Southwest's sale takes up to 40% off base fares on flights booked October 5 to 8, 2026, for travel October 26 to March 3, 2027. The blackout dates by day of the week, which days each route can fly, and what's still open around the holidays.
Checked Monday, October 5, 2026, against the sale terms on Southwest's booking page. Fares change by the hour, so the strikethrough on Southwest's fare grid is the final word when you search.
TL;DR
From the Air Sale Terms and Conditions on southwest.com: "Up to 40 percent off promotion savings valid for qualifying one-way or round trip fares booked on Southwest.com® or swabiz.com from October 5, 2026 at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time ("PT") through October 8, 2026 11:59 p.m. PT (the "Booking Period"), and flown between October 26, 2026-March 3, 2027 (the "Travel Period")."
Two more lines shape every search: "Discount availability may vary by destination, flight, and day of the week, and won't be available on some flights that operate during very busy travel times and holiday periods," and "Discount is valid on new reservations only."
We added the day of the week to each date range in Southwest's list:
| Blacked out | Days of the week |
|---|---|
| November 20 to 23, 2026 | Friday to Monday |
| November 28 to 30, 2026 | Saturday to Monday |
| December 18 to 22, 2026 | Friday to Tuesday |
| December 24 to 29, 2026 | Thursday to Tuesday |
| December 31, 2026 to January 4, 2027 | Thursday to Monday |
| January 18, 2027 | Monday (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) |
| February 12, 2027 | Friday |
| February 15, 2027 | Monday (Presidents' Day) |
On top of the blackouts, continental U.S. travel is valid only "Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays." A Sunday flight isn't in the sale.
Read the dates against a calendar and two gaps show up:
Not being on the blackout list isn't a promise of a discount. Southwest's own line about "very busy travel times and holiday periods" means some flights on those days won't carry it. Search the exact day and look for the strikethrough on the base fare before you plan around it.
Flights between the continental U.S. and these places have their own blackouts and their own valid days:
The discount comes off the base fare, and the government taxes and fees are added after it, as usual. Southwest spells this out: "the Department of Transportation (DOT) requires advertised fares to include all government taxes and fees; however, this promotion applies to the base fare only." So on a flight with a $100 base fare, the most the sale takes off is $40, and the taxes and fees come on top of the $60 that's left.
"Up to" matters too. The 40% is the ceiling, not the rate on every flight.
This sale's terms don't mention Rapid Rewards point bookings. If you book with points, run the same search in points and compare before you assume the price moved.
Southwest's last nationwide sale closed on October 1; what it looked like and which days of the week it favored is in our coverage of it. For the full record of the sales we've priced this year and what a good Southwest fare actually looks like, see every Southwest sale we priced in 2026.