Southwest should start flying to these cities

[Taylor1487]

Several airports that many airlines fly to are not being serviced by Southwest. Here is a full list of airports that I think Southwest should start flying to:

Anchorage, Alaska (ANC)

Bakersfield, California (BFL)

Bangor, Maine (BGR)

Billings Logan, Montana (BIL)

Casper/Natrona County, Wyoming (CPR)

Chicago (O'Hare), Illinois (ORD)

Dover/Wilmington, Delaware (ILG)

Fairbanks, Alaska (FAI)

Fargo/Hector, North Dakota (FAR)

Fresno/Yosemite, California (FAT)

Green Bay, Wisconsin (GRB)

Honolulu, Hawaii (HNL)

Jackson, Mississippi (JAN)

Maui, Hawaii (JHM)

Miami, Florida (MIA)

Monterey, California (MRY)

New York (Kennedy), New York (JFK)

Palm Springs, California (PSP)

San Bernardino, California (SBD)

Sioux Falls, South Dakota (FSD)

Stockton, California (SCK)

Wheeling, West Virginia (HLG)

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pennsylvania (AVP)

Worcester, Massachusetts (ORH)

Yuma, Arizona (YUM)

Hopefully Southwest can start flying to these cities soon.

[rtbarron]

Hi Taylor!

You have some interesting airports on your list for Southwest to consider. I'm curious to know how you chose these particular airports.

Note that Southwest does plan to start service to Honolulu and Maui (OGG) soon.

Thanks for your suggestions!

[Taylor1487]

I chose these airports because they are among the largest cities in their respective states. Also, since Southwest does not fly to those airports, I know for a fact that people do not want to drive all the way to from where they live to another airport in another city that Southwest flies into. For example, I chose Yuma, Arizona because it's a big airport and Yuma is among the biggest cities in Arizona. Nobody wants to drive all the way to Phoenix or Tucson just to fly Southwest.

Another user mentioned that Fresno/Yosemite, California is another big airport in another densely populated city and would fill the gap of service between the Bay Area/Sacramento and Southern California. At the same time, I added Stockton and Bakersfield to the list because while those airports are smaller, the cities are also bigger. As the user further mentioned, Southwest markets itself as California's airline and rightfully so since California is a big state. 

Southwest serves most cities in Texas, since they are based in Dallas. Texas, like California, is another big state, hopefully they can start serving the entire United States in the future.

[Anderslc]

Oooh, I would LUV to see Southwest go to Fargo! Fargo-Moorhead is the biggest met area within a 4-ish hour drive in any direction. Growing rapidly with lots of travel to MCO, DEN, LAS and more!

[DancingDavidE]

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@Taylor1487 wrote:

Several airports that many airlines fly to are not being serviced by Southwest. Here is a full list of airports that I think Southwest should start flying to:

Chicago (O'Hare), Illinois (ORD)

Jackson, Mississippi (JAN)

Miami, Florida (MIA)

New York (Kennedy), New York (JFK)

Hopefully Southwest can start flying to these cities soon.

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Fun list, I'll second @rtbarron that I'm curious how you assembled this list. If you are personally flying to these sites then I think Southwest is interested to hear about it.

I can clarify a few from recent history:

• ORD will be extremely difficult due to shortage of gates. Having MDW as an alternative is a great thing in my opinion, even if it is a little further away for me. I agree it would open up Southwest to more customers in the Chicago area by having a few flights there. Some people in the Chicago North Shore suburbs can get to MKE in about as much time, also a Southwest airport, and in a few cases even taking Amtrak there without driving, although daily/weekly parking is relatively cheap compared to MDW or ORD. Actually from Evanston it would probably only be 15-20 minutes longer for me at certain times of day, I should try it one of these times myself. Right now midday it's only 15 minutes longer according to Google Maps.
• Jackson Southwest just recently stopped service after inheriting from AirTran, I would not expect them to return there if it didn't make sense a few years ago.
• MIA is another gate-constrained location, recently expansion building activity at FLL seems to indicate no urgency to get into MIA. American has MIA on a lockdown.
• JFK isn't one I know as well as some others - I understand it to be an expensive location to operate and offering limited advantages over LGA and EWR, and I suppose a few flights to Long Island. The international connections may benefit some passengers though. Probably hard to get gates, and expensive once you have them.

Edit: I don't know all the reasons to discontinue service in Jackson, MS. I'm sure it is complicated!

[Dkbrady52]

Palm Springs CA (PSP) is a a Airport Southwest should consider. There a several major events in the area such as Coachella, International Film Festivals, stage coach country music festival, major golf events and more. Not only would you service the valley but Riverside and other surrounding cities are close. I believe SW is losing revenue y not being there. All other major airlines fly from this airport. 

[CareforNOLA]

Southwest announced in Oct 2020 that they are restarting service to Jackson MS in 2021.  

So so many good places to eat in Jackson — Drago’s, Brent’s, Walker’s, bully’s, just to name a few, and the Buttermilk Sky Pie Shop, for dessert.

[LindseyD]

I'm loving the knowledge and research represented in this thread. Thanks for starting the convo, @Taylor1487. 

[DancingDavidE]

Dang, I had a response to this one but I don't see it here...I wonder if I forgot to hit send, or lost connectivity before it posted.

 Found it in the spam filter! Shouldn't mention "the other guys" by name 

[rtbarron]

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@DancingDavidE wrote:

Dang, I had a response to this one but I don't see it here...I wonder if I forgot to hit send, or lost connectivity before it posted.

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I saw and read your response yesterday but it disappeared before I could "like" it. Could be the work of hackers from some other airline community. Or sunspots.