “closely monitoring” reports of the website problems around midday. Ms. King also could not confirm travelers’ messages on the airline’s Twitter page of related difficulties with the carrier’s mobile application and flight check-ins.

Airlines in the U.S. most often launch low-fare sales in the fall, after the busy summertime travel season.

Southwest’s home page still shows a message saying customers may experience difficulty while booking travel for this sale at the time of this writing. Still, those looking to get a great airline ticket deal may want to put up with the waits if they have the patience. These discounted fares could save you hundreds of dollars over what airlines usually charge for these flights, and it’s important to remember Southwest doesn’t charge baggage fees, which can make the fares even better compared to other airlines.