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August 2014 Schedule Now Available

Bill
Employee
Employee
Cancun Happy Monday, Southwest Airlines Customers!  This morning we extended our schedule out through Halloween—October 31, 2014—and it contains some REALLY great stuff. International conversion from AirTran to Southwest is marching right along!  We’re adding our first two cities in Mexico, completely converting service at San Jose Del Cabo to canyon blue airplanes with nonstops to Orange County on August 10, followed by conversion of Cabo-Denver service on October 7.  Over on the Yucatan Peninsula, we’ll begin the conversion of Cancun by moving our nonstops between Cancun and Atlanta, Baltimore/Washington, and Milwaukee on August 10, and will add Cancun-Denver service to that list effective October 7.  Note that, for now, we’ll leave existing nonstops between Cancun and Chicago/Midway as operated by AirTran.  That market’s conversion will happen later in the year.  Then at Nassau/Paradise Island, we will complete its conversion by shifting our Atlanta nonstops to Southwest. As before, we’re continuing a phased approach to “turning on” domestic points to connect to our new and growing international network.  With this schedule extension, we’re adding a lot more domestic cities, but in a very deliberate, multi-effective-dated approach.   A lot of people have asked “why not just flip the switch?”  Simple—caution!  Because international is a whole new arena for Southwest, with many new required processes and a new-to-Southwest computer system (the Altea suite by Amadeus), the Company is being deliberately cautious so as not to overwhelm the training and support groups.  This schedule in particular is probably the most complex in terms of the conversion schedules, with anywhere from two-to-eight added domestic origin/destination points coming online every couple of weeks or so.  Also, it’s important to note that just because a domestic origin/destination point is included on the list doesn’t necessarily mean it will have published international service.  Itineraries will generate based on our connection rules.  Please click here to find out about international service from your home airport. On our domestic network, we’ve also been busy.  In addition to continuing the integration of AirTran into the Southwest route network, as we move from the peak of the summer travel season into the quieter autumn months, we’ll say goodbye to a number of summer seasonal markets.  We’re also making some permanent schedule adjustments as well.  Effective August 10, we’ll convert all AirTran service at six domestic cities entirely to Southwest colors:  Austin, Columbus, Dayton, New York/LaGuardia, Oklahoma City, and Richmond.  Denver will follow on October 7 when we convert the Denver- San Jose Del Cabo service.  We’ll also convert five nonstop markets to be entirely served by Southwest.  Thirty-six seasonal nonstop markets will be discontinued, while two nonstop markets will be permanently discontinued:  Salt Lake City to both Portland, OR and Seattle/Tacoma.  In total, we’ll operate 3,514 AirTran and Southwest departures on a normal weekday. Despite all of the interesting schedule movements in this schedule, two very exciting elements aren’t included—those being our expansion at Dallas made possible by the end of the Wright Amendment on October 13, and the new service at Washington’s Reagan National Airport made possible by our recent slot award.  Both of those schedule packages will be announced at a later date, so don’t forget to check back here often! Additionally, now that we are offering great deals on new nonstop flights to Aruba, Cancun, Nassau, Montego Bay, and San Jose Cabo, you’ve got it made in the shade.  Check out our low fares on international flights here. Thanks for stopping by Nuts About Southwest and have a GREAT week!
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