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Southwest Airlines Community

Lack of direct flights

Mikeyeggs
Explorer C

What is going on with Southwest with its lack of direct flights.  I check from both Newark and Philly and it really is terrible that to go to Las Vegas which used to be direct are no longer direct and a flight from Newark to Atlanta is also not direct.  Aren’t these locations very popular and should warrant a direct flight?

8 REPLIES 8

Re: Lack of direct flights

dfwskier
Aviator A

Hello. The flights may very well be popular. Apparently though, the airline has found a better way to make money fo it's owners, the stockholders. The airline does not have the planes or crew to fly everywhere it would like  to fly.  So it has to choose.

Re: Lack of direct flights

Mikeyeggs
Explorer C

Every airline has to answer to its shareholders but without direct flights, customers will find other airlines. That won’t bode too well for the stockholders 

Re: Lack of direct flights

CareforNOLA
Frequent Flyer A

@Mikeyeggs ,

I also wish the airlines had more direct flights, but their history is the short haul flyers in Texas and the Southwest.  Although they have grown to become an international carrier, they have kept their eye on keeping their traditional customer base happy and moved slowly on expansion into new areas like the NorthEast.  

 

Of course, they want your business, but they know that even their most loyal customers fly other airlines when those customers might not be in their heartbeat region.  They believe in performing well and growing well, rather than trying to take over the skies all at once.  Their “turn time” is very fast at some of their main airports (HOU, DAL, and Midway), that connections (or stops with no plane change) go pretty well for me.  (I have not had that experience with another large airport in the Chicago area unfortunately, so I try to avoid it (even if direct). And my running joke about ATL is that it is “the land of the gate change”, so never pass a flight screen without checking again to see if headed to the right gate.  So I know well your desire for direct flights.

 

Hopefully you will keep checking the SWA schedules, and at some point in the future, you will see the direct flight you need.  Safe travels in the meantime, regardless of what carrier you choose.

Re: Lack of direct flights

SWDigits
Aviator A
This is a random analogy but I really wish In-N-Out Burger had a presence on the East coast. But they don't so when I want a burger I have to go somewhere else... Though when I travel to the West coast I definitely stop at In-N-Out. Though you can bet I'll be happy as they continue to expand their presence.

Customer | Home airport DCA

Re: Lack of direct flights

Mikeyeggs
Explorer C

It’s funny that you mention In N Out as I wear my In N Out hat everyday. I love their burgers.   In N Out will not be headed to the east coast because they want to keep the quality of their meat fresh and not frozen. But if In N Out were on the east coast and then suddenly stopped selling on the east coast, I would be annoyed.  This is the feeling I am having with SW and their discontinued non stop flights.  If it is all about money then SW should start charging a small fee for checked bags like every other airline.  Even though I never check a bag and only travel with a carry on, I would assume if the fee was 1/4 of the price other airlines charge, the customers wouldn’t stop traveling SW.  Having connections to popular destinations will stop travelers from flying SW. Or they can even raise the price. I would be fine with that as well.  

Re: Lack of direct flights

SWDigits
Aviator A

@Mikeyeggs wrote:

But if In N Out were on the east coast and then suddenly stopped selling on the east coast, I would be annoyed.  This is the feeling I am having with SW and their discontinued non stop flights.



Point taken.

The airline industry is just brutally competitive and dynamic so all of the carriers need to constantly optimize and adjust. I *hope* the network planning team has some sort of qualitative factor to account for this when they remove/reduce frequency on city pairs but I have no clue.

Customer | Home airport DCA

Re: Lack of direct flights

Trixie
Explorer C

I am also very disappointed in the lack of direct flights from Islip Ny to Fort Lauderdale... I go to Key West which use to be a destiation for SW... there were two flights a day which I could connect to at FLL...

 

Now I must use a different airline which has only flightst to KW early in the day and the SW flights don't line up...at least I don't have to change termials...

 

 

Re: Lack of direct flights

dfwskier
Aviator A
Solution

If I were you, I'd contact the airline directly to let them know you'd like the service restored. To do so click on the "contact us" button below. You are on a customer to customer forum at the moment.

 

'The airline is short of planes . Between the MAX grounding, having to return planes whose leases have run out, and the start of Hawaii service, it has become a significant issue.