(EXPIRED) Save 50% on Southwest base fares & awards with promo code WOW50

Update: This sale was supposed to end yesterday, but Southwest has now extended it through the end of today, 9/29.

Southwest is celebrating a Week of Wow and has kicked it off with a promotion giving 50% off both base fares and award tickets when using promo code WOW50.

The Deal

• Save 50% on base fares and award tickets with Southwest when using promo code WOW50.
• Direct link to offer.

Key Terms

• 50 percent promotion code savings valid for one-way or round trip Wanna Get Away and Wanna Get Away Plus fares booked on Southwest.com from September 26-29, 2023 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time (the “Booking Period”) and flown between October 24, 2023-March 6, 2024 (“Travel Period”).
• Continental U.S. travel blacked out November 17-22, 2023, November 25-27, 2023, December 21-23, 2023, December 26-30, 2023, January 1-2, 2024 January 6-7, 2024, February 16, 2024, and February 19, 2024. Travel to/from Orange County (SNA) blacked out October 24, 2023-December 31, 2023, January 1-2, 2024 January 6-7, 2024, February 16, 2024, and February 19, 2024. Travel to international/Hawaii/Puerto Rico blacked out November 17-19, 2023, December 15, 2023-January 8, 2024, January 11-13, 2024, and February 15-18, 2024. Travel from international/Hawaii/Puerto Rico blacked out November 24-27, 2023, December 15, 2023-January 8, 2024, January 15-16, 2024, and February 23-27, 2024.
• Promotion code savings are applied before government taxes and fees.
• Enter promotion code WOW50 in the Promo Code box when booking during the Booking Period.
• Seats and days are limited.
• If you have entered the promotion code WOW50 in the Promo Code box on Southwest.com or swabiz.com during the Booking Period, then while selecting your flights, savings in the base fare will be visible as a strike-through of the original fare on eligible flights.
• Discount availability may vary by destination, flight, and day of week, and won’t be available on some flights that operate during very busy travel times and holiday periods.
• Please note that the Department of Transportation (DOT) requires advertised fares to include all government taxes and fees; however, this promotion applies to the base fare only.

Quick Thoughts

This is an excellent deal if the route(s) you want to fly are eligible for this sale, but note that not every flight will be discounted. For example, I initially searched LGA-LAX and didn’t see any discounted tickets on the dates that I searched that within the promo dates.

I then checked ATL-LAX and there were discounted prices on some flights but not all on any given day.

On other routes though all flights received the discount by using promo code WOW50. For example, here’s ORF-ORD next month:

In case you’re looking at those prices and wondering why they’re not discounted by 50%, it’s because the 50% discount is applied to the base fare but not the taxes and fees.

What does get the full 50% discount is an award booking. Here’s the pricing for those same ORF-ORD flights when booked using Rapid Rewards points:

Seeing as Southwest allows free cancellations and changes, it could be worth making speculative bookings. If you have existing bookings that are more expensive than these newly discounted prices, you should be able to rebook easily to pocket the different in cash or points.

Note that you have to use promo code WOW50 by September 28 29. However, it’s worth booking ASAP as the lower prices will get booked up quickly.

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