x712xdamx

Southwest gripe here for a new CP holder... Based out of Boise (BOI) and website doesn't ever seem to show me flights to int'l destinations like SJO, SJU, etc. etc...

I read in another thread about someone complaining about a similar issue that the website won't show flights w/more than 1 connection. Generally their site is pretty smooth. Do they still have that problem?

Solution just to manually search connections and call?

alggag

The no more than 1 connection restriction combined with no connections >4 hours makes it very difficult to reach international destinations from a smaller station. It will be very difficult to impossible to reach international destinations other than Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, or Cancun from Boise on Southwest.

jasonvr

True for a lot of the west coast, not just small stations. From LAX/SNA it is impossible for me to book to PUJ as the only flights are from BWI/MDW/ATL and they all leave early in the morning with no way to get there in time without an overnight. The reverse is not true though. I can book PUJ-LAX without issue. Had a similar issue looking for flights to/from Jamaica

steved5480

As alggag & jasonvr have noted (and others no-doubt will), there really is no workable/practical solution to your particular situation. In addition to not having lots of air service, Boise is geographically disadvantaged from the Caribbean/Mexico.

At a quick glance, Southwest serves Spokane, Oakland, Sacramento, Denver, Chicago, Las Vegas, San Diego and Phoenix non-stop from Boise. That's it.

Significant international service (by Southwest's standards) is mostly via Houston, Fort Lauderdale & Baltimore.

A crude work-around would be to fly from Boise to one of those stations (which will currently require at least one stop), spend the night, and then fly to your desired international destination. Some semblance of the reverse-process will likely be necessary to get you home. Whether or not this sort of round-robin config is worth your while or not (financially and time-wise) is an individual decision.

It seems unlikely that the pending computer "upgrade" planned for May 9th will do anything helpful for you as the actual flight schedules out into the future are already published.

Although they'll be happy to talk to you, "calling" will accomplish nothing you can't do yourself as there are no secret work-around routes available to the Agents that you cannot access yourself.

Sorry for the lack of a silver bullet.

x712xdamx

Appreciate the thorough and knowledgeable responses. I should've researched this a little better before transferring over all of my points :/

The overnight stay in FLL or HOU could be a good idea if the price is right.
I just didn't know if the phone agents could book itineraries with 2+ or overnight connections that the site couldn't. Bummer! Thank you.

alggag

It's possible that the connection rules *might* change as the legacy reservation system goes away and the possibility of redeye flights or double connecting could help make connecting the dots easier but that's total speculation on my part.

If it's any consolation, I'm Houston based and even from here I really can't reliably book to any of the international destinations that aren't served directly from HOU with the exception of Havana. The rest all come and go depending on the current schedule.

formeraa

The new reservations system *should* be able to book flights with two or more connections. This is an absolutely essential feature to get to international destinations. A related note is that Southwest is going to have to do redeye flights -- another essential feature to effectively serve Hawaii (if they ever go there) and international destinations.

alggag

That's the question though, they will be able to now but will they?

Southwest is known for their reluctance to change and for insisting on doing things their way which is why I'm not exactly holding my breath.

mcflytfc

This is a beef I have right now with Southwest. I flew down to Belize couple months back and had to overnight in Houston on the return. There was no flight out of Hobby to Phoenix after 8pm. I got through customs about 30 minutes after the last flight left.

jeffandnicole

I don't think your issue had anything to do with 2 or more connections. Your flight simply didn't exist later into the evening. If you wanted to fly to Denver or St. Louis for example, you would've had no issues.

Tanic

Anyone know why you can't use stored payment credit cards to book international flights? It really is tedious to type all the payment info repeatedly for each reservation.