Mexico City

[Amgiord]

Are there any plans to fly to Mexico City in the future?

There used to be service there. 

[5280Av8r · Accepted solution]

Southwest dropped Mexico City because Southwest limits bookings to their website only and doesn't allow third party sales and was not able to accept foreign currency as payment. That said, looking at Mexico City, most of the demand originates in Mexico City going to the US. That immediately gives the local airlines such as Aeromexico and Volaris an advantage. Second, it meant that most customers were wanting to pay with Pesos rather than US dollars and SWA isn't set up for that. Contrast that with Cancun, Cabo, and Puerto Vallarta where most demand is vacation goers from the US to Mexico paying with US dollars. So, the only way for SWA to add Mexico City back is if the demand shifts to people originating in the US or if their system is developed to accept foreign currencies such as the Peso.

[parpitt1]

Makes sense, thanks for sharing!

[DancingDavidE]

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@5280Av8r wrote:

Southwest dropped Mexico City because Southwest limits bookings to their website only and doesn't allow third party sales and was not able to accept foreign currency as payment. That said, looking at Mexico City, most of the demand originates in Mexico City going to the US. That immediately gives the local airlines such as Aeromexico and Volaris an advantage. Second, it meant that most customers were wanting to pay with Pesos rather than US dollars and SWA isn't set up for that. Contrast that with Cancun, Cabo, and Puerto Vallarta where most demand is vacation goers from the US to Mexico paying with US dollars. So, the only way for SWA to add Mexico City back is if the demand shifts to people originating in the US or if their system is developed to accept foreign currencies such as the Peso.

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Some constraint there as well due to capacity, limiting it to Houston as a gateway is a disadvantage to other carriers with wider service especially since it is a lot more business flights than leisure.