Demand For Southwest Airlines Sale Fares Overwhelms Website

Getting outta town has been delayed until further notice.

Getting outta town has been delayed until further notice.

It’s probably not surprising that when Southwest Airlines announced a summer sale with one-way fares as cheap as $49, travelers were delighted. They were so delighted that they’ve overwhelmed the carrier’s site, making it difficult for customers to book new flights, or to print their boarding passes for travel that’s planned for, um, now.

Update: Southwest has extended the sale for an extra day, but website problems continue.

Problems with the website mean long waits on the phone, too: users report being unable to get through by phone or the company’s website. “The response from customers taking advantage of our recent sale is creating website performance issues,” a company spokesperson said in a statement to Bloomberg News, and the company’s social media team is also busy updating customers about the situation and soothing their anxieties about being deprived of discounted airfares.

The sale ends tomorrow night, and users are already requesting that it be extended into Friday.

At least the people who do manage to purchase tickets will get to board more efficiently?

Southwest Website Overwhelmed as $49 Airfares Spur Booking Surge [Bloomberg News]

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