Southwest Airlines finally coming to MSP

[The Swegian]

Good news for us Minnesotans, starting in March, Southwest Airlines will operate out of MSP.

Southwest adds MSP-Chicago route

I've been wishing for this for some time.

 

[Greggo]

That is good news!

 

[Jer]

Ehhh Southwest Airlines and there stupid A B C lines

 

[Lori]

I also heard an ad that starting in November they will be flying to Ft Lauderdale. That will be awesome.
The a b c lines may be a pain in the arse, but they have the best fares. If you ever have to cancel or change a flight, there is no penalty and you have a year to use up the money the ticket cost you. NO ONE does that in this industry. I book with them first, just for that reason. Also, if you book a flight and then the fare gets cheaper, you can rebook for the new fare and will have the difference on credit and a year to use that as well. Works for me!!

 

[mick]

read the comment below article titled 'not all it's cracked up to be'.
i think this is closer to the truth.

what i'd really like to know is what carrier (AA, NWA, or United) lost gates
at the Mpls. airport - leaving an opening for Southwest?
all in all, good news - if the present fares are indeed overpriced?, then lower fares by southwest will hold for the indefinite future.

we have sun country airline home based here in MN - they too are
struggling with enormous debts - flew them last winter and am pre-booked
for this coming feb. via NWA - kinda' glad i didn't choose sun country.

mark, thanks for the article.

 

[The Swegian]

read the comment below article titled 'not all it's cracked up to be'.
i think this is closer to the truth.

what i'd really like to know is what carrier (AA, NWA, or United) lost gates
at the Mpls. airport - leaving an opening for Southwest?
all in all, good news - if the present fares are indeed overpriced?, then lower fares by southwest will hold for the indefinite future.

we have sun country airline home based here in MN - they too are
struggling with enormous debts - flew them last winter and am pre-booked
for this coming feb. via NWA - kinda' glad i didn't choose sun country.

mark, thanks for the article.

Mike, the article said they'll operate out of the Humphrey Terminal so it doesn't sound like anybody will lose a gate.

 

[mick]

that actually makes sense because it's always been my impression that
gates @ our airport are like gold - we're trapped up here and at the mercy
of whatever few airlines can fly us anywhere.
interested about flying out of HHH terminal - i'm gonna' try and read on this.

 

[vegasnitro]

I also heard an ad that starting in November they will be flying to Ft Lauderdale. That will be awesome.
The a b c lines may be a pain in the arse, but they have the best fares. If you ever have to cancel or change a flight, there is no penalty and you have a year to use up the money the ticket cost you. NO ONE does that in this industry. I book with them first, just for that reason. Also, if you book a flight and then the fare gets cheaper, you can rebook for the new fare and will have the difference on credit and a year to use that as well. Works for me!!

Southwest has flown in and out of Ft. Lauderdale for years. That is their "Miami" area airport (they don't fly to MIA). I have flown Southwest to Lauderdale and taken the shuttle to the Miami Cruise terminal.

I never have to worry about the B or the C lines ... I fly Southwest so much I am guaranteed an A boarding pass ...

PS Mark that should make it easier/cheaper to get to Vegas!!! MSP to Midway to LAS.

 

[FC138fan]

Southwest to Chicago - nice connecting flight if your going out East (unfortunately if its not Northwest your probably not going direct).

Heres a funny story - I fly from Minneapolis back home to Pittsburgh a few times a year, and with USAir hubbing out of PIT back in the early 2000's I built up my frequent flyer miles. Then USAir scaled back drastically out of PIT so those miles sat for years. I finally found the opportunity to redeem them when a deal came along - had just enough miles for two free tix to Pittsburgh. So the wife books the first - Fly from MSP to Charlotte, from Charlotte to PIT. Then fly back out of Akron, OH - to Charlotte, then back to MSP.

Then we go to book my wife.. and the deal expired.. didn't have enough miles to buy her ticket. After a day of shenanegans we got her tix, but we had to fly from Charlotte to Pittsburgh on different flights on the same day (while paying a nice $100 fee - not to mention the rental car we had to get to drive from Pitt to Akron).

To cap it all off - Scheduled to fly out of Akron at 5pm.. didn't actually fly out till 12am - arriving home at 5:30am. Then had to be up for work at 9am.

USAir - classy deal. To sum it all up, hopefully the Southwest effect will at least lower Northwest prices so I can go direct.

 

[Toejam]

Due to tax laws passed agains't the short haul carriers, Southwest added a bunch of Non-stop flights over 1000 mi. each way about 10 years ago!

 

[Lori]

Southwest has flown in and out of Ft. Lauderdale for years. That is their "Miami" area airport (they don't fly to MIA). I have flown Southwest to Lauderdale and taken the shuttle to the Miami Cruise terminal.

I never have to worry about the B or the C lines ... I fly Southwest so much I am guaranteed an A boarding pass ...

PS Mark that should make it easier/cheaper to get to Vegas!!! MSP to Midway to LAS.

Maybe it was Ft Meyers then. I know they are starting a new route to somewhere in FLA in November, and I apparently am mistaken about exactly where.
Thanks for correcting me Chris.

 

[paoldtimer]

Given a choice between Southwest and US Airways...I'm flying SW
I just used up all my USAir miles for 2 tickets to Indy
The A-B-C thing is a bit strange but I usually am able to check in early enough that I am still in A.

 

[mick]

anyone know the validity to the rumor about southwest's hedged fuel
pricing running out? and potential influence on ticket prices?

 

[Toejam]

anyone know the validity to the rumor about southwest's hedged fuel
pricing running out? and potential influence on ticket prices?

Mike, I haven't heard anything about Fuel prices. But I've already booked my Fare for the Winter Natl's in Feb. and I got a cheaper fare than I'm paying for the World finals in Nov??? Don't ask me why, Go figure...

 

[vegasnitro]

Maybe it was Ft Meyers then. I know they are starting a new route to somewhere in FLA in November, and I apparently am mistaken about exactly where.
Thanks for correcting me Chris.

Hmmm ... now you have me curious, as I have flown Southwest to Ft. Myers too (the day before Hurricane Fay rolled through) when I was working in Port Charlotte, FLA, I connected through Orlando. I hope they are picking up some gates at MIA ... that would be SUPER sweet ...

I am gonna go check their website ...

PS I wasn't "correcting" you ... if it came across that way ... I apologize.

PPS I spend way too much time on airplanes, especially Southwest. I have earned FIVE free tickets so far this year and I just got an email that my A-Lister status has been extended through December 2010.

 

[vegasnitro]

Maybe it was Ft Meyers then. I know they are starting a new route to somewhere in FLA in November, and I apparently am mistaken about exactly where.

Well ... after some research ... Lori is right!!! Southwest is adding new routes to Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers. Southwest has been flying to both airports for a long time, but they are increasing their footprint in both, here are the new routes with start dates:


Destination: Fort Lauderdale
Origination: Albany
Start Date: 11/2/08

Destination: Fort Lauderdale
Origination: Las Vegas
Start Date: 11/2/08

Destination: Fort Lauderdale
Origination: Kansas City
Start Date: 11/2/08

Destination: Fort Meyers
Origination: St. Louis
Start Date: 11/2/08

Destination: Fort Lauderdale
Origination: Denver
Start Date: 8/4/08

 

[The Swegian]

we have sun country airline home based here in MN - they too are
struggling with enormous debts - flew them last winter and am pre-booked
for this coming feb. via NWA - kinda' glad i didn't choose sun country.

You're not kiddin' Mike. Look at this article in today's Strib.

Sun Country warns of shutdown