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I am trying to plan vacation travel for the next year and primarily fly out of ECP although PNS and VPS are viable options. I've been trying to find routes from ECP and I'm having a difficult time finding any consice list.
Currently I'm going on the Southwest Route Map, selecting ECP and then finding the highlighted cities. Initially this looks exciting seeing Cancun, Cozumel, Hawaii etc on the list. Then when you try to look at the actual flight schedule you notice that you either can't get there from here, can't return to your starting point, or the flight is seasonal with a one month window to fly.
Is there a centralized database of flights and schedules in and out of each airport? On the surface it seams like Southwest with a companion pass is the way to vacation but when it comes to scheudling a flight is seems like you just can't get there from here.
For example.
ECP to HNL will depart in July but there are no return flights.
Secondly there are more seasonal flights then regular flights.
ECP to CZM is only available in June/July/Aug
Thank for the help,
Richard
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First of all, wait for one of SW;s weekly fare sales (there is not one this week for the first time in a very long time), and then view fares between ECP and other cities. That will give you a better idea of general availability between city pairs.. Then pick one city pair and look at the low fare calendar to see flight availability on specific days.
RE Hawaii return flights, you are looking at connection issues - especially to a small place like Panama City. Southwest has a rule that a trip can't involve more than one plane change. So unless you can find a Hawaii flight that has direct service (no plane change) to a place that has direct (no plane change) service to ECP, then that is your problem. You can get around that by booking the legs separately That is more expensive , but potentially does get you back home.
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@dfwskier wrote:
RE Hawaii return flights, you are looking at connection issues - especially to a small place like Panama City. Southwest has a rule that a trip can't involve more than one plane change. So unless you can find a Hawaii flight that has direct service (no plane change) to a place that has direct (no plane change) service to ECP, then that is your problem. You can get around that by booking the legs separately That is more expensive , but potentially does get you back home.
I've used PNS and @kcautodoc you'll find PNS, VPS, and ECP all connect through some of the same cities - BNA, DAL, HOU, maybe BWI.
Hawaii will be a challenge to get all the way back to Florida in one day since Southwest doesn't offer redeyes - in that case I'd say PNS may be the location for you to try since they do have a later flight available usually all year there is something coming in from BNA on the late side.
There is a seasonal flight to MDW, or there used to be - that might be a good option if the timing works as well and your trip is during the summer.
Consider looking at "multi-city" booking in place of a single return trip that may let you book the separate trips from HNL to MDW, MDW to PNS/VPS/ECP for instance (or BNA).
Otherwise you may need to build in a layover somewhere for Hawaii trips.
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Okay. I am starting to understand now. It certainly makes it difficult to book anything interesting from ECP, VPS or PNS.
I am still surprized Southwest's system offers flights to a destination but does not offer any way of return.
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The problem is that Southwest does not operate red eye flights.
So for example, the earliest HNL/LAS flight gets into LAS at 4:45 pm. Allow 45 minutes for connections and the earliest you could leave LAS is 5:30 PM (8:30 ET). If you could hook on to a non stop flight you would get into ECP at 2:30AM the next day. If no non stop, but direct, it's even later. If you need a connection, you are not going to find one getting into ECP (or any other east coast airport) at 3 AM or later.
The reason you can find flights to Hawaii is that time zones help you. The reason you can't find flights back is that time zones hurt you. Now if SW were to offer 1 am departures from Hawaii, this would be easy, but it does not.