Skip to main content

Southwest Airlines Community

Travel advisories for winter weather.....how does it work?

whitneyfam9
Explorer C

We are scheduled to fly out of Minneapolis this Saturday evening and our area is expected to get 1-2 inches of snow per hour for most of the afternoon.  I've never had to deal with travel advisories before so I'm wondering if we should expect to see a travel advisory issued in that situation and if so, how far in advance they usually post it.  We would love to be able to switch our flight on Friday so we can plan for it, but we're pretty much planning to go to the airport early on Saturday, just so we're there ahead of the storm and can get on a flight whenever possible.  Any advice of info is apprecaited!

5 REPLIES 5

Re: Travel advisories for winter weather.....how does it work?

dfwskier
Aviator A
Solution

Morning.

 

There's no easy answer to your question.

 

AIrlines issue travel advisories when they are reasonably certain that the weather will adversely impact their ability to run normal operations at an airport. They listen to weather reports and have their own weathermen on staff. If it's obviously going to be a big storm, then the advisories happen early. If it's less obvious, then the advisories come out nearer to the date of the arrival of the storm.

 

As I said, there's no easy answer. Just keep checking Southwest's website. If there's an advisory, you'll see it.

Re: Travel advisories for winter weather.....how does it work?

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@whitneyfam9 wrote:

We are scheduled to fly out of Minneapolis this Saturday evening and our area is expected to get 1-2 inches of snow per hour for most of the afternoon.  I've never had to deal with travel advisories before so I'm wondering if we should expect to see a travel advisory issued in that situation and if so, how far in advance they usually post it.  We would love to be able to switch our flight on Friday so we can plan for it, but we're pretty much planning to go to the airport early on Saturday, just so we're there ahead of the storm and can get on a flight whenever possible.  Any advice of info is apprecaited!


I would compare the current fares today - if there isn't a big increase for your route go ahead and make the change on your own if the upgrade cost isn't too high. 

 

Otherwise you plan to arrive at the airport early and try to standby has some merit - will you be checking luggage? Even if there isn't an advisory provided, the local airport can be affected and have their own delays. A same day advisory isn't always that helpful, it seems like these are usually offered for expected heavy storms or that will impact a wide swath of the service territory. Due to the geogrphay, I can see a scenario where MSP would be one of the few affected airports and maybe no advisory is issued, compared to the same storm going through MDW/MKE/CLE/IND/GRR/DTW leaving a massive upset to the network.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.

Re: Travel advisories for winter weather.....how does it work?

chgoflyer
Aviator A

An advisory has now been posted.

 

Midwest Winter Weather

 

I'd act fast to change your flight to Friday if possible. Good luck!

Re: Travel advisories for winter weather.....how does it work?

bec102896
Aviator A

@whitneyfam9 

 

Now that there is a weather advisory issued you can make 1 change to your reservation for free (within 14 days) as chgoflyer said i would act quickly before others do it and there are no other options. 

 

-Blake

 

 

Re: Travel advisories for winter weather.....how does it work?

dfwskier
Aviator A

@bec102896 wrote:

@whitneyfam9 

 

Now that there is a weather advisory issued you can make 1 change to your reservation for free (within 14 days) as chgoflyer said i would act quickly before others do it and there are no other options. 

 

-Blake

 

 


If the phone lines are jammed (likely), just send an e-mail including your confirmation number, and the airline will call you back. If you choose twitter, DO NOT include your confirmation number with your first send. Wait for DMs to start.