Cheap Pre-Labor Day Fares Fly the Coop

Four days after Southwest Airlines set off a stampede for cheap plane tickets, the discounter announced Tuesday that it had sold out the specially priced seats on its most popular routes, leaving only a few $25 one-way fares on short hauls after Labor Day.

Similarly, airlines such as United and American that had announced me-too fares in some markets said they also sold out cheap seats on flights before Labor Day.

The discount seats went quickly once the fares were announced Friday, with airlines reporting that their reservation systems were swamped by inquiries.

United reported that it sold 175,000 of its discounted tickets in the last four days. American said the volume of calls into its reservation centers doubled to 750,000 a day. And Southwest reported a record weekend and a record Monday for reservations taken.

As of Tuesday, the only fares available on Southwest included $25 one-way fares to Oakland, Phoenix and San Jose for travel between Labor Day and Halloween. United and American said it had sold out all of the cheap seats until after Labor Day.

The quick sellout was attributed to a low allocation of seats on each flight at the cut-rate prices. “At most, they had 25% of their capacity at these lower fares,” said Phil Roberts, chairman of the air transportation consulting firm of Roberts, Roach & Associates in Hayward.

But that didn’t dissuade travelers from trying to get one of the coveted seats. Reservation phone lines gave busy signals, lines snaked through airport terminals and even the airlines’ Internet Web sites were virtually inaccessible. Which left travel agents.

Sharrie Gibson, an agent in the Travel Store in Brentwood, said she has fielded 10 additional calls a day from customers seeking the discounted Southwest fares.

But it hasn’t been easy to book them, she said.

“It’s extremely frustrating,” she said. “People are under the impression that all they have to do is make a phone call, and they get a $50 ticket. Out of the calls I’ve taken, I’ve only actually sold two tickets.”