Southwest Airlines Community

Hello, Beantown!  Our new service to Boston’s Logan Airport is now available for sale! Five weekday nonstops each day between Boston/Logan and both Chicago/Midway and Baltimore/Washington will start on August 16, 2009—with connecting and direct service to 48 other Southwest destinations (I’ll get back to you later for specific terminal and gate information for Logan).  In fact, our entire schedule is now open all the way out through October 30, 2009…..so it’s time to book those fall excursions, y’all!   Since Southwest serves so many gateways in New England—Hartford, Providence, Manchester, and now Boston—sounds like a great time to go get some “lobstah” or do some “leaf peepin’”…..eyah???   But there’s far more than only Boston to talk about with the Fall 2009 Schedule.  This schedule contains some significant changes….and is very reflective of the economic environment that we all find ourselves in.  Given the uncertainty of the economy, diminished airline traffic, high energy prices, and about a zillion other factors we consider as we plan for future schedules, we’re being extremely cautious about how many flights we schedule for the August-October timeframe (traditionally among the slowest times of the year) as well as being incredibly focused on the departure time of each and every flight.  More than ever, we’ve used our schedule optimizer to help us trim flights that historically have departed at times that proved unpopular with our Customers—and you’ve told us by not flying on them!  To frame this with statistics (we’re really good at doing that here in Schedule Planning!), in the Summer 2009 schedule, about 80 percent of our flights departed in what we consider “prime time,” defined as 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.  By eliminating a number of unpopular flights that leave earlier than 7 a.m. or later than 7 p.m., in the schedule beginning August 16, that percentage increases to 86 percent.  That is, by far, the largest swing of this schedule measurement from one schedule to the next in our history.  While six points might not seem like much, remember that those six points are spread over a flight “base” of over 3,200 flights, so those six points represent a tremendous shift.   Of course—lest we freak those of you that use our very early and very late flights regularly out—we (obviously!) didn’t simply cut everything before 7 a.m. and after 7 p.m. Flights that have in the past been scheduled at those times and been popular should still remain in the schedule.  So if you’re an early bird or a night owl—and as long as there were enough of you on those early and late flights—we’ve still got you covered!   As an explanation to those of you who use very early flights on Friday mornings, or very late flights Friday or Sunday nights, that are eliminated in the August schedule...some of the flights we have trimmed in this schedule had decent loads on Fridays and/or Sundays, yet were very unpopular Monday through Thursday.   So why couldn’t we keep those flights only on the days they were popular?  The answer might surprise you.  Southwest is “built” to operate the same schedule, almost exactly, each day of the week, Monday through Friday, with Sundays from noon-ish on looking almost exactly like the afternoons from Monday through Friday (Saturday has always been its own animal!).  Therefore, we had to look at each flight’s results as an average across the whole week, instead of more surgical trimming by specific day of the week.  We realize this constraint restricts what we can do with our schedule, and the concept of day-of-week schedule variations is intriguing to us.  Who knows—this might be the subject of an entire blog post later.    Getting into the specifics of the August 2009 schedule compared to  Summer 2009…we’re bringing  back nonstops between Little Rock and Phoenix, in addition to the new service between Boston and both Chicago and Baltimore.  We’re also reducing frequency in a total of 81 markets—so this is easily one of most aggressive schedule reductions we’ve ever undertaken.  However, again, remember that the vast majority of flights we’re cutting are from the “margins” of the day that (for the most part) you guys didn’t use anyway.  We’re eliminating nonstop service in only three nonstop markets—Cleveland to/from Orlando, Indianapolis to/from Jacksonville, and Norfolk to/from Las Vegas—and all three of these markets will retain many direct and/or connecting itineraries.  The good news is that we’re actually adding service in six markets, and keeping the number of aircraft flying the exact same.    So….for the August Schedule, we’re opening a new city, shrinking the number of flights in the network, and keeping the number of aircraft in the air the exact same compared to the previous schedule.  What should this tell you?  That all of us at Southwest are creatively and aggressively responding to market conditions (both in the economy and in the state of aviation industry)…yet those moves are tempered with a healthy dose of “maintaining who we are.”  (Talk about your conundrums!)    We’re very hopeful that we can resume our growth as soon as the economy begins to rebound—and we’re certain that, eventually, it will.    I recently sat down with our Executive Vice President of Strategy and Planning, Bob Jordan to get his insight on Southwest’s network growth strategy in this challenging environment, here are a few quotes from that discussion:   How would you describe our current growth strategy? We are introducing our low fares and convenient service to new, untapped markets by tapping aircraft time, made available through our schedule optimization, to those places Customers want to go. At the same time, we are showing that we can successfully enter a new market with a conservative investment. This tactic somewhat mitigates the risk in this type of environment. Essentially, we are benefitting from the 38 year investment we’ve made in developing our brand and vast network by “connecting the dots.”   Why is it important to “tweak” our growth strategy in this environment? We realize that the majority of our Customers are changing their spending habits and we must adapt ourselves to our Customers’ needs. Flight optimization is a sophisticated approach to deploying our aircraft. Again, we know that some of our established markets have seen a drop in traffic due to higher energy costs and recession--but thanks to optimization, we’ve been able to adapt quickly, going where people want to fly at the times people want to fly.   If you have a question that you would like to ask Bob, join us for a “lunch with Bob” session on Twitter today at high noon Central Daylight Time!   Thanks for reading this, folks….and more importantly—thanks for your support (and I’m including both our loyal Customers and our wonderful Southwest Family in that statement!).  If you have any comments or questions—just post a comment to this blog.  I’ll be watching and will post responses as soon as I can.  (I’m really good at responding to comments while listening to American Idol!!!)  Happy booking, everyone. Have questions about today's Boston announcement? Leave them in the comment section below between 10:00am-11:00am CT and we'll ask our Executive Vice President of Strategic Planning, Bob Jordan.  A video with his answers will be posted on the blog later this afternoon.      ... View more

Wow.....it's happened!  Southwest Airlines service to and from New York's LaGuardia Airport (LGA) is now for sale.  Service starts June 28, and we'll offer five daily flights between LaGuardia and Chicago/Midway and three flights between LaGuardia and Baltimore/Washington. In New York, we will be operating from the Central Terminal, Concourse B.  In addition to the two nonstop destinations from LGA, we're offering direct and connecting service to 45 more destinations all across our system, from the West Coast to Florida to the Midwest to our home, Dallas Love Field.  We've done some interesting network design work--both up-front and behind the scenes--to make sure we take care of y'all, given the uniqueness of operating at LaGuardia, in true Southwest Airlines style.  As always, Southwest is putting our Customers first.  Gee, putting Customers first--talk about something new for air travellers in the Big Apple......... *grin* Because I know you'll ask--how were we able to schedule eight departures a day?  Simple.  Southwest received 14 daily slots for our operations at LGA (each takeoff and each landing requires a slot), which gives us authority for seven departures daily.  As a bonus--we're able to add an eighth flight by scheduling our first LGA-MDW departure in before slot controls start (prior to 7:00 a.m.) and putting the last MDW-LGA arrival after slot controls stop (after 9:59 p.m.).  Oops, I mispoke a bit here, and this is the correct info:  We were able to negotiate with the FAA for one additional slot for our first departure, and the last arrival reaches LGA after slot controls stop at 9:59 p.m. (Slot control begins at 6:00 a.m.) So even though we're new to this whole slot-controlled thing--we're already working to maximize our presence at LaGuardia.  Who knows what the future may bring! As a longtime Southwest Airlines Employee, I have to admit that the now-certainty of Southwest flying to LaGuardia is just darn near surreal to me.  I would have NEVER bet that this would happen five or ten years ago--but Southwest Airlines continues to evolve and adapt to changing market conditions, and this just is another step in that evolution.  But whatever else happens, I can promise you guys that we're going to serve the Big Apple in true Southwest Airlines style, with Big Smiles, Big Savings, Big Customer Service, and Big Reliability.  (Big Hair, as a Dallas-based carrier, will be optional.)  So c'mon....will it be Chinatown or on Riverside?  The New York Times or the Daily News?  Doesn't matter to us....just join us as Southwest enters a New York state of mind!   ... View more

Okay, just kidding.  April Fool’s!  Southwest could *never* start service to the mythical hometown of the Golden Girls’ favorite fool, Rose Nylund (although, according to Sophia Petrillo, the matriarch of the Miami foursome, Rose wasn’t a fool—she was “simpleton…but it’s a fine line between simpleton and fool”).  Besides, modern jetliners can’t land in St. Olaf….you’d have to land in St. Gustaf and transfer to a bus.  *grin*   However, starting May 26, Southwest will add three new nonstops each day between our newest destination—Minneapolis/St. Paul—and Denver , our Mega Station in the Mountains.  Southwest has been embraced by the people of Minnesota faster than Hotdish at a Lutheran pot-luck, and we are all VERY excited to add to our nonstop destination list from the Hubert Humphrey Terminal at MSP.  The Denver-Twin Cities market is a vibrant one of which we are VERY excited to be a part. As an added bonus, our new Denver service offers our Customers to and from MSP another convenient way to access our huge Western network.   So get ready, you guys—in less than two months Southwest will link up the land of Lefse , Lutefisk, and Lakes with land of Mountains , Mines, and the Mouse Trap (the interchange between I-25 and I-70).   It’s all bookable now at southwest.com or via your favorite reservations venue.    And lest I offend or leave out you students and alumni of the very real and amazing St. Olaf University in Norfthfield, MN…let me just say three words in honor of two of my dear friends who are St. Olaf alumni (hey, Carrie and Skluz!)….”UM! YAH! YAH!”     ... View more

WHITE SMOKE!  WE HAVE WINNERS!   You guys really came through--I received nearly 70 entries to the "Are You Smarter Than A Schedule Planner" contest.  I went through them, eliminated ones that violated the rules (primarily, curfew and balance), blanked out the entrant's names, then submitted them to the judges.  Some entries were very similar, but we're used to that.  There are always differences in line construction, turn time, and market timing in a schedule--which is what Schedule Planners juggle all of the time.    The three judges--Pete McGlade, Vice President of Schedule Planning, Adam Decaire, Director of Network Schedules, and Mike Friedman, Manager of Network Schedules--are totally used to deciding between very similar schedule candidates that come from different scenarios produced by our schedule Optimizer.  The discussion on Friday afternoon was spirited--it was specific--and it was a lot of fun!   After the smoke cleared, we had an Employee winner selected, but couldn't decide between the top two finalists in the non-Employee group.  So, we took a cue from this year's "American Idol" and decided to name TWO winners!  We'll be bringing *two* non-Employees, and their guests, for a wild day at Southwest Headquarters.   Our winners ARE:   Employee Category:  Chris Wehmeyer, Ramp Supervisor, Kansas City   Non-Employee Category: Mark Robinson, Colorado Brett Snyder, California   I'm going to try and e-mail many of you why your entry wasn't selected (I had the flu this weekend, so I'll do that while I'm conscious!), but other than violation of the basic rules (see a re-do of the .PDF file attached below), the majority of the "deal-breakers" can be categorized in the following general areas:   - Market timing.  Each market has an individual "time-of-day demand curve" but we all can kind of figure out what it is--if it's a business market, you want something in the morning and back in the evening, yet you don't want to go much earlier than 7:00 a.m. (local) or later than 8:00 p.m. (local).  Leisure markets are different--you want to fly into Vegas to get there around hotel check-in time, and want to leave just after hotel check-out time.  Entries were evaluated based on those admittedly subjective criteria.   - Through patterns.  As I said in the rules/hint sheet, onestop traffic is significant.  Entries that had the LAS-BWI flight as a Vegas originator didn't go far, nor did ones that didn't connect the BWI-MCI-OAK pucks.    - Turn times.  Our average turn time is between 25 and 30 minutes.  If aircraft on-the-ground times were outside our norms, entries were penalized.   Again--THANK YOU to all of you that entered the contest!  We'll post pictures and a chronicle of the celebration in Dallas on March 24.  And don't forget your scheduling "skills"....we may have a new challenge coming for you next year! ... View more

Many of you know that my mother passed away a little over a year ago (to read her tribute click here).  Since then, things have been....well...interesting.  I have a younger brother who is disabled, and I've been making sure he was okay (while maintaining a respectful distance) while trying to sell my parents' home of over 40 years (in which my brother still lives).  Timing of course, is everything--and we unfortunately timed putting my parents' home on the market at the exact same time as the biggest meltdown in the history of  American real estate.    However, after nearly 100 showings, the house has sold.  Thank you, dear friend and real estate agent extraordinaire Sandy T.!  We closed Friday, turned it over Monday, and spent the weekend clearing the house out.  The Officer (my son) and his wife came in for the weekend to help, and other helpers were my son's friends, as well as my best friend Kent and his daughters...and in retrospect, what could easily have been a very melancholy event was surprisingly celebratory.   Of course, the move-out was a LOT work.  While we'd moved a few things out of the house during the past year, the bulk of the furnishings Mom and Dad had were still there--and needed to get "placed."  My home is already full of way more furniture than I need, but I took the piano that I struggled for nine years to learn to play (unsuccessfully), as well as a console record player/"hi-fi" radio that Mom and Dad bought in 1959.  They bought it when they returned from their first weekend away from me after I was born--they went to the horse races at Oak Lawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and bet on a horse named "Billy Baby's Buddy."  The horse (a longshot) won.   Most of the stuff in the house, of course, is very pedestrian...glasswear, old kitchen equipment (including the electric bean pot in which my grandmother used to make her black-eyed peas every year for the reunion in Glen Rose), furniture, and bric-a-brac.  But other things we found were little surprising treasures:  School trophies.  Long-unused fishin' poles.  The satin sheets I bought my parents for Christmas, 1977, at Sanger-Harris (Daddy HATED them--said when they tried them he kept sliding off the bed, which gave me a mental visual I did NOT want to process!)  Pictures, of course....hundreds of pictures, each one a tiny snapshot of my family history.  One very personally important picture book of all of my early travels (I'll share some of those with y'all in a later blog post!). The goofy, weathered first-grade paper I did back in the early '60s that had a hand-drawn picture of the moon accompanied by a child-like scrawl that says "THE MOON IS OUR CLOSEST NEIGHBOR....HELLO, MOON!"   The amazing thing about cleaning out the house was not how much work it was (and it was a LOT)...but it was how much love we all felt.  Total catharsis.  Every item, every coffee table, every hidden surprise gave us a little shot of the love that the house had been filled with for so many years.  It also reminded us all of the stock that we come from--loving, sturdy people who refuse to let life's roadblocks get us down.  My mom and dad didn't--neither did Nannie, Mom's mother who raised three kids as a single mother during the Depression.  Nor did Bom-Bom, my paternal grandmother who raised a dozen (!!!!) kids with an abusive husband (my grandfather).  The house I grew up in, the one we just sold, contains all of those memories and values, the trophies and the scars, for better or for worse. And we will treasure all of those things forever.   It was a very melancholy moment driving away from the house for the last time Monday evening.  That place has 45 years of family life, trauma, living, and love imbedded it--and I'll never be in that house again.  But while my brother, my entire family, and I have all of those memories secure forever in our heads, it's time to turn it over.  The couple who bought it is a very nice, sweet young couple.  They're first-time homeowners, and will be bringing up their family in the house that my brother and I grew up in.  It was a great place to rear a family.  Joel and Sara will make it a great place to raise a family---again.   So goodbye, homestead.  It was great.  Treat your new owners well, please.  And good good luck and Godspeed, Joel and Sara.    ... View more

Queue the background sounds of the teletype, and then in your best "newsman voice" read the copy: THIS JUST IN: SOUTHWEST PLANS TO START SERVICE TO BOSTON LOGAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT LATER THIS YEAR! It’s true! We intend to add a third new city to our expanding route network in 2009, and this time it's Boston ! Of course….calling Boston a "new" city for Southwest is a little misleading. It certainly will be a new airport—but Southwest has actually served the Boston area for over a decade. We started with service to Providence , Rhode Island , in October 1996, and expanded our coverage of the metropolitan Boston area less than two years later by adding service to Manchester , New Hampshire , in the summer of 1998. We now have nearly 60 daily departures from the Boston area to nonstop destinations all over our network, with direct and connecting service to darn near every airport we serve. Our arrival in Boston later this year will complement that service so that travelers have several ways to choose Southwest from their favorite New England airport. This isn’t news, of course, but Boston has always been dear to our heart—we’ve been affiliated with the Boston Celtics for many years, so you guys KNOW us! So when we finally land at Logan —it’s going to be like the many scenes from the iconic sitcom set in Boston , “Cheers” when Norm walks into the bar.  When we start serving Logan —we’re thinking everyone will shout “HELLO, SOUTHWEST!”   Even with the addition of a third new city, we still plan to rein in our usual aggressive growth this year.  We’re able to capture new business in new Southwest markets by use of our schedule optimizer, which gives us the ability to develop schedules that improve our product and yet stay nimble and able to respond to market changes. We’ll announce where we’ll fly from Logan, and all of the other cool details, later. But for now—thanks for your support, and we’re working hard to make our network EVER more efficient to get y’all from where you are to where you want to be—and back!   Be sure and listen to the newest Red Belly Radio episode about our new Boston service.   ... View more

Faithful readers here at Nuts About Southwest! (as well as everyone who knows me!) realizes that I LOVE my job.  You could not find another job that I enjoy as much--I am lucky enough to have figured out what I most enjoy doing and have found a way to make a living doing it!  Writing a schedule is sort of like getting paid to work Rubik's Cube, play chess, and solve mysteries, all at the same time.  I'd do this job for free!  (But please...don't tell!)   A couple of years ago, we wanted to give people outside of Schedule Planning a taste of what it's like to write a schedule.  So, one of my former colleagues, Susan (shout out, Stich Woman!  We miss you, you shameless extrovert!), created "The Scheduling Game," a board game that closely approximates what we Schedulers go through as we write a schedule.  Market timing, curfews, turntime, equipment restrictions, utilization constraints, it's all in the game.   Want to try your hand?   Attached to this blog post are three .pdf files--one is a game board, one is the "rules of the game," and one is all of the flight "pucks" you have to incorporate into your schedule.  If you're interested, simply print out the three files (note:  the game board *must* be printed out on 8.5" X 14" paper!), read the rules, cut out the "pucks" (a color printer works best for these!), and try your hand at my stock-and-trade.  Simply arrange the "flights" on the game board until you're satisfied you've met all of the rules and that your schedule is the best that it can be.  When you've achieved schedule perfection, just glue (or tape) the flights onto the game board where you think they should be, then mail your entry to me at the following address: Bill Owen Southwest Airlines Schedule Planning,  HDQ1SP Post Office Box 36611 Dallas, Texas  75235 Read the rules page carefully, as they give you all the needed hints to write a GREAT schedule, Southwest style.  If you have questions, just post them as comments to this blog piece--I'll be watching and will answer ASAP.    OH....did I mention the Grand Prize?   Each entry we receive that meets all of the schedule rules (as defined in the "Schedule Rules" .pdf document) will  be evaluated by a panel of three judges from Southwest's Schedule Planning group, including our esteemed Vice President of Schedule Planning, Pete McGlade.  We'll be separating the entries into two categories:  one for Southwest Employees, and one for non-SWA Employees.  The entry selected by the judges as "BEST SCHEDULE in each category will be the winner!  Winners will be announced on this blog on Wednesday, March 11.  Then, on March 23, we'll fly the authors (and one guest each) of those schedules from the Southwest Airlines airport of their choice to Dallas, provide overnight accommodations, then on the 24th we'll treat them to a day at Southwest Airlines Headquarters.  (The Employee winner is responsible for securing his/her time off.)  We're still planning their "day at HDQ" but our current plans include a tour of the campus, meeting Southwest legends Herb Kelleher and Colleen Barrett, a behind-the-scenes tour of Dallas Love Field, lunch with the entire Schedule Planning Department and various other surprises before being flown back home.  (Note:  plans, and schedules, are subject to change!)    All entries must be postmarked by February 23, 2009.  Each entry must also include the following, clearly legible information: Contestant's name, daytime and evening telephone numbers, SWA Employee number and mail code (if the entrant is a Southwest Employee), age, mailing address, and e-mail address.  Winners must be 18 years or older.  Employees of other airlines and former members of Southwest Airlines Schedule Planning are not eligible to participate.  Only one entry per person, please. Transportation will be provided to and from Southwest Stations; transportation from the winner's home to the nearest Southwest Station is the responsibility of the winner.    Winning entries must adhere to all of the rules on the rules document.  Winners will be judged on the operability of the schedule, attractiveness of departure times, and onestop content.  The decision of the judges is final.   So.....are YOU smarter than a Schedule Planner?  Let's find out--and good luck!   ... View more

To quote lyrics from Rodgers' and Hammerstein’s “Carousel”—   “June is busting out all over, All over the meadows and the hills……”   Our June through August, 2009 schedule is now available for your perusal and purchase at southwest.com, so now's the time to "bust out" and book your trips to get out and see our Nation this Summer!   This schedule is, as always, a little different.  This time, though, most of the differences are quite subtle--pastels as opposed to paisleys, so to speak.  All of us in the Schedule Planning Department are really working hard to make Southwest’s schedule and its production processes more “nimble,” enhancing our ability to respond, closer-in, to rapidly changing market conditions.  This initial June Schedule was built to make future changes easier, and less disruptive, when we may (or may not!) need to make them.  These design goals aren't terribly obvious, but should make any needed changes after we allow you guys to start booking much less disruptive.   In general, the June schedule doesn't contain major structure changes, but I can promise you that in this economy, folks, we’re being more sensitive than ever to make sure our final schedule matches your travel needs as closely as possible.   We continue to fine-tune our network, trimming flights from unpopular “edges” of the day and adding new service and more efficient itineraries in markets to better reflect what y’all want.   Based on your feedback here on the Blog, we’ve got our Summer ’09 schedule out for sale roughly 150 days in advance, and have nearly 200 days of bookable inventory available to help you plan your warm-weather escapades **now** through out the upcoming Summer.    And the cool thing is we may make even more summer service for sale later on, as the economy—and our business—evolves.  In other words—stay tuned!   So start planning those Summer trips,  folks.  To beat the lyrics from "Carousel" to death----amazing beaches?  "You’ll never walk alone” on the beach when you fly Southwest to any of our coastal stations.  Majestic mountains?  “What’s the use of wonderin’” how beautiful our nation’s mountains are with Southwest’s great service to places in the Sierras, Cascades, Rockies, and Appalachians.  And bustling, dynamic cities?  Sing “If I LUVed you” to your sweetie as you wander the streets of metropolii like Chicago, San Francisco, D.C., Los Angeles, or Philadelphia arm-in-arm.  (Yes, I'm a Rodgers and Hammerstein junkie.) Happy booking everyone! ... View more

Most everyone knows that Southwest Airlines started our airline life as an intrastate carrier, flying between three Texas cities: Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston. Since that day in June of 1971, we've grown far beyond the borders of the Lone Star State --our "red-bellied warbirds" serve 64 airports (soon, with the addition of Minneapolis/St. Paul, 65!) airports in 32 (33 with Minnesota) states.  We now fly from sea to shining sea, border to border, we carry more Customers than any other airline on the planet, and our expansion continues.  But even though we're "all grown up" now, we haven't forgotten our routes--er, I mean, roots.    Even though we're really big now, Southwest still flies more intrastate flights each day than any other airline in America .  Each day we have more than 720 flights that take off and land in the same state.  And the kicker?  We have more flights within the state of California than we do within the state of Texas !  Southwest offers 362 daily intrastate California flights (Dude! Kewl!) compared with "just" 250 daily intrastate flights within second-place Texas (git a rope!).  Our intra-Cali franchise gets even bigger this May when we add brand-new nonstop service between San Francisco and the John Wayne Airport in Orange County with five daily flights in each direction.   Of course, this isn't just a two-way race--Southwest offers intrastate service in seven states.  Besides Texas and  California , we connect the major cities within  Nevada , Florida , Missouri , Washington , and Pennsylvania .  Nearly one in four Southwest flights is of the intrastate variety.  And there is potential for further intrastate growth—we serve multiple airports in four states ( Arizona , New York , Ohio , and Virginia ) yet don’t offer intrastate service between them. So, thanks, Texas, for getting us started.  Thanks, California, for helping us prove that for flights inside the Golden State, the smiles on our faces are more important than smiles on our airplanes.  Florida, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Washington, and Missouri--we'll try our best to help keep you connected!  And, everyone, keep watching our root map--I mean route map.  You never know which two dots we'll connect next!    ... View more

Now that the whole world knows which teams will be "duking it out" at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on February 1, Southwest is adding a few extra flights to help make getting to and from beautiful Tampa Bay during "Super Bowl Weekend" easier.  Saturday, January 31: Added flight 2618, departing Phoenix at 7:50 a.m., arriving nonstop in Tampa Bay at 1:40 p.m. Added flight 1800, departing Tampa at 2:05 p.m., arriving nonstop in Pittsburgh at 4:25 p.m. Added flight 2004, departing Pittsburgh at 4:55 p.m., arriving nonstop in Tampa Bay at 7:35 p.m. Monday, February 2: Added flight 2030, departing Tampa Bay at 9:50 a.m., arriving nonstop in Pittsburgh at 12:05 p.m. Added flight 2262, departing Pittsburgh at 12:35 p.m., arriving nonstop in Tampa Bay at 3:15 p.m. Added flight 2608, departing Tampa Bay at 3:45 p.m., arriving nonstop in Phoenix at 6:35 p.m.   Whether you're a Steelers fan or a Cardinals diehard (or if you just know a good party when you see it!) your ride to Tampa Bay is now available to book at www.southwest.com or by calling 1-800-I-FLY-SWA.  And if you're lucky enough to have tickets to the game, don't worry--you can watch all the crazy new commercials when you get home.  On YouTube.   *grin*   ... View more