My "Ding" announcment for cheap fares this morning also contains message:

"You are now free to travel thru August 3, 2006"

Anyone see a pattern?

Nope but I check them a couple of times daily when I start to "feel" like it might be getting close. Love getting from Indy to Las Vegas for $73 one way.

Yes, the're's a pattern.

The pattern is that they'll release new seats near the end of EVEN-NUMBERED months. Last week of October, December, February.

And fares are loaded for the next 5 and a half month or so.

<b><i>&quot;Ding! You are now free to book travel through September 12, 2006&quot;</i></b> - from today's Ding Alert

I see today that SW is booking thru March 9, 2007. It may have happened w/in the past few days, I didn't have &quot;Ding&quot; launched.

Last month (on Aug 18?) they had extended to January 9

fwiw

It was only until January, yesterday.

Keith

For Southwest booking window schedule extension it appears that the number of days remaining until the end of the booking window is the best predictor when the next jump is due. For the last 7 periods the minimum has been 100 days (10/26/05 to 02/03/06), and the maximum is 110 days (09/20/06 to 01/09/07). The adjustment was always made on a weekday, so my guess for the next adjustment is November 20-29.

dan g- Thanks! I have just been relying on my woman's intuition rather than statistics. I'm glad I have both tools now!

The new &quot;Ding&quot; service is selective - highlighting cheap fares for specific flights in the relatively immediate future. I was checking Southwest.com daily for internet specials to Vegas in January, and found new cheap rates on Tuesdays and Wednesdays but never did get any notice of these fares through &quot;Ding.&quot;