Elimination of Non-stop Service between Washington Dulles -> Ft. Lauderdale

[LOWESISLAND]

For several years, SWA has had non-stop service between Washington Dulles (IAD) and Ft. Lauderdale (FLL).  The planes have always been quite full.

I see that in March, 2019, non-stop service will be substantially eliminated (basically Saturday and Sunday nights only) and then short thereafter, eliminated entirely.  

As a A-List Preferred, this is a really disappointing development.  For those who live further out of Washington DC, driving into Reagan National (DCA) is a real pain and costly.

What is caused Southwest to eliminate this route entirely?

[elijahbrantley]

I'm not sure you will get an answer here since this is a customer forum, but I certainly understand your concern! The same happened to me years ago on the BNA to GSP route. The planes were alyways full; that said, full planes don't necessarily equal profit. As I'm sure you know, there are so many variables, and airlines change their routes frequently to balance demand, growth goals, and profitability. I'm not sure there is any one specific reason for the schedule change. 

Hopefully things will change in the future to get that route back! Good luck .

[LOWESISLAND]

Thanks...   I'll send SWA an email on the topic.  I appreciate the feedback and concern.

It seems that SWA is forcing all their Washington Dulles traffic thru either ATL and DEN.  It's really crazy because SWA has a lot of flights from DCA Reagan.  Reagan annually has as much passenger traffic as Dulles and Dulles has way more capacity.  Seems like a real waste of taxpayer dollars to put in a huge airport that only handles as many passengers as a one runway airport.

Best,

[elijahbrantley]

To your point, my next trip from

Nashville to IAD is thru ATL both ways!