Finally Southwest has opened flight bookings till Jan 5th

I had written previously that Hilton had suckered me into a vacation by doing a presentation and paying only $167 for 3 nights stay, dinner for 2, 15k HHonors points, and a $200 voucher to use on my next Hilton stay and I decided I wanted to do it in Las Vegas close to New Years. I will be staying at the Trump hotel since it is the closest to the strip and one of their selected options. Just to let ya’ll know that using this deal on New Years incurs extra costs. I’ll be staying at another hotel on NYE.

Anyways I’ve been waiting for Southwest to open their flight availability for New Years and they finally have! Since SWA flies direct from HOU to LAS I wanted to see if this was a better option for redeeming my points since New Year is probably the most expensive flights for all airlines. For me it would cost 25,980 points which is better than the 37,500 on United or 50,000 points on AA or US Airways. Also the cheapest flights I’ve found is $423 on United.  So if you were making New Years plans, now you can with Southwest. The good thing about Southwest is that there is always award availability and you can always cancel prior to your flight without incurring any fees.

If you would like to know where southwest flies and where they offer non stop service from your airport, here is a fun Interactive Map to play with.

Happy Travel Planning!