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International Flight Schedule

nancer
Explorer C

I know that Southwest flies to Liberia, Costa Rica from Houston (if I didn't know that, I'd be in trouble). Why, when I'm searching for flights from LAX to Costa Rica, can the website not factor in the layover/plane change in Houston to get to Costa Rica?! When I search for flights from LAX or SNA to Costa Rica, nothing comes up. When I search for flights from Houston to Costa Rica, I am given multiple options. It is frustrating that the website cannot seem to piece together the layovers to get me to my final destination.

I would like to know a way around this or where to find the table that states when certain cities fly to other countries (I found it once upon a time but now cannot). I want to plan a trip to Aruba too, but of course, I keep getting the message that no flights are available. I know that there are cities that fly to Aruba, but the website will not put two and two together to get me any connecting flights.

I love Southwest and flying with them, but this is extremely frustrating.

Someone please help!!!

3 REPLIES 3

Re: International Flight Schedule

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@nancerI would use the Low Fare Calendar in this case.

 

https://www.southwest.com/air/low-fare-calendar/select-dates.html?adultPassengersCount=1&currencyCod...

 

That will show dates that are unavailable for depature or return flights.

 

However, I think you may be running into an additional issue where Southwest's ticketing system doesn't allow an unlimited number of possible connections, and maybe someone else can elaborate but the software seems to not allow connections with long layovers, so if the combination of flights from LAX to HOU to Costa Rica requires a long layover it may not be an option that is presented.

 

Some of the international flights also leave early from HOU, FLL, BWI etc. and make it difficult for West Coast originations to make it to the gateway airport in time which might be another factor. Southwest doesn't book redeye flights or overnight layovers. If you were willing to take an overnight then you could book LAX-HOU and HOU-Costa Rica as separate flights, although this would expose you to irregular operations due to storm, etc. that could affect one leg of your trip but not the other. We'd all like to think the customer service operator would accomodate you in that case, but it wouldn't technically be required due to multiple reservations.

 

Anyway - try the Low Fare Calendar and see if that helps, if not maybe one of the other suggestions will help. The other thing to check is if a different gateway airport works better - obviously you won't want to go to FLL or BWI from LAX if you didn't have to, but maybe the departures from those sites line up better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Re: International Flight Schedule

nancer
Explorer C

I've looked at flights from LAX to HOU and then from HOU to LIR.

I guess my frustration is when I want to go somewhere else and I don't know where to start my search.

As I mentioned, I want to go to Aruba. Same thing - no flights show up. I could pick random cities (HOU, FLL, etc.) and see which ones fly there and when using the calendar, but that's a hassle.

There has to be an easier way. Or the website needs to make suggestions - hey, you can't fly from LAX to ____, BUT if you flew from City A, then you could get there.

It just is not intuitive at all. With their international flights, it would be great to find that table that lists what dates certain cities fly to foreign countries. I stumbled across it once and I can't seem to find it again 😞

Re: International Flight Schedule

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@nancer wrote:

I've looked at flights from LAX to HOU and then from HOU to LIR.

I guess my frustration is when I want to go somewhere else and I don't know where to start my search.

As I mentioned, I want to go to Aruba. Same thing - no flights show up. I could pick random cities (HOU, FLL, etc.) and see which ones fly there and when using the calendar, but that's a hassle.

There has to be an easier way. Or the website needs to make suggestions - hey, you can't fly from LAX to ____, BUT if you flew from City A, then you could get there.

It just is not intuitive at all. With their international flights, it would be great to find that table that lists what dates certain cities fly to foreign countries. I stumbled across it once and I can't seem to find it again 😞


If you go to the route map and click "nonstop only" you can see HOU and BWI are the only direct to LIR, and HOU, BWI, and FLL for San Jose (SJO). This is a good way to work the problem backwards. It doesn't show the days though, so you'd see partial or seasonal schedules once you dig in further.

 

https://www.southwest.com/travel_center/routemap_dyn.html

 

Aruba also has HOU, BWI, and FLL. 

 

You can also use FlightAware to see between two cities, but it doesn't automatically show connections. But if you go DEN to LIR for example, you can see that there is a published connection in Houston where there isn't one for LAX, so you'll most likely have to "build your own" itinerary to fly LAX to those destinations.

 

 

 

 

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