I know it's not possible to predict the schedule going forward but do the SW flight times follow a pattern year to year ?

The earliest arrival for MSP/TPA the day after Thanksgiving (11/28/14) is 6pm. Since that flight is 7 plus hours and arrives after sunset I opted for an 7:45 arrival.

Is it likely that next year will also have the earliest arrival around 6pm ?

I am looking at booking the outgoing flight on AA, UA or Delta to get me into TPA by 1pm or so for 2015. If I use miles ( or even $$ depending on the price ) most times the earlier you book the better so most likely I would be better off booking the outbound flight when it goes on sale in late 2014.

This is months before the SW schedule for November 2015 would be released.

Any thoughts ?