Southwest Airlines Community

Hi all! I returned home from a business trip on Flight 3939 the other night...Orlando to Manchester. I stopped to chat with the Captain, and he was wearing a gorgeous necktie featuring all the Southwest 'theme' aircraft. He showed me the back label, but I honestly couldn't remember the maker of the tie. Can someone please help me locate this so I can ask for it for Christmas? Thank you! ... View more

Isn't there usually a really nice PDF that lists stations alphabetically with the + & - relative to their roster of flights? It's always a nice reference tool. ... View more

This is an excellent blog! I also loved going to Logan in the 1970s, seeing everything that this article describes and others! I recall TWA using the 747-SP, with 'Spirit of Boston' painted on the nose. I remember seeing my first Aer Lingus 747 at Logan and being shocked at the sight (it was always 707s, I thought). I remember the short-lived Braniff 747s ('Big Pumpkin') rotating through Logan serving various European cities like Brussels, Rome, Frankfurt, Paris. I remember United using 747s between Boston and San Francisco during the summer months. And, like you, I remember that 16th floor observation deck! Now, 'my' airport is Manchester and I'm very proud of it. Southwest saw great potential in Manchester as a way to 'capture' the Boston market before it had the opportunity to actually fly there. ... View more

TJ for President. ... View more

Please don't let Boston cannibalize Manchester and Providence. Those markets have been great performers for Southwest, and will continue to be. If Southwest can maintain a strong presence at OAK and SJC while opening SFO, they can surely maintain a good level of service at MHT and PVD while building Boston. I'm hoping for that kind of philosophy, anyway. ... View more

I remember back in the late 1990s when Southwest made their move into places like Providence and Manchester. The major network carriers laughed themselves horse: "Hah! an airline named 'Southwest' is going to come waltzing into the 'Northeast.' I guess no one told them about a thing called 'winter!' Fast-forward to today, when Southwest is often the only passenger airline flying their assets around with smarts and sense. As soon as PHL got snowbound, planes flying there from places like JAX and BNA would simply leapfrog PHL and head to our airport in Manchester instead. At the height of the storm in Providence, Southwest flew three empty planes up here where they could wait out the storm. Indeed, I've never seen such nimbleness and ad-hoc maneuvering of assets like Southwest does. Applause all around! ... View more

Sad to lose MHT-PHX, even temporarily. The worry up here in Manchester is that every addition at Boston will come at our expense. I do know we've done very well for Southwest and the numbers bear that out. ... View more

It'll take several months for Boston passengers to discover this, but Southwest does a great job of plowing through nasty northeast winter weather. Not bad for an airline named 'Southwest.' Up here in Manchester, I've recognized that during particularly bad winter storms, our airport often remains open. Between operations, there's enough time for plows to handle our 9,250-foot main runway. The crews take a lot of pride in their work, and so they should. But even so, delays, cancellations and diversions are part of winter life up here. Curiously, Southwest's planes do a better job of getting into and out of Manchester than some of the other more experienced airlines. If you're a fan of FlightAware, you'll see this at play during winter storms. Everyone at Southwest ought to be proud of their ability to service a part of the country that naysayers thought they'd humiliate themselves in. ... View more

Us armchair QB's might wonder about this, but the folks running Southwest are sharp. This might be the time for organic growth to give way to growth by acquisition. There are more than a few folks hoping that Denver-Manchester comes along for the ride. ... View more

Years ago, the major network carriers would have fought back on a move by a 'smaller' airline. Today, Southwest isn't 'small' and the major network carriers aren't so 'major' any more. They don't have the financial or operational strength to combat so-called 'encroachments' like these, which is why Southwest can march into places like LaGuardia, Boston, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and other key cities. I'm a resident of southern New Hampshire, and our airport in Manchester has to thank Southwest for its success. Do I worry about Manchester once Southwest opens Boston? Not really. San Jose is still a strong station even though SFO is now open, and Manchester is a proven market in its own right. ... View more

I'm a big MHT booster, and this news doesn't bother me. In the same way that Southwest didn't close SJC and OAK upon entering SFO, both MHT and PVD should be fine. Both of these small but strong stations have proven their worth and will continue to do so. The airline landscape has more 'shaking out' to do, and I believe Southwest is coming to Boston in order to be in place when it does. However, Southwest's 'low fares' have to come with an asterisk once you factor in the $7 drive through the tunnel and a massive parking-fee hike that Massport wants to institute (revenue problems, dontchaknow). Still, this is a good move from a strategic POV. ... View more

It was a master stroke. By not simply going after the LGA slots, Southwest was able to 'keep 'em guessing' about the real intent of their pursuit of ATA. Did they want more MDW? Did they want 737-800s? The speculation circled round and round, when in fact that real focus of the interest were those 14 slots at LaGuardia...no more, no less. And what better time to march into the Lion's Den of New York City than when legacy carriers are all pretty much discombobulated themselves and really unable to mount a counter-strike? These legacy carriers were just getting over the whole fuel-hedging master stroke by Southwest; now this. ... View more

Clever editing! I saw two different paint schemes on that single aircraft! Still, it's pretty impressive what you do. Here in Manchester I've watched as a 737 was stopped at the gate less than 30 SECONDS after wheels first touch the concrete. Of course, that means the captain needs to 'Whoa Nellie!' the aircraft to hit the correct turn-off from the runway! ... View more

Great addition MHT-FLL. Here in Manchester we're most certainly glad to have a nonstop to Ft. Lauderdale...our first to eastern Florida and a great service for cruise-bound New Englanders. Our casualties will be one nonstop each to Orlando and Baltimore, but this is a shrewd trade and one we're happy to make. ... View more

Can someone tell me the origin of the Internet slang, 'pwned?' I see it as a simple synonym for the word 'owned' (as in, 'He got owned on that play'). But I'm not getting the big deal over the simple exchange of the letter 'o' for the letter 'p.' The people who use the new vernacular see themselves as 'cool.' I'll replace the 'c' with an 'f' on that score. ... View more

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That's a great story! Any idea what the Registration number of this new plane is, so we can be on the lookout for it at Manchester (NH) Airport? ... View more

I'm not surprised. It's as much about available planes as anything else. SFO-BWI would be an eventual addition, to be sure, for excellent linkage up here to Manchester and also to Providence (not to mention ALB, ISP, and BDL). Indeed, from MHT to the west coast the only best choice is one-stop connecting service via United. SFO-BWI-MHT I'm sure would time in a little better in terms of total elapsed time. As long as the planes come, so too will the routes. Chris in NH ... View more

Your recount was great! I'm a brand-new reader to this blog, so I have much catching up to do. The great weather described and shown in your blog entry (at least with respect to SAN, PHX, TUL ) brought to mind the not-so-great weather on Valentine's Day up here in the northeast. I'm a fan of our 'little' airport here in Manchester, NH. MHT was knocked about during this storm...the same one that brought one of your competitors to its knees. But through it all, I noticed that 'Southwest' does perhaps the best job at tackling the worst weather that the 'northeast' has to offer. Your flights get into and out of MHT when others cannot (or will not). And you guys turn on a dime! If BWI is socked in (as it was), a normal MHT-BWI flight will instead head to its onward destination by over-flying BWI. I saw a lot of that, which even yielded a few transcon nonstops into and out of MHT! So my question is this: When crews are tightly scheduled to go from one flight to the next, what does that do to your plans when your MHT-BWI flight turns out to be MHT-TUL? ... View more

I am always impressed that an airline called 'Southwest' has managed to tackle the worst weather that the 'northeast' has to offer. In a book I co-wrote, called 'Manchester's Airport: Flying Through Time," we have a whole chapter of the 400+ page book devoted to Southwest Airlines. In it we talk about just how excellent Southwest is at flying through and into our region. When other airlines give up and divert elsewhere, Southwest routinely gets into and out of MHT. We're proud to have them here! ... View more

This is a great blog, and these 'Trip Report' entries are especially interesting. I just discovered the Blog, so I need to go back through the past year...which I happily will! I live near MHT in New Hampshire, so hopefully there are some Trip Reports that pass through our little airport. I co-wrote a book called "Manchester's Airport: Flying Through Time." I also founded the Manchester Airport Yahoo! Group in 1999. In the book we devote a full chapter to the arrival of Southwest Airlines to Manchester in 1998. We're very proud to have them here, and perhaps the most interesting observation I've seen is that an airline called 'Southwest' does a phenomenal job flying through the worst that the 'northeast' has to offer. I frequently check FlightAware.com when weather is bad. More often than not, Southwest's 737s get in and get out without problem. And what about snow? They handle it marvelously! ... View more