A Short Sale by Southwest Airlines Drops Fares to $40 One-Way on a Large Number of Routes

Today is Wednesday, and from now until Thursday night Southwest Airlines will be celebrating its 40th birthday by charging as little as $40 one way on numerous of the routes it flies within the United States. In the exact words of the Southwest press release: "Customers can purchase one-way tickets for $40, $80, or $120 to select destinations, based on length of travel. For travel up to 450 miles, fares are $40 one-way. For travel between 451 and 1,250 miles, fares are $80 one-way. For travel more than 1,251 miles, fares are $120 one-way. These fares are available for purchase through 11:59pm PDT June 23, 2011, for travel beginning Aug. 23, 2011, through Nov. 16, 2011. To see the list of available cities, prices, and to take advantage of these special fares, visit www.southwest.com ."

Southwest is thus matching, and improving upon, other sales for autumn travel launched last week by JetBlue and AirTran (AirTran now belongs to Southwest). The news is a wake-up call for all who have vaguely defined plans to travel somewhere this fall. If you're in that group, you might well want to quit daydreaming now and immediately focus on a calendar and make your travel decision. It's rumored that other airlines may well be matching Southwest's $40, $80 and $120 fares.

(And incidentally, the Associated Press has reported that the Southwest sale carries a lot of restrictions: no travel on Fridays and Sundays, blackout dates around Labor Day, and a limitation on the number of seats offered at the above $40, $80 and $120 prices).