Southwest dropped evening MCO to PHL flight in Sept and Oct

[ashleyrm]

Went to check some airfares today and noticed that there was no longer an 8:30 PM MCO to PHL flight listed. I had this booked for 3 people for a trip in September. I called SWA and they confirmed that there has been a schedule change and that I was in queue to be notified. The latest non-stop return flight from MCO to PHL is now at 2:15 pm.

That six hours makes a pretty big difference in our last day at WDW. I poked around on the SWA website and saw the same flight schedule for September and October. So far, November hasn't changed.

The agent told me I could change flights for no price change or get a refund. Not cool, Southwest. Not cool.

 

[lurkernj]

I noticed that this morning too, while checking my already booked flights. I have that flight booked on October 4, and again on Oct 11 (as my connection from Aruba). Hoping its a mistake as there are no flights home from Aruba now, that was the only one each day. Not sure which trip we are taking, but it impacts both trips, since the reduction of 6 hrs means my 5th day on my park hopper will be useless!

If what the agent is telling you is correct, that makes no sense as they can fly me to Aruba, but not get me home!

 

[ashleyrm]

I noticed that this morning too, while checking my already booked flights. I have that flight booked on October 4, and again on Oct 11 (as my connection from Aruba). Hoping its a mistake as there are no flights home from Aruba now, that was the only one each day. Not sure which trip we are taking, but it impacts both trips, since the reduction of 6 hrs means my 5th day on my park hopper will be useless!

If what the agent is telling you is correct, that makes no sense as they can fly me to Aruba, but not get me home!

Just got off the phone with Southwest and they confirmed that the 8:30 pm flight has been discontinued. I ended up adding another night to our WDW stay and will fly home at 8:30 am the next morning. I would have come home earlier, but I already purchased 6 day PH for my kids. There is a 6 pm flight that stops in Nashville but I'm rather have the extra evening and a 2 hour flight versus a 6 hour flight home.

 

[lurkernj]

Just got off the phone with Southwest and they confirmed that the 8:30 pm flight has been discontinued. I ended up adding another night to our WDW stay and will fly home at 8:30 am the next morning. I would have come home earlier, but I already purchased 6 day PH for my kids. There is a 6 pm flight that stops in Nashville but I'm rather have the extra evening and a 2 hour flight versus a 6 hour flight home.

Very disappointing. I guess I'll call tomorrow to see what they plan on doing about my Aruba return. Nothing else was offered. I wonder if they'll actually tell me to fly another airline home.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

So much for Southwest never altering their schedules, as many people believe. Schedule changes happen. Annoying, but all you can do is accept the change or make alternate flight arrangements.

 

[georgina]

So far my non-stop to PIT in Sept is still there. I guess it is better they do it now rather than day of, which they did to me in January of this year. I got a call around 11 AM that my evening non-stop home was cancelled. The only other non-stop was around 2:30, so we had to scramble and pack up and head out to the airport by noon. Missed our last half day at Universal. Any other late afternoon/early evening flights with connections did not get us much extra time.

 

[Lynne G]

That stinks. So far, my flights from PHL to MCO in October are still there. I am going to keep checking and checking. I remember getting a text a hour before our first leg of our connecting flight from the west coast, saying our connecting flight was cancelled and we are booked on another flight, with what was to be a 45 minute lay over became a 4 hour lay over. Needless to say, it was a very long day.

 

[kathylovesdisneyworl]

My flight on Oct 29th to phl at 8:30pm was canceled. Called and was able to get a refund. The wait was very long,but they were very accomidating when I finally got through.

 

[PatMcDuck]

ACK my flight going DOWN is gone, too, PHL to MCO, at 3:45 pm. (Oct 20) I only booked that weird time because it was $73. Crap. My flight home is still there, at 10:55 am, MCO to PHL. They have not contacted me. Will cost me double now for a flight down. : (


JUST called, they switch you with no increase in price or points. For me, the new flight time is better! So glad I saw this so I could switch ASAP, before new flight was booked up.

THANK YOU OP for letting us know about the dropped flights for PHL/MCO !!

 

[CookieGVB]

I had my son booked from San Diego to Orlando on non-stop flights. Those no longer exist. Not even sure who else flies non-stop. UGH!!!

 

[helenk]

Maybe November will be spared, our flight home is at 7:05 pm, it is not the latest flight though, there is a later flight at 9:30 . All the years I have flown SW they have never cancelled flights after the schedule was posted. But that really has changed this year.

 

[delilah]

SWA changes flights about as much as any other airline I've used, slightly more than some and less than others. This past spring break time, the week right after Easter, I was flying to a conference in Anaheim from Indianapolis. I flew into the SNA airport. They changed the flight from changing planes in Denver to changing in Las Vegas. I liked Denver better because it was like splitting the trip in half. I am glad they automatically transferred the EBCI I paid for.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I had my son booked from San Diego to Orlando on non-stop flights. Those no longer exist. Not even sure who else flies non-stop. UGH!!!

Alaska and American, at least in the summer.

 

[PatMcDuck]

The SW employee said i could switch to any other flight into MCO within 2 weeks (or something like that?) And even though I already made a switch, I could switch it again, one more time with no penalty.

Oddly, it can be an opportunity to get a better flight time than before, and/or one that was more expensive.

 

[Rhombus]

Southwest had been cutting flights to/from Philadelphia for several years now. They now have probably fewer than half the number of flights they had five years ago. But I always thought reductions were made when a new block of flights was released, not after the schedule had already been published.

Southwest isn't losing money in Philadelphia; it's just tough to compete with USAirways/American. Southwest could better utilize their resources elsewhere.

 

[PatMcDuck]

Its a shame, way less SW flights out of PHL since they bought AirTran. I was hoping for more, not less.

 

[DebbieB]

At the time they dropped PIT-PHL, they also dropped PHL-BOS. At the time, the news was that they were shifting flights to BWI. My guess is because they are not competing with another airline's hub there. They have a hard time attracting business flyers, who tend to prefer the legacy carriers for elite benefits (first class) and international destinations. Business flyers is where the big money is, they tend to book last minute and will pay high fares.

 

[paults]

ACK my flight going DOWN is gone, too, PHL to MCO, at 3:45 pm. (Oct 20) I only booked that weird time because it was $73. Crap. My flight home is still there, at 10:55 am, MCO to PHL. They have not contacted me. Will cost me double now for a flight down. : (


JUST called, they switch you with no increase in price or points. For me, the new flight time is better! So glad I saw this so I could switch ASAP, before new flight was booked up.

THANK YOU OP for letting us know about the dropped flights for PHL/MCO !!

I have the Monday 3:45 pm flight OCT 19 booked. I just checked and it's not showing as a flight on the schedule but my flight is still listed in my travel section on the right. How did you know your flight was cancelled? Where do you check?

 

[emilymad]

We booked PHL-MCO in September when the dates were first released. There were barely any flights and maybe 4 direct all day. In the past few months a ton of flights got added for that route but now the number has flights has decreased back to around where it was originally. I have never seen such swings with Southwest in their schedule before. Very weird.

 

[Luv2b@BLT]

Our flight on 10/20 is no longer listed on the schedule but is still showing in my travel folder. I called and was told that the flight was not cancelled but they are "working" on the schedule and will email me when they make a decision. Terrific! I'll just sit here and stress.