No more SWA non-stop flights?

In my e-mail was announcement by Southwest of their extension of schedules through August 2021.  So, I went to see what might be available around my birthday (March) and BFFs birthday (July).   Traditionally we plan to celebrate in Vegas.  BUT...no non-stops on the books for those months!  What???  For years there has always been one non-stop each way every day, which always worked great for us, 3 hours each way.  Non-stop short flight was an important point of enjoyment.  And those were always full.

I didn't look through every month, but March and July seemed good enough representation.  Might mean no more Vegas for us.  6-8 hour flights, multiple stops, aren't worth it.    What has everyone else seen for 2021 on SWA?

We get plenty of free charter offers (no stops, to Harrah's Laughlin (3.5 hours) and Biloxi Beau Rivage (55 minutes).  Almost one or the other every month.  Might be bye bye Vegas for us.  Sniff sniff.

Candy

I'm heading to Mexico from Indy, and we used to have a couple of non-stop flights to Cancun.  They're gone, and I'm sure it's simply due to a lack of ability to fill a plane.  Same for you on your SW situtation.  They can't afford to send a 1/4 full plane to Cancun or the Vegas.

Bummer.

Here's what I understand about Southwest's strategy (read it in Forbes or something like that).

Here on the West Coast, pretty much everything is a one-hour shot to Vegas. It doesn't make much sense to do anything but nonstops, especially since every plane leaves its original airport full or mostly full. If a route is more than about 600 miles, say, from Dallas or OKC to Vegas, it makes sense to have an intermediate stop unless the planes are usually full. Even then, if there's enough traffic from the origin to the intermediate, they might have a stopover flight as the default.

So with traffic reduced during the pandemic (for who knows how long), they are trying to make sure that they don't have half-empty planes. They don't pack the plane in Houston, they might fill it up in Albuquerque. So every plane that leaves Houston for Vegas will be touching down in ABQ, when before, that wouldn't have been worth doing with a usually already full flight.

I wrote of my concern about this (nicely, of course) in the Contact Us portion of the SWA web site.  Of course I expected the usual reply, "thank you...we value your input...we have to use what we have, so we can't  make any promises...but will bring your concern to the attention of our Leadership...hope you continue to be a customer."

Not that it will do any good, but if any of you LVA readers are also disappointed in this turn of events, for now or in the future, I urge you to do the same.  You can do it on their web site, or write a real letter, stamp and all...LOL.

Sometimes letter campaigns do make a difference.  Thanks.

Candy

One, or a dozen, or a thousand of us peons trying to influence the actions of a megabillion-dollar corporation is like a group of ants trying to move the Luxor pyramid. We threaten them with the loss of our business? Ho hum. We're replaceable. Go back to work, peasant, or I'll have one of my knights cut you down.

That said, about ten years ago, I was blocked from boarding a SWA flight due to ID issues---my DL had expired and the new one hadn't yet arrived in the mail---so I wound up driving the 700 miles to my destination. (Where I met my bags, which had been dutifully loaded on the airplane and left without me.) I was so infuriated that I wrote a three-page letter to the airline's Customer Disservice division. Long story short, the letter made it all the way up the food chain to the VP of Operations, who was profusely apologetic and issued me a refund for the flight plus a $450 mileage credit.

So maybe your particular squeaky wheel will get the grease...?

Oh, I agree, triple unlikely.  Still, always ask, right?  Good for you writing about your bad experience and being rewarded.  SWA is very good at that kind of response.  But...rearranging 8 months worth of schedules...nah. 

Candy 

check alliegent air, always nonstop and always cheaper than southwest.  they charge for bags and 40 lb limit.  take a backpack if you need more space.  Also spirit air is an option

Allegiant charges for every possible thing they can think of. Last time I flew them to Vegas (from Eugene, OR) the only option I had to avoid a $25 "ticket service fee" was to physically go to the airport a week before my flight, wait for an hour for somebody to show up at the counter, and buy the ticket for cash. No steenkin' credit cards!!!

The day of the flight, they wanted me to pay $10 to print my ticket. I refused, and showed them my receipt that i had obtained earlier. They relented, but then wanted to charge me $50 to check my bag. I said that it was small enough to fit in an overhead bin and they told me that there would be a $25 charge for that. I reached inside the bag, flung out a pair of jeans and two shirts, and said that it would now fit under the seat.

It's a good thing it was a relatively short flight. They wanted $5 for a bottle of water. I don't know what they charged to use the bathroom. I did notice a slot next to where the oxygen masks would drop for you to insert your credit card, hopefully before you passed out.

But yeah, the flight was cheap! I felt sorry for those poor bastards who had to ride strapped to the wings, though.

Airfare on alliegent is normally less than 200 including bags and a drink round trip, and direct flight.  It is no frills, but for a short nonstop it is a great option as is spirit airlines.  Would I rather fly southwest nonstop for an extra 50 bucks  ?  Sure, but not for an extra 150, and difinately not making extra stops

Well, digging a little harder it appears SWA has one non-stop every Saturday, each way to and from Vegas.   Saturdays only.   Used to be every day of the week.

Candy