SW-Adding Flights?

[izzy25]

Has anyone seen Southwest add later flights the closer your trip got? When I booked our flights in Feb, i was able to get an early flight out which is what I wanted and the flight home the latest they had available was a 4:40pm. I was hoping for something later and i've been crossing my fingers that they may open up some later flights but nothing yet. Has anyone seen them do this?

 

[DebbieB]

Has anyone seen Southwest add later flights the closer your trip got? When I booked our flights in Feb, i was able to get an early flight out which is what I wanted and the flight home the latest they had available was a 4:40pm. I was hoping for something later and i've been crossing my fingers that they may open up some later flights but nothing yet. Has anyone seen them do this?

It's very rare. They release their dates later so it's pretty much set in stone. Unlike the legacy airlines that release flights at 11 months and then frequently change them.

 

[Lewisc]

PP is right, Southwest doesn't extend their schedule until it's set in concrete. Sometimes the schedule extension is held up a few days.

Airlines don't have extra planes. Adding the flight you want means removing a flight. Southwest makes those adjustments when they extend their schedule. Legacy airlines book against a hypothetical schedule and adjust it.

An exception. New Orleans airport was closed for around 3 weeks after Katrina. Southwest adjusted their schedule. That's the kind of circumstance necessary before Southwest would make a change.