So I'm looking into booking a flight to San Diego, drive a car to San Fran, and leave from there. I was looking at Southwest's rates and their "Wanna Get Away" is about $300 cheaper than regular flights. I couldn't really see any huge difference on their website between the two (maybe food and what not).

I was just wondering if anyone had ever tried this out and if so, is there any reason not to book it?

11/20/2009 9:50:08 PM

When we booked it, there were tons more restrictions on changing/canceling a ticket.

11/20/2009 9:51:21 PM

A bunch of us bought tickets on SW into San Jose spent a few days in San Fran then drove to LA and San Diego for a few days then flew back to Raleigh out of orange county through SW. It was under $300 total trip for air fare each. This was back in august

11/20/2009 10:06:53 PM

^^Yeah I was considering a trip like that, just without San Jose. Did you do this "Wanna Get Away" thing?

11/20/2009 10:12:20 PM

I don't know if it was through the "Wanna Get Away" thing...we had booked our tickets in June or something. We only flew into San Jose because it was cheaper than San Fran...we didn't actually do anything in San Jose except visit cdubya for dinner

11/20/2009 10:30:40 PM

The only thing that ive seen is you are in the "C" boarding class. so you get whatever is left regarding seating

11/21/2009 12:26:11 AM

the ''wanna get away" thing is just a special web price. it really doesn't change anything else. I have flown countless times to philly for less that $100 round trip on the wanna get away thing

11/21/2009 3:53:32 AM

Quote :

"The only thing that ive seen is you are in the "C" boarding class. so you get whatever is left regarding seating"

not true


only difference is that it is non-refundable, but you can apply the fare to another SW flight

11/21/2009 8:18:19 AM

^agreed, i've booked the wanna get away flights and typically get in "A" because it depends on how early you check in. Online check in 24 hours before flight.

Southwest has always been cheaper, and perfectly suitable even for a 5 hour flight. no reason to spend $100-$200 more for just a crappy pillow and blanket.

11/21/2009 8:21:58 AM

One way car rentals in CA are pricey. If you can go without a car, train is a lot cheaper.

11/21/2009 8:47:29 AM

Thanks for the tip^^ I might look into trains

11/21/2009 10:21:50 AM

the train is not going to be ideal going up to san francisco (it's ok from san diego to los angeles, but you'll probably want a car in southern california)

look for a cheap southwest ticket ($39) to SFO from either LA or SD

11/21/2009 11:18:11 AM

Sign up for airfarewatchdog.com and they will email you when there is a sale on the flight you want.

11/21/2009 11:59:51 AM

After looking at our options, I think we're just going to schedule a round-trip flight to San Fran for this trip. Maybe next summer look into Southern California.

11/21/2009 12:10:58 PM