<p>I recently signed up for the Southwest credit card so I could get the 50,000 points, but we have never flown Southwest. I notice they have a Wanna Get Away fare and an Anytime fare. Which would be best to book for travel to and from UA at Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks? When do you typically book air for your student for Thanksgiving and Christmas?<br>
This may be silly, but is there a better style/type of luggage that will make it easier for a student who has to fly to and from college? D will definitely have 1 stop where she’ll have to change planes. Do you have any other travel advice for us?</p>
<p>On when to book Christmas, we waited until we knew what day our son would be done with finals and other projects (CBHP) before we booked. On which fare to book, we always to the cheapest. Son didn’t have room in his luggage (one carry-on, one backpack) to bring everything (Christmas gifts, etc) back to school from Christmas break.</p>
<p>^ book which ever is cheapest! It’s not like they have different seating or anything. We have booked Christmas flights as soon as we know when finals are held for DSs classes. If you want to book earlier and still make sure all finals are covered student can always fly out Sat. (taking the 9am shuttle to the airport).
Great thing about SW of course, is that if you find you need to change your flight there’s no fees and you bank and extra funds until you need them.
If she’s checking luggage then changing planes is not a worry, they will check your luggage through to your destination. Otherwise a rolling carryon that fits sideways down the aisle is the way to go.</p>
<p>Southwest does not charge for checked bags, so you should be able to bring more than one carry-on and one backpack without incurring additional charges.</p>
<p>the difference in the different fares is the amount of restrictions on the tickets. the wanna get away has the most restrictions. </p>
<p>for instance, with that ticket, you can’t go to the airport and take an earlier flight without an extra charge, but with a same priced ticket on continental you can.</p>
<p>the good thing about sw is that you can cancel the ticket and still have the money in credit.</p>
<p>for short trips home (no checked baggage) we use cont. if she has lots of stuff to bring home, sw.</p>
<p>We have always just gone with the Wanna Get Away fares. We check the final exams list as soon as they’re available and book according to that. If it turns out his last class wasn’t going to have a final (has yet to happen) I figured getting a flight sooner (mid-week) would be easier to switch to (and with no fees :)). </p>
<p>S doesn’t come home for Thanksgiving so I can’t comment on that. I figure it would be good to do as soon as SW has those open for purchase as they goo fast. One thing about this next year to keep in mind is the Iron bowl (Auburn) is a home game this year. DS loved being able to go to that game his first year and opted not to spend it with hubby’s family in NY. </p>
<p>My S loves the SW free checked bag, since he too has a switch he can opt to travel carry-on with only backpack (really light) and move around connecting airport with no worries about keeping track of another piece. We have learned that like AL34 said, carry-on should be something your D can walk sideways with down the aisle - or skinny enough that it will actually roll down it.</p>