Southwest Up to 40% Off Sale: Which Fares Are Really Cheaper?

Offer ended October 23, 2026. Checked Oct 19 on southwest.com: the sale ends Oct 22 and includes some holiday dates, and on one Hawaii route the regular

By Vamsi, RewardsGuru.club. Published October 19, 2026, updated October 21, 2026.

This offer ended on October 23, 2026. Southwest's up to 40% off sale ended October 22, 2026. The way we checked it still works for the next Southwest sale: compare the strikethrough fare with the regular nonstop on the same day, in cash and in points.

Checked October 19, 2026 on southwest.com: the sale's own terms page and Southwest's fare search, one way, one adult, Basic fares. Fares include taxes and fees. Figures are as of October 19, 2026.

A sale that takes up to 40% off sounds like the cheapest way to fly, and on the night before Thanksgiving it was. Orlando to Los Angeles came in at $144.20 on one evening flight, with Southwest's own crossed-out price of $223.54 next to it.

Then we searched Los Angeles to Honolulu in January. The sale fares that day were two-stop connections, and the regular nonstop on the same day cost less than either of them.

TL;DR

What Southwest's terms say

Southwest's sale banner on southwest.com, read October 21, 2026: up to 40% off base fares, book by 10/22 for travel on select flights between 11/9/26 and 3/3/27, holiday and weekend travel included

From the sale's terms page: the savings are "valid for qualifying one-way or round trip fares booked on Southwest.com or swabiz.com" from "October 19, 2026 at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time" through "October 22, 2026 11:59 p.m. PT," for flights "flown between November 9, 2026-March 3, 2027."

The rules that decide which flights qualify:

The dates each route can fly

Southwest's terms set different days and blackouts by where the flight goes. Travel runs November 9, 2026 to March 3, 2027.

Route Days that qualify Blacked out
Within the continental U.S. Any day of the week Nov 28, Nov 29, Dec 26 to 28, Jan 2, Jan 3
Continental U.S. to Hawaii, St. Thomas or international Sundays to Wednesdays Nov 19 to 25, Dec 17 to Jan 5
Hawaii, St. Thomas or international back to the continental U.S. Tuesdays to Fridays Nov 27 to Dec 1, Dec 17 to Jan 5
To or from Puerto Rico Mondays to Thursdays Going: Nov 19 to 25 and Dec 17 to Jan 5. Coming back: Nov 27 to Dec 1 and Dec 17 to Jan 5

Interisland Hawaii flights aren't included. For the holidays inside the continental U.S., that works out to:

To Hawaii and international destinations, Thanksgiving week and December 17 to January 5 are blacked out entirely.

What six searches found

Every route below is on Southwest's own list of sale routes. We searched one date on each, inside the rules above.

Route and date Sale fare Crossed-out price Cheapest regular fare that day
Orlando to Los Angeles, Wed Nov 25 $144.20, one stop via Nashville, 8:40 p.m. $223.54 $214.40 nonstop
Los Angeles to Honolulu, Tue Jan 12 $183.19, two stops $277.17 $168.10 nonstop
Chicago Midway to San Diego, Tue Dec 22 none found $168.40 nonstop
Oakland to Orlando, Mon Dec 21 none found $273.20, one stop
Baltimore to San Juan, Mon Jan 11 none found $177.50 nonstop
Las Vegas to Cancún, Wed Jan 13 none found $313.25, one stop

Two things stand out. On Orlando to Los Angeles, the sale fare was about $70 under every other flight that day. It's a late flight with a stop in Nashville that lands at 1:25 a.m. on Thanksgiving. On Los Angeles to Honolulu, the strikethrough made the two-stop fares look like the deal, but the nonstop at the regular price was $15 cheaper.

Southwest's terms say "seats, days, and markets are limited," and our searches bear that out: four of six route-dates had no sale fare at all.

Points prices drop too

The same flights carry the sale in Rapid Rewards points. On the Thanksgiving-eve Orlando to Los Angeles flight, the Basic fare was 8,500 points plus $5.60, crossed out from 14,000, and every other flight that day was 16,000 points. Against the $144.20 cash fare, those points are worth 1.63 cents each, above the 1.3 cents we value Southwest points at.

Honolulu repeated the cash pattern. The two-stop sale fares were 12,500 points, crossed out from 20,500, and the regular nonstop was 11,000 points plus $5.60.

Every sale route Southwest lists, by departure city

Southwest's sale page lists 2,033 routes from 118 departure cities. Being on this list means a route can carry sale fares on some flights and dates, not that every flight is discounted: four of our six searches above were on listed routes and found none. Use the date rules above when you search.

How to find the real sale fares

  1. Search on southwest.com. The discount only applies there and on SWABIZ, and it shows as a strikethrough on the base fare.
  2. Check the whole day, not the strikethrough. On our Honolulu search, the nonstop without the sale was the cheapest fare. Our guide to what a real Southwest deal looks like has more on reading the fare page.
  3. Check points too. The points price moved with the cash price on both routes we checked.
  4. Book the exact trip. Changing the itinerary later gives up the sale savings.

This is educational content, not financial advice. Fares and terms change often, so check the current fare on Southwest's site before you rely on it.

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