By Vamsi, RewardsGuru.club. Published October 29, 2026.
This offer ended on October 30, 2026. Southwest's Sweet holiday season travel sale closed at 11:59 p.m. Pacific on October 29, 2026. The fare comparison and blackout dates here are a record of that sale.
Checked on Thursday, October 29, 2026, the last day of the sale, on Southwest's sale page and the route-price files behind it. Fares and seats change by the hour; the terms quoted here are Southwest's own.
The short version: Southwest's "Sweet holiday season travel sale" has one-way fares as low as $59, booked by tonight, Thursday, October 29, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific, for travel from November 17, 2026 to March 3, 2027. Its blackout dates and weekday rules match, word for word, the Peak Travel Season Sale that ended October 14. We compared the two sales' price lists route by route. Of 6,424 routes on both, 5,555 are within $10 of their October 12 price. Nonstop fares did not move at the median, connecting fares rose a median $8, and 130 of the 136 routes at $59 are the same routes as last time. A handful moved a lot, in both directions.
The sale, in Southwest's words
Southwest's headline is "Sweet holiday season travel sale! One-way as low as* $59," and its offers page tags it "HOLIDAY TRAVEL INCLUDED." From the terms on the sale page:
- "21-day advance purchase required."
- "Purchase from October 27, 2026 at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time ("PT") through October 29, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. PT."
- "Travel valid November 17, 2026 through March 3, 2027."
- "Continental U.S. and interisland Hawaii travel valid Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays."
- "Fares valid on nonstop service where indicated; if not indicated, fares are valid on single connecting service."
- "Seats, days, and markets are limited."
The deadline is 11:59 p.m. Pacific, which is 1:59 a.m. Central and 2:59 a.m. Eastern on Friday, October 30. The 21-day rule sets the first day you can fly: a booking made today, Thursday, October 29, reaches Thursday, November 19 at the earliest.
Same rules as October 12, so what changed?
Southwest's sale page lists a "one-way starting at" fare for each route, and the page loads those prices from a file on southwest.com. The October 12 sale page is gone, but its price file is still on Southwest's site, next to this sale's file. We read both on October 29:
| Oct 12 sale | This sale | |
|---|---|---|
| Routes listed | 7,176 | 7,413 |
| Routes at $59 | 136 | 136 |
| Middle fare | $174 | $179 |
| Travel from | Nov 2 | Nov 17 |
On the 6,424 routes that appear in both lists:
- 4,154 list a higher starting fare now, 873 the same, 1,397 lower. The middle change is $7.
- 5,555 moved by $10 or less either way. Only 314 rose more than $20, and 76 fell more than $20.
- Nonstops held. On 1,532 nonstop routes the middle change is $0: 537 are unchanged, 561 went up and 434 came down.
- Connections drifted up. On 4,892 routes priced with one connection, the middle change is $8, and 3,593 went up.
- The $59 routes are the same routes. 130 of this sale's 136 routes at $59 were also $59 on October 12. They are short hops like Los Angeles to San Francisco or Las Vegas, Atlanta to Orlando, and Chicago Midway to St. Louis.
The bigger moves, each the same price in both directions:
| Route (nonstop) | Oct 12 sale | This sale |
|---|---|---|
| Nashville to Knoxville | $121 | $59 |
| Los Angeles to Oakland | $122 | $69 |
| Atlanta to Denver | $198 | $149 |
| Salt Lake City to Sacramento | $140 | $99 |
| Nashville to Dallas Love Field | $129 | $99 |
| Nashville to Denver | $89 | $168 |
| Orlando to Louisville | $99 | $178 |
| Cleveland to Denver | $109 | $209 |
| Boston to Kansas City | $140 | $209 |
| Nashville to San Francisco | $129 | $205 |
Hawaii nonstops from Oakland, San Diego and San Jose start at $196, down from $208. The Hawaii blackouts below still apply.
Southwest's sale page on October 29, departures from Nashville. Denver is $168 here; the October 12 file lists $89. Knoxville is $59; it was $121.
A "starting at" fare is the lowest sale price Southwest lists for that route across the whole travel window, not a price for every date. On the up to 40% off sale that ended October 22, one Hawaii search turned up a regular nonstop that was cheaper than the sale fare, so the price on your actual dates is the one that counts.
Points prices moved with the cash prices
The $59 fare costs 3,320 Rapid Rewards points plus $5.60 in government fees per one-way flight. Southwest's terms: "Points bookings do not include taxes, fees, and other government/airport charges of at least $5.60 per one-way flight."
That works out to about 1.6 cents per point on the $59 routes, and a middle of about 1.46 cents across all 7,413 routes. We value Rapid Rewards points at 1.3 cents, so at sale prices a point covers more fare than our average. The points prices followed the cash ones: 4,145 routes went up in both, 1,379 went down in both, and 873 were unchanged in both.
Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's: the same dates as October 12
The continental U.S. blackouts are "November 20, November 28, November 30, December 26, and December 28, 2026, January 2, January 18, and February 15, 2027," and Sundays are never valid inside the continental U.S. Booking today, the dates look like this:
| Date | Sale fare inside the continental U.S.? |
|---|---|
| Thursday, Nov 19 | Yes, earliest if booked today |
| Friday, Nov 20 | No, blacked out |
| Saturday, Nov 21 | Yes |
| Sunday, Nov 22 | No, Sundays not valid |
| Monday, Nov 23 to Friday, Nov 27 | Yes, Thanksgiving Day included |
| Saturday, Nov 28 | No, blacked out |
| Sunday, Nov 29 | No, Sundays not valid |
| Monday, Nov 30 | No, blacked out |
| Tuesday, Dec 1 | Yes |
| Monday, Dec 21 to Friday, Dec 25 | Yes, Christmas Eve and Day included |
| Saturday, Dec 26 to Monday, Dec 28 | No |
| Tuesday, Dec 29 to Friday, Jan 1 | Yes |
| Saturday, Jan 2 and Sunday, Jan 3 | No |
| Monday, Jan 4 | Yes |
So a Thanksgiving trip on sale fares comes home on Thanksgiving Day, Friday, November 27, or Tuesday, December 1. The Saturday, Sunday and Monday after the holiday are all closed, and the same three-day gap follows Christmas. Monday, January 18 and Monday, February 15 are blacked out too.
Hawaii, international, St. Thomas and Puerto Rico run on their own days:
- Leaving the continental U.S. for Hawaii, St. Thomas or an international destination: valid "Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays," blacked out "November 19-25, and December 17, 2026-January 5, 2027."
- Coming back: valid "Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays," blacked out "November 27-December 1, and December 17, 2026-January 5, 2027."
- Puerto Rico: "valid Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays."
That leaves no Hawaii or international Christmas on this sale: December 17 to January 5 is closed in both directions.
What the $59 fare is
The sale prices Southwest's Basic fare. In Southwest's terms, "Basic fares are nonrefundable and non-changeable except as allowed by our 24-hour cancellation policy," "Customers may be eligible for a flight credit if they cancel their flight at least 10 minutes prior to the flight's original scheduled departure time," and "Failure to cancel prior to departure will result in forfeiture of remaining funds on the reservation." Changing the trip "may result in an increase in fare." Sale fares "may be combined with other Southwest Airlines® combinable fares," with "the most restrictive fare's rules" applying.
Four Southwest sales in four weeks
This is the fourth Southwest sale to open in October: up to 40% off (booked October 5 to 8), the $59 Peak Travel Season Sale (October 12 to 14), up to 40% off again (October 19 to 22), and this one. We keep every sale we priced, with its dates and what it covered, in our record of every Southwest sale we priced, and the full day-by-day breakdown of the October 12 rules is in our Peak Travel Season Sale article.
The 21-day rule is the clock on Thanksgiving. Under the same rule, a flight on Monday, November 23 has to be booked by Monday, November 2, and one on Friday, November 27 by Friday, November 6.
Before you book
- Check your dates against the table above. Inside the continental U.S., Sundays never price at the sale fare, and neither does the Saturday to Monday after Thanksgiving or after Christmas.
- Search with your real dates on southwest.com. The "starting at" fare is the lowest on the list, and Southwest says "seats, days, and markets are limited."
- The booking window closes tonight, Thursday, October 29, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific, and every flight has to be at least 21 days out.
Related articles
- If You Think Southwest's Up to 40% Off Sale Always Gets You the Cheapest Seat, You May Be Wrong: On Los Angeles to Honolulu, the Regular Nonstop Was Cheaper
- Southwest's Up to 40% Off Sale Ends October 8: Which Holiday Days Are Still Open
- Southwest's Peak Travel Season Sale Covers Thanksgiving Week and Christmas From $59 One-Way, but Not the Weekend Flight Home (Book by October 14)
- Southwest's New Fall Sale Ends October 1. Check the Day of the Week First.
Do this with your own numbers
- Best card finder — paste a store link, see the best card and portal rate
- Purchase optimizer — run your own spending through the same numbers this article used