It's hump day, people, so lose yourself in a fantasy of jetting off on a one-way flight to exotic Lubbock or Wichita, with one of Southwest Airlines' trademark ultra-cheap flights to ... somewhere.
Southwest announced yesterday that it would be offering a three-day sale on tickets for as low as $49 for one-way destinations around the region. You must book your flight sometime before this Thursday if you're going to get the deal, and your flight must fall between August 25 and December 17.
And this time, the fares seem actually, probably, maybe legit. That, as we learned recently, is not always the case.
This sale comes days after an announcement by the U.S. Department of Transportation that it would fine Southwest Airlines $200,000 for deceptive advertising last October. The company had advertised flights from Atlanta to New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles for $59 -- and then failed to offer any seats for that price. It was an unshocking revelation for anyone who's ever seen one of the airline's advertisements and promptly plotted a plush weekend getaway in St. Louis, only to visit the website and discover no seats at the advertised fares.
For now, it seems, this latest deal is as good as it sounds -- provided you act fast and schedule your flight for a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.
The nonexistent sale fares aren't the only PR struggle that has plagued the company this week. Southwest quietly announced today that employee Christopher Olivas is currently facing theft charges for stealing, coincidentally, a little over $200,000 in company gift cards to buy flights for himself, friends, and family.
So help out your local airline and spend your Wednesday dreaming away about that one way ticket to Odessa. Just remember, you're probably going to pay over $50 for that ticket with tax. So despite that old psychological pricing trick to make you think you're paying closer to $40 than $50, you're still paying a pretty decent amount, especially if you plan on actually coming back from Tulsa. Maybe just Megabus it?
