If you are not familiar with what this is, here's the scoop. Buddy passes are offered to Southwest airlines employees to give to their friends and family. These can be used as either a Round Trip ticket to and from anywhere Southwest flies, or it can be used as (2) one-way tickets.

When you use these things, you are flying standby. You cannot just book a flight and be guaranteed a seat. Basically, they put you on the plane if they have empty seats, so it is possible that you could get bumped. The SW employee that I got these from said that it is not that uncommon to get bumped for a few hours til the next flight, but she has never known of anyone not getting where they are going. Generally speaking, you can call ahead to see how full a plane is before showing up at the airport expecting to fly. That way you can avoid the hassle of having to wait around after you've been bounced. If the plane has lots of empty seats, you're pretty much good to go. If there are only a few empty seats, then you may end up waiting til the next plane shows up.

Anyway, I have 4 of these. 2 expire in April of 2010 and 2 expire in January 2010.

I'm gonna do pricing on these a little bit funny. Given then cashout pain in the @ss recently, I will give a small discount for those paying with Paypal or a small premium for those using PS or FTP, depending upon how you look at it.

These things routinely sell on eBay for $335 +/- each, so that is the Paypal price.
If you want to pay with PS or FTP (I would prefer PS), they're $360 each.

Anyway, if you have questions, PM me.

Str8Raiser

sorry to burst your bubble but the going rate on these things are more like $250-$300

Look at the completed auctions on eBay. They are selling for $339 all day long. The $250 ones are for the expiration dates that end shortly.

Besides, if I can't sell it here, i'll just put it for sale on eBay. No problem. I was just hoping to avoid the eBay fees by listing it here.

southwest is a discount airline not a ton of flights are over 335-360, and i imagine with that you still have to pay security fee, its not a very good deal considering you dont know when you arrive and may sit in the airport for a while.

where does southwest fly again?

Kilillan: http://southwest.com/travel_center/r...ml?ref=wwf_fgn

vanwilder10: You do realize that alot of those $350 flights you are talking about are one way, right? I'm sure you noticed that these passes can be used as either a round trip flight or two way way tickets, right? Go online to southwest.com and research the listed prices from one random city to the next. Then go to the bottom where it says explicitly that the prices listed are per person for each way of travel.

thank you for explaining how a round trip ticket works

Oh, you're welcome. And thank you for explaining what a lousy value these tickets are when you have clearly done no research whatsoever.

just wanted to pipe in and say me and my wife used buddy passes on southwest 2 weeks before christmas this past year with 0 problems or delays. Ive actually had more problems on conventional flights.

its a good deal and if I didnt have a new baby id probably jump on them.

Do you consider lowering asking price?
My research below.


Air Itinerary
Trip Date Day Stops Routing Flight Routing Details
Depart Oct 15 Thu Nonstop BDL-LAS 1447 Depart Hartford (BDL) at 10:45 AM
Arrive in Las Vegas (LAS) at 1:25 PM
Return Oct 19 Mon Nonstop LAS-BDL 775 Depart Las Vegas (LAS) at 1:00 PM
Arrive in Hartford (BDL) at 9:00 PM

Pricing
Passenger
Type Trip Routing Type of Fare Base Fare U.S.
Taxes PFC Security
Fee1 Passenger(s) Total
Adult Depart BDL-LAS Wanna Get Away $143.26 $14.34 $4.50 $2.50 1 $164.60
Return LAS-BDL Wanna Get Away $143.26 $14.34 $4.50 $2.50 1 $164.60

Total $286.52 $28.68 $9.00 $5.00 $329.20

gaffon,

I'd be happy to listen to offers, but my prices are pretty much based on what the market will bear, i.e. eBay.

The example you mention in your post is so far off the mark that I feel that I should address it. You are talking about booking travel now for a flight that doesn't take place for over 3 months. Additionally, you are talking about the "Wanna Get Away" fares that are non refundable. Further, you're talking about a flight leaving on a Thursday to Las Vegas and a return flight to Hartford on a Monday in October. Is that really representative of the peak time of year to be traveling? I think not.

That's hardly a fair test of what a standby ticket is primarily used for. The real value of these things is for flying on short notice. If you take the Thursday/Monday Hartford/Las Vegas example above and apply it to this week coming up the numbers are completely different.

You can't even book a "Wanna Get Away" fare for the Thursday flight on this much notice. Mimimum, you'd get stuck with the "Anytime" fare of $389 for the trip to LV. You could book the "Wanna Get Away" fare back for the return trip, but the cheapest the website shows for that is $291. This is plus all the taxes and fees you mentioned in your post, of course.

Now, since a buddy pass is primarily used this way as opposed to the scenario you mentioned, the $680 is a more realistic idea of what these things would be worth than the $286 you propose.

Feel free to add on whatever you feel is a fair value to represent the freedom that a buddy pass gives you for short notice flight vs. being locked into a non-refundable ticket 3+ months out, then subtract whatever you think is fair for the notion of flying standby and you have the real value of these passes.

I'm afraid all you've done with your example is line out the lowest possible value that someone could get from these passes. Non refundable tickets on non peak days in a slow travel time of the year booked 3+ months in advance and your price is actually pretty close to mine. You have used pretty much every crappy variable you could possibly think of to bring down the price, and you're still at $286.52. On the other hand, my tickets can be used ANYTIME to/from ANYWHERE Southwest Airline flies. As far as I am concerned, your example and the completed auctions on eBay have done nothing but validate my asking price.

If you have a serious offer, I'll listen, but you'll get nowhere with that sad little argument you just threw out there.

Well, I used non stop example for this flight, with one stop the RT will go around 250$ for the mentioned days.
I have my trip planned. I am sure I am not the only one who plan trips in advance.
Anytime and anywhere argument above is a joke, since duration of validity of cert. is limited within the exp. date. Your certificate is not too much different from non refundable fare, but with my ticket if I cancel the flight I can use credit for a year and with your certificate only before exp. date.
but, gl anyway, sorry for flooding ur thread if you feel like I did it on purpose.

just put it on ebay. no one here is gonna pay that much dough for SW standby tickets. As I clicked on this thread I was thinking I'd offer $300 for both with some flexibility. ebay = the market.

Hobb,

I think you're probably right. I'd really rather have sold them to a fellow 2+2er, but it seems clear that if I am going to get market value for these things, I'm gonna have to open them up to a bigger audience. Que sera sera.

I am curious about one thing though. In your post, you said you might make an offer on "both". What did you mean? $300 for 2 passes? OR did you mean $300 each for all four passes with the "both" meaning both expiration dates? If you meant the latter, we may be able to work out a deal, depending on what form of payment you have in mind. If you meant the former, thanks, but no thanks.

Either way, best of luck at the tables.

dude have you checked craigslist? these things are $250.00 tops and ebay has them for $275-$300

does it work if you are a foreigner (with a foreign passport ldo)
I am coming to the US in 3 weeks on the east coast, and that would be a really great opportunity to go to the west coast for cheap. Just let me know OP.

Robert,

Please quit being such an obvious tool. They are generally NOT available on eBay with these expiration dates for the prices that you are talking about, and anybody that cares to look can confirm that for themselves. You, sir, are a liar. I don't know what your agenda is, but please feel free to shut up.

Regarding your craigslist comment, there is some truth to that but it will vary widely from one market to the next. The benefit of doing business on craigslist is that you can deal in person face to face, so there is no worry about getting scammed.

The funny thing is that when I read your last comment, I went onto eBay and looked up what they were listed for and what they had sold for AGAIN just to make sure. Literally, while I was on there looking, another RT buddy pass sold for the $349 Buy It Now asking price. Check the time of this post and the one that shows sold at 23:23 PST 7/6/09 if you don't believe me.

If you are looking for some kind of a discount, you can forget it. I'll deal with others, but your money is no good here. If you're just looking to troll my ad for your own amusement, at least try to tell the truth at some point. It takes no effort at all to look up the completed ads on eBay to confirm that you have no clue.

JLBorLoo,

Check your PMs.

just wanted to give OP some love, these are a good deal. Or at the very least a fair representation of what these tickets are worth with the expiration dates.

It is definitely not fair to compare them to flights that you are pricing 3 months in advance, and these are a perfect solution for someone who needs to get somewhere quickly or unexpectedly.

+1

bump

theyre only worth what someone is going to pay for them.. throw them on ebay.

this!

I love how people who have no interest in my stuff just stick their noses in anyway.

Cmoneymaker9,

So by your logic, I should only post this ad on eBay because I have gotten more action there. Nevermind that I have had people PM me with reasonable offers here. How the f*ck am I supposed to know what someone is willing to pay here if I don't list the ad? What kind of idiotic logic are you using that you feel the need to say the most obvious thing ever? Of course they're worth whatever someone is willing to pay. Were you the economics champion of your kindergarten class of something?

If you are not interested in them, that's fine. Other people are. My problem with you is that nobody asked for your input. Feel free to take your unsolicited advice with you as you leave this conversation. In other words, mind your own business.


gaffon,

You said earlier that you were sorry for flooding this thread. Did something change? Did you somehow get the notion that anybody actually gives a sh*t what you have to say? If you have some reasonable example of why these tickets are overpriced, then I'm all ears, but I have offered my evidence (eBay completed auctions) already, and it pretty much shames whatever little chickensh*t example you came up with earlier. Try to compare apples to apples next time, bacause you just wound up looking stupid when you make that pathetic case you did before.

Better yet, go offer up your uninformed, unsolicited opinions in a strategy thread or something. I'm sure people are just dying to know what you think there.

Jesus are you dumb? Learn to read, I did not say you shouldn't post them here from the start, but when it is obvious that nobody is going to give you the amount you are looking for, why not go ahead and give up and go back to ebay where people are paying what you consider a "fair" price.

I'll repeat that for you, since we all know you need it repeated: You should post it on ebay because THEY ARE ONLY WORTH WHAT SOMEONE IS WILLING TO PAY FOR THEM. You obviously have gotten no takers here, and keep citing their price on ebay as to why you will not lower your asking amount, SO POST THEM THERE. If nobody on 2p2 is willing to pay your asking price - guess what - they arent worth your asking price on 2p2. If, on the other hand, people are paying what you want on ebay - guess what again - you should post them there instead. I love how you call it idiotic logic, yet obviously do not understand it in the least bit yourself. Wonder where that leaves your level of intelligence...