Big summer-fall fare sale- 3 days only

Travel demand and prices are bound to tumble after what could be the busiest summer travel season…ever.

So if you’ve been priced out of peak summer season, or have plans for trips in late summer or fall, Southwest Airlines has an airfare sale for you. 

Southwest kicked it off today with with fares starting at $100 roundtrip. From there, roundtrip fares rise in three more steps: $200, $260 and $300.

What’s nice about this sale is that it’s good for late summer trips starting as early as August 24— keep in mind that Labor Day is not until Monday, September 7 this year.

And summer is not officially over until September 21. That’s a nice window for a late summer trip!

Sample round trip fares include:

$100: All intra-California and Las Vegas flights, Atlanta-Raleigh or Richmond; Washington DC-Boston

$200: Atlanta-Boston, Chicago, Dallas or New York; SFO or LAX to Denver

$260: Denver-Atlanta; LAX or SFO to Dallas, Chicago, Austin; New York to Chicago or New Orleans

$300: Most transcon flights between New York, Baltimore, Atlanta or Boston and LAX, SFO, Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Diego Seattle

Expect other major airlines to match these low fares over the next 24 hours. (We’ll update this page with competitive matches as they roll out…see below)

Details of Southwest’s 72-hour sale:

>Must buy your tickets between now and Thursday, June 4 at 11:59 p.m. (in originating city).

>Travel window: August 24- December 16

>Not available on Fridays or Sundays

>Black out dates: Labor Day: September. 3-5 and 7. Thanksgiving: November 20 through December 1

>Only a handful of seats on each flight are on sale- you snooze, you lose.

>See Southwest website for other rules and restrictions, or to book trips.

**UPDATES: Airlines matching this sale so far JetBlue | Virgin America | American | United (limited) | Delta 

–Chris McGinnis

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: A lie-flat seat to avoid! + 10 more airports get immigration pre-clearance + Hotel chains’ Wi-Fi service ranked +  Toronto Airport’s new rail link