Southwest Airlines Community

Southwest's booking system currently isn't set up to handle foreign currency transactions, so they rely on flights where the demand is largely from the US and with people paying in USD. So if the demand leans towards arriving in Monterey, Mexico rather than departing from, then it could be possible for Southwest to consider it, especially if the demand is large enough. Otherwise, it might have to wait until Southwest has the ability to process foreign transactions.    -Andrew E DEN Based | Aviation Enthusiast ... View more

Southwest offers service from Nassau to Baltimore (BWI) and Fort Lauderdale (FLL).  NAS-FLL is daily; arriving in FLL at 3:30 pm NAS-BWI is seasonal and only on Saturdays; arriving in BWI at 4:05 pm Unfortunately the nonstop Saturday flight from BWI to LAX is at 4:05pm There is no nonstop from FLL to LAX, but there are some connections in both FLL and BWI, which probably all involve a plane change, and with a plane change in FLL/BWI, Southwest won't book a flight with more than one plane change. You can still do a manual multi-city reservation, but make sure you have enough time for every connection. ... View more

This is a leisure focused route, so Southwest seems to be operating 4 nonstop flights on Saturdays during the end of June and probably throughout the summer. Compared to now where they have daily flights between the pair.  https://www.southwest.com/air/flight-schedules/results.html?departureDate=2022-06-19&destinationAirportCode=MCO&originationAirportCode=PHL&scheduleViewType=weekly&timeOfDay=ALL_DAY   -Andrew E DEN Based | Aviation Enthusiast ... View more

I'm confused as to why you need to book more than 6 months out. Could you explain why you can't wait for Southwest to release the schedule which will probably happen by the end of the month?    -Andrew E DEN Based | Aviation Enthusiast ... View more

One reason could be because Southwest doesn't allow overnight connections. So if there is a flight that departs the next day, it has to be bought as a separate ticket. Another reason could be that Southwest just doesn't offer any connecting two stop itineraries between those two airports. Have you tried doing it with Las Vegas as the first airport rather than Oakland? Also make sure when selecting the flights that the next departing flight is at least 30 minutes after the scheduled arrival time of the previous flight since I believe that is the minimum connection time allowed.   If you do multi-city there are several options you could try: BLI-OAK OAK-HRL (One-stop)   BLI-LAS LAS-HRL (One-stop)   BLI-HOU (One-stop) HOU-HRL   Andrew E DEN Based | Aviation Enthusiast ... View more

Southwest did say that they were going to be focusing on rebuilding their pre-pandemic network rather than adding new destinations for awhile. That said, I cannot say if or when routes will resume. You can send them a message via any social media platform through comments or direct messages or you can send them a message through the contact us below.   Andrew E DEN Based | Aviation Enthusiast ... View more

Yes, the city of Rapid City is bigger than Bozeman, but if you look at passenger traffic which is what really matters for airlines, Bozeman is bigger. Pre-pandemic, Rapid City had 705,429 passengers while Bozeman had 1,573,860 passengers. In terms of the airport, Bozeman is twice as busy. So while there are many unserved cities by Southwest, I don't believe Rapid City is super high on the list. ... View more

There are plenty of airports that Southwest doesn't serve that are larger than Rapid City. Even with the tourism, I'd say most of the people going to those things are doing a road trip, especially Sturgis. Southwest is currently focused on rebuilding the network they had before the pandemic, so they won't be adding new destinations for awhile. Either comment on any of Southwest's social media posts or send them a message by using the contact us button below. Hopefully they'll put your request on their potentially long wishlist of their own.   Andrew E DEN Based | Aviation Enthusiast ... View more

Just to be clear. That's just my own analysis, so don't take my word for it 😄 ... View more

Burlington currently has around 165 weekly departures, that's larger than both Montrose (Telluride) and Hayden/Steamboat Springs as well as Bellingham and similar in size to Eugene, OR which are all recent additions to Southwest's network. There are several areas that I think are more likely to get Southwest service such as Harrisburg, PA and Knoxville, TN among several others. If Southwest did serve Burlington, I would guess it would be from Baltimore and Orlando with potential additional service to Chicago and Tampa.   You can request it by commenting on any Southwest social media post or below by clicking contact us. Route development usually takes years, so they might already be working on it. They have said that they're focusing on rebuilding their network prior to the pandemic and putting new cities on hold for awhile, so it might be 5 or more years.   Andrew E DEN based | Aviation Enthusiast ... View more

Do I have to check in to both the PHL to MDW flight & the MDW to LAS flight?        I would think I would need to check into both?    I've never flown a multi-leg Southwest flight, so I'm not sure with this, but I don't think so.   2.) If I check my bags in at PHL, will I need to pick them up in MDW or will they be transferred by Southwest to my next flight?    If the tickets were bought as one itinerary, there is no need to collect your bags and recheck them.   Andrew E DEN Based | Aviation Enthusiast ... View more

This is a seasonal (winter) flight that operates on Saturday only, so any other day will have a longer travel time. You can submit a request for more frequent operations by clicking Contact Us at the bottom of the page.   Andrew E DEN Based | Aviation Enthusiast ... View more

This route is a seasonal (winter) route that operates on Saturdays only, so any other day is going to have a lot longer of a travel time. Unless demand increases to justify daily or more frequent options, Southwest will keep it as Saturday only and may even opt to add more frequencies on Saturdays only. You can submit a request to Southwest below under Contact Us below.   Andrew E DEN Based | Aviation Enthusiast ... View more

This was probably before Southwest switched to their new scheduling system. The prior system was old and outdated and essentially only allowed Southwest to operate the same exact schedule everyday, not allowing them to adjust according to demand. The new Amadeus software enabled them to have a dynamic schedule, allowing Saturday or Sunday only flights as well as weekend only flights. So these days a lot of Southwest's schedule is consistent Sunday through Friday then all the flight times are different on Saturday since they seem to be a fan of Saturday only flights for those leisure markets. Southwest is first and foremost a low cost leisure airline, so they try to fly the peak travel days and times for particular routes plus leisure travelers typically schedule their vacations around the flight schedules since leisure travelers are more flexible than business travelers.    -Andrew E DEN based | Southwest Passenger | Aviation Enthusiast ... View more

For those that want an interactive route map right now, there's this website that you can use for all airlines: https://www.flightconnections.com/route-map-southwest-airlines-wn You just change the airline and it'll show their route map. It's not as up to date as the individual airline's website, but it does pretty well with keeping up on route changes!     -Andrew E DEN based | Southwest Passenger | Aviation Enthusiast ... View more

It's a little bit further but you can fly southwest to Fort Lauderdale from the Long Island/Islip airport. That said, it does seem to only be operated on Saturday and Sunday.   Southwest used the pandemic to expand to new markets since the aircraft were underutilized due to a drop in demand and because of that, they haven't fully restored their pre-pandemic network. Over the next five years, instead of expanding, they'll be working on rebuilding their pre-pandemic network since all the expansion they recently did would have been done over 5-10 years, but was implemented in two.   -Andrew E DEN Flyer | Southwest Passenger | Aviation Enthusiast ... View more

I'm sorry that you experienced this. I would agree with the above replies. I would also say that whenever you buy a ticket with any airline, you agree that the flight schedule could change though I've never heard of someone getting changed to a different day. Like others said, you can change your flight for free even to a more expensive flight because they changed it.    -Andrew DEN based | Southwest Passenger | Aviation Enthusiast ... View more

I keep forgetting that.  Here's a link with directions for anyone that needs them, you have to scroll down a bit. https://www.southwest.com/wifi/ *edit: this link is in the first reply   It's also in this entertainment guide (page 2): https://www.southwest.com/assets/pdfs/travel-extras/inflight_entertainment_guide.pdf   -Andrew DEN based | Southwest Passenger | Aviation Enthusiast ... View more

I'm also 0 for 3 😢   -Andrew DEN based | Southwest Passenger ... View more

There's a reason tickets say the time that boarding starts and usually say that the doors close 10 minutes before departure because the jetway needs to be pulled away and the aircraft pushed back after clearance from the tower. Plus, with Southwest, idk why you'd want to board later, so your arriving flight must have been really late with an already tight connection.   Now usually airlines know if they have connecting passengers arriving on a delayed arrival, so depending on how late it is, they'll usually hold the plane for you. It also depends on how many people they're waiting for. If they're just waiting for one person, they usually give the seat to a standby because it's easier to rebook 1 person than it is to rebook 10 people. If you're concerned about missing a connection, tell the flight attendant and they'll let the pilots know who will contact the gate agents at the arriving airport.    -Andrew DEN based | Southwest Passenger ... View more

Yea, way too long, didn't read it nor did I want to. This is a customer to customer forum so most people wouldn't be able to help you other than help explain what happened and why it happened, but even that isn't likely on here. Feel free to file a complaint to Southwest in the link provided in the first comment.    -Andrew DEN based | Southwest Passenger ... View more

Remove the confirmation number as said above, someone could in essence steal it.    You don't need your confirmation number to see if your flight is on time, you just need the flight number and can look at the status here:  https://www.southwest.com/air/flight-status/?clk=GSUBNAV-FLTSTATUS or search the flight number on Google or here https://flightaware.com   Again, you only need the flight number to see if it's on time, no need for confirmation number, that's for checkin in only.   -Andrew DEN based | Southwest Passenger   ... View more

Most airlines don't allow this due to "Hidden City Ticketing" where someone will buy a connecting flight with a stop in the city they actually want to go to because it's cheaper than a flight that ends in said city. Airline's don't like this and thus don't check bags just a partial way. This tends to not be a problem on Southwest because a connecting flight is generally more expensive due to paying a combined fair if I'm not mistaken. Sometimes a gate checked bag will be handed back to you at the stop over unless the next flight is on the same plane. But generally all bags are checked to the final destination to avoid passengers skipping out on their last flight. This is true except when arriving on an international flight into the US where you have to grab your checked bag and recheck or not if you're continuing on.   -Andrew DEN based | Southwest Passenger ... View more

Southwest operates their entertainment as a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and does not provide headphones. They are a low cost carrier. There are generally instructions in one of the folders in the seat back pocket. Basically you connect to the inflight wifi (no charge) unless you want to pay for internet, but the entertainment is fully supported and no need to pay for internet. Just connect and watch.   -Andrew DEN based | Southwest Passenger ... View more

It's unfortunate that happened to you. Now I don't know where you bought your new bag but the phrase "you get what you pay for" could be applied to the piece of luggage you bought as well. File a complaint for a damaged bag. Did you go to the southwest baggage office at the airport after picking up your bag? These things happen all the time, sometimes it's not even the airline but the airport's baggage system. ... View more

I know, I've had bags that had to come on a later flight but that was mainly because we got to the airport too late and our bags didn't make it through the baggage system and out to the aircraft in time or at least half of ours didn't. It was weird because our bags that didn't make it were the ones that were checked first and when into the baggage sorting system first. Must've been because they were on the bottom of the pile 😂   -Andrew DEN based | Southwest Flyer ... View more

What do you mean there's not enough time left? Right now is the best time to book flights for end of June, and through July. We haven't even reached the best time to buy tickets for August yet, so of course there's time. The only thing I can think of is that based on whatever job you have, you're not allowed to take time off until next year or something. If that's not the case, just take several weekend trips. Fly out Friday afternoon/evening the return on Sunday night or early Monday morning. That may not be your style, but it's the only way to get the vouchers used.   -Andrew DEN based | Southwest Flyer ... View more