Quick answer: Southwest is offering up to 40% off base fares if you book by October 8, for travel October 26, 2026 to March 3, 2027. Bookings need 21 days advance purchase, and award prices drop too because points track cash fares.

Southwest just launched a fare sale with up to 40% off base fares — but you only have until October 8 to book, and travel has to fall between October 26, 2026 and March 3, 2027. For families who play the points game, this sale matters more than it looks: discounted cash fares can make your Rapid Rewards points worth two to three times their normal value.

Here’s the sale, the points math, and the Companion Pass play that turns it into nearly-free family travel.

The sale, plainly

• Book: October 5–8, 2026 (four days)
• Travel: October 26, 2026 – March 3, 2027, on select flights
• Discount: Up to 40% off base fares, applied automatically (you’ll see it as a strikethrough on the base fare)
• Advance purchase: 21 days required — no last-minute trips
• Blackout dates (continental US): Nov 20–23, Nov 28–30, Dec 18–22, Dec 24–29, Dec 31–Jan 4, Jan 18, Feb 12, Feb 15. International/Hawaii/San Juan routings have their own blackouts, and inter-island Hawaii flights are excluded.
• The discount comes off the base fare only — government taxes and fees still apply.

The practical read: Thanksgiving and Christmas are essentially blacked out, but early spring break (late Feb/early Mar 2027) is inside the window. If your kids’ spring break falls before March 3, this is your sale.

Why a fare sale makes your points more valuable

Southwest prices award tickets dynamically against the cash fare, so when cash fares drop 40%, the points price usually drops too — but not always proportionally. During sales, the cents-per-point you squeeze out can spike well above normal.

Normal Rapid Rewards redemptions land around 1.25–1.5 cents per point (TPG pegs them at 1.25¢, NerdWallet’s 2026 analysis at 1.4¢). During a previous Southwest sale, TPG found a Phoenix–Las Vegas flight priced at $136 cash going for just 3,000 points — 4.3 cents per point, triple the normal value. Hawaii routes were pricing at 2–3 cents per point.

The move: search your dates twice — once in dollars, once in points — and divide. If you’re getting 2¢+ per point, burn points. If it’s near 1.2¢, pay cash and save the points.

The Companion Pass: the real prize

One adult earning the Companion Pass changes the math for the whole family. Here’s how it works:

• Earn 135,000 qualifying points (or fly 100 one-way flights) in a calendar year
• Your designated companion then flies free on every Southwest flight you take — paid or award — paying only taxes and fees (from $5.60 each way)
• It’s valid for the rest of the year you earn it plus the entire next year — earn it in January and you get nearly two full years
• You can change your designated companion up to 3 times per year

For a family of four, the setup is: one parent earns the Pass, books their own ticket with points or cash, and one kid flies free on every trip. The other parent + kid book normally. You’ve just cut the family’s airfare roughly in half, permanently, for up to two years.

How families actually earn it: credit card welcome bonuses count. Southwest cardholders also get a 10,000-point head start each year, so the real target is ~125,000 points. Two Southwest card bonuses in the same calendar year can get most of the way there — and Chase Ultimate Rewards transfers to Southwest 1:1, so a Sapphire bonus can top it off. Timing matters enormously: you want those points to post in January, so apply in the fall and finish the spending requirement after the new year.

One timing note for this sale: a promotional Companion Pass some members earned earlier this year is valid January 5 – March 3, 2027 — which overlaps almost exactly with this sale’s travel window. If you hold one, this sale was built for you.

The family math

A family of four flying round-trip for spring break, booked during this sale:

Piece	Cash play	Points play
2 adult tickets at 40% off	Sale fare, ~$200–300 RT each	~13,000–20,000 Rapid Rewards points each at ~1.5¢/point
2 kids’ tickets	Same sale fare	One flies free via Companion Pass; the other on points or cash
Taxes/fees on the companion	—	From $5.60 each way

Concrete version: at 2¢+ per point during the sale, a $240 round-trip ticket costs ~12,000 points. Two parents’ tickets = 24,000 points, one kid rides free on the Companion Pass, and you’re covering a family of four’s flights for roughly the points from a single credit card welcome bonus.

Stacking plays

• Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards 1:1 to Southwest when you’re short on points — transfers are instant, and during a sale the effective value can beat every other Chase transfer partner for domestic trips.
• Book now, decide later. Southwest award tickets are easy to change or cancel, and Rapid Rewards points never expire. Lock in the sale pricing before October 8; you can adjust dates later.
• Check bags into the math. Checked bags are no longer free on most Southwest fares — typically a per-bag, per-way fee. For a family of four, bag fees can quietly add $200+ to a “cheap” fare. Factor it in before comparing against airlines where your card covers bags.
• Search the entire travel window. The sale covers five months — if your dates are flexible, the cheapest combinations are usually mid-January and late February.

Watch out

• Blackout dates kill the holidays. If you were hoping to fly home for Thanksgiving or Christmas on this sale, check the blackout list first — most of those dates are excluded.
• 21-day advance purchase. Spontaneous weekend trip next week? Not on this sale.
• “Up to 40%” is doing heavy lifting. The deepest discounts are on select routes and off-peak days. Your specific flight might be 10% off — still search in both dollars and points.
• The booking window is four days. October 8 is a hard deadline. This article is worthless after that.