Southwest Offers Fliers A Free Ride Airline’s Promotion May Send Bargain Hunters Into Orbit

Bargain hunters who plan to travel within the next five months probably will drop the paper and pick up the phone after reading this story.

Southwest Airlines announced Wednesday that it would give free round-trip tickets for travel to selected cities to paying passengers departing Spokane International Airport between Jan. 22 and Feb. 5.

To get the ticket, passengers must travel from Spokane at any published fare, including discounted advance purchase fares. Upon boarding, passengers will receive tickets good for travel between Feb. 6 and May 22, 1996. No blackout dates apply.

The ticket will be good to the following cities: Boise, Burbank, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Oakland, Ontario (Calif.), Phoenix, Portland, Reno/Tahoe, Sacramento, San Diego, San Jose, Seattle and Tucson.

During a similar promotion for passengers departing from Seattle or Portland, which ends today, hundreds of Spokane residents flew to Seattle or Portland just to cash in on the free ticket. When they boarded the plane to return to Spokane, they received a ticket.

“We had people going over strictly to get the free ticket,” said Geno Bronchetti, manager of All World Travel in Spokane.

Jim and Julie Foster of Federal Way, south of Seattle, flew to Spokane with their two children last weekend because of the Southwest promotion. They visited family for a day and received four free tickets, with which they’ll take a family vacation to Disneyland.

“We wanted to go, but cost was a factor,” Jim Foster said. Alaska Airlines was offering a similar promotion out of Seattle, Foster said, but all the flights were booked, so they tried Southwest.

Attracting first-time customers like the Fosters is one of the goals of Southwest’s promotion, said Dave Yarbrough, Southwest’s Spokane area station manager.

While diligent bargain hunters can save money, the deal is structured to limit the number of people qualifying for the best buys.

When the promotion starts, it’ll be too late to get the lowest fares offered through 21-day advance purchase of tickets - such as $19 one way to Seattle. People looking to take a cheap flight to save money on one later will have to pay at least $84 - the cost of a 14-day advance purchase ticket, round-trip to Seattle or Portland.

The real deal will come from people who have, by chance, already booked cheap advance purchase tickets. The free tickets they’ll receive can be used on any flight and are transferable, Yarbrough said.

To some, transferable tickets mean an opportunity to make big bucks by selling the free tickets they receive. Though nothing prevents people from doing that, the tickets will be voided if Southwest finds out, Yarbrough said.

Southwest Airlines grew from a small Texas airline to an industry leader by offering low fares and quirky promotions. The airline has been serving Spokane International Airport only for two years, but already is the airport’s No. 2 largest carrier, after Horizon Air, said Mark Jucht, finance manager.

Jucht has been with the airport for eight years and never has seen an airline give away tickets. He anticipates a big rush on Southwest flights.

“People are going to be real excited,” Jucht said. “I need to run down and get some tickets. Can you hold on?”

, DataTimes