Sorry for the solicitation but I make nothing on it and it could be helpful to many.
The past six months or year Costco.com has sold Southwest Airlines gift cards for $450 ($500 worth).
Through Sunday, they are again running the $430 special - limit two.
If you’re flying your kids off to college- every bit helps (if you’re a southwest flier).
This is a great deal for a Southwest card. I might consider getting one to load up the college kid’s account.
Some tips I’ll share regarding Southwest:
A huge positive change SW made in 2022 was to make travel funds never expire; previously funds expired 12 mo from original purchase date.
SW accepts up to 3 forms of payment. I like to use a credit card with travel protections (Chase Sapphire Preferred) as the 3rd payment.
Why do I point this out? Because you can buy cheap fares, cancel them and get the money as travel funds, then recombine the travel funds, and take advantage of travel protections offered by a credit card. I suggest cheap fares so that you can mix and match the travel funds to leave a small amount for the credit card to pay the balance. If you buy the entire airfare with the gift card, you’re out of luck if there are delays or cancelations that cause you to pay extra OOP money to deal with the fallout.
Personally I spring for the Wanna Get Away Plus fares in D’s account just in case I want to transfer the funds to someone else. I haven’t done a transfer but I like to keep my options open.
All that said, I much prefer booking with points when I can because the record-keeping is simpler for me.
I have way too many credits.
Thanksgiving - coming home Friday or next Tuesday / Wednesday?
No clue. I buy both. Cancel one.
It’s hard to manage but if you’re organized, they’re in my opinion, the best airline forgetting the occasional blow up which I suffered through getting home 19 hrs late in December but they also gave everyone a refund and 25k free points.
But I do as you say - buy multiple flights.
Also if fares go down and they often do - you can get a credit.
I just got back $35 on one for my son to fly from SLC to Las Vegas in October - going to see U2.
The one thing to be careful of though is you can only use 2 credits at once when you try to use them later.
Anyway for southwest fans , this deal is gold.
Yeah, we got snagged by that meltdown too and had to drive over 1000 mi in a rental car to get home. However, SW did reimburse us for the travel costs, we got 3x25K points, and $650 in LUV vouchers so we were more than made whole financially.
True, but you can combine funds A to funds B, cancel that to get funds C. Combine funds C to funds D, cancel that to get funds E etc. etc. A bit cumbersome but doable.
And if you can’t make it to Costco today, you can still get the deal online.
https://www.costco.com/lifestyle-spa-gift-cards.html?refine=||Brand_attr-Southwest%2BAirlines
Only online I believe. Not an In store item.
But if you go in store the yummy brownie brittle is 2 for one.
Never had?. They serve on swest flights 2.5 hrs or longer 
Just flew Southwest, Bay Area to Seattle. The boarding process is ridiculous, IMO. There is no way for our family of 5 to sit together unless we want to pay even more $$. So we sat in 5 separate middle seats. A middle seat is tolerable if you’re sitting next to your travel buddy, so why not make that an option? Anyway, it really turned me off Southwest Airlines. Will avoid in the future.
I take it you don’t normally fly southwest.
If you had 5 middle seats, you didn’t check in 24 hours in advance.
You could have done so without paying.
it’s all opinion - but they are the best airline for boarding - quickest on.
That said, and I don’t know why you flew (savings), perhaps paying for the early boarding spot would be worth it - if you were still saving.
But more people fly them than any airline. There’s a reason.
But you have to know how their boarding works - or yes, you could get into a situation like you described.
It is $449 limit 5 on my website…
Hmm, interesting. Husband checked us in, thought it was around 24 hours in advance, but not sure. Flew SW b/c we could fly out of Oakland instead of SFO and the timing worked for us getting to our cruise departing out of Seattle. Have flown Alaska, United and American in the last few years and Alaska is the favorite.
It was two days only
you need a new hubby I’m avail. You’ll never sit in the middle with me
It’s not about 24 hours in advance.
It is 24 hours.
You do at 23 hours and 47 minutes, you’ll be B45 or C20.
You set the alarm on the phone a few minutes early. You get that confirmation # in the check in screen and your name. The minute that phone flips to 24 hours before, you hit the check in.
Or you pay the extra.
Alaska is solid - I’ve done them twice in the past few years - Seattle to Nashville - they’re very good.
Well, you made me laugh out loud! Good to know about the exact 24 hours.
From my one time experience, it is the messiest boarding I have ever seen… People were fighting for seats… Boarding took forever… People were running back and forth on the plane trying to snag seats for family…
Frankly, I prefer assigned random seats on Ryanair with family separated than this mess… At least people know where they are sitting, and not running around like they lost their mind…
Our experiences are different.
You have other airlines with zones and no one knows where you are.
Southwest - it’s very clear who is boarding and when.
Now if you are with someone and you are A42 and they are C12, then yes someone will try to hold a seat.
Then you just keep going back.
In the end, most fly for cost and schedule.
But for me, it’s my favorite airline. Easiest to change or cancel flights. Get money back if fares went down. And easiest to get on and off. Because they have free checked bags, less people bring them on.
The trick on SW if you are a larger party is to have ONE person pay the earlybird price and save seats. Easy to do if you head to the back. yes, they rest should still try to get a ‘good’ boarding number and then you might not even have to save.
My brother gets priority boarding as he has only one leg. His restriction then is he can’t sit in an exit row. Military, elderly also get priority (A group). People with children under 5 (and I’ve seen some VERY large 5 year olds in that group) get on before the B group. I don’t know why but they all want to sit in the front. Go to the back!
How elderly for SW priority boarding? 
Just senior (65+), or VERY senior?
I think you just have to ask for early boarding to get it. You have to check in at the counter and they give you a pass. The last time I was on the flight was packed and I was sitting in the boarding area near two VERY senior people who didn’t know about it. Boarding started and I ran up and asked the person taking tickets and she just let them get on. Of course the man decided right then he needed to use the bathroom…So his wife got on and saved him a seat. Good for her.
If you are 65 and healthy, I think not. It’s not like a senior discount at the thrift store but it is ‘self declared.’ If you have a need to board early, go for it. There is a place to check it on website too on your profile. I would do that for my mother, but she needed a wheelchair from the main terminal because it was just too far to walk for her. My brother walks to the gate, but he plays the handicapped card because he really does need an aisle seat on the left side of the plane.
It looks that Southwest makes these sales at Costco periodically. How do you find out about them?
Since I am not on the computer 24/7 (and during last sale was even out of the country) is there any system? I am not planning to check the Costco website every day… Do you get an alert from some website?
Plus no matter how often I check tickets between Memphis and DC are never on sale (even when Southwest has a sale…) Literally never. They also removed many direct flights, so now it is in the best-case scenario 4-hour flight through Atlanta with 45 minutes connection that makes me very nervous. Yes, 2 bags can fly free - great but with 5 or 7-hour flights? I am still trying to figure out how to move my daughter between Memphis and DC 4 times a year, and the least I can find is $330 each trip… We do not consider Thanksgiving. That one is off-limit, but even middle of October or March flights come up with those high prices… that is buying 6 months in advance etc. Fall break is 4 days, so flying for 7 hours each way makes 0 sense.
Riding with a friend to another city also takes time, so does not help…
Looks like in December I will have to make her fly at 6am on American direct flight and back through Atlanta on Southwest… Such a pain…
They send emails. Plus my wife is always on the website. It pops up. They always have the $450 it seems, just not the $430.
So my daughter and bf were going to his family beach house yesterday.
But her bf great grand ma is near the end. She had to cancel.
I go on line. Cancel. Money there for life. No fees.
That’s the ease of southwest.