As of about 10:06 AM Central Time, Southwest's schedule is now open through August 24, 2007. This extension was later than any in memory, and the delay was the subject of considerable discussion at http://blogsouthwest.com/2007/01/24/...er-in-advance/

On that blog Bill Owen, Southwest's lead scheduler, explains the situation in some detail, even revealing why the schedule tends to open on Thursday mornings. In summary, the schedulers wanted to optimize the May schedule for summer winds aloft rather than having that optimization take effect in June or July. They decided in November to delay the summer release until this optimization was complete.

Given the amount of criticism engendered by the delay, Bill Owen has promised that "Schedule Planning is going to do everything in our power not to allow the booking inventory to fall below 120 days again." Therefore future schedule extensions may not follow the pattern of recent years.

As always, for guesses on the next extension, please check the Official Schedule Extension Prediction Thread at http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=527240. My initial guess is March 22, 2007 with the new horizon extending to mid-September. According to Bill Owen's latest post at blogsouthwest.com, reservation agents might in the future be able to give us an estimated schedule opening date, reducing the need for us to guess and spoiling all our fun.


Other hot news:

1. People often ask how they can use Ding at work or on the road when they only have Ding installed on their computer at home. For the past year we have had no solution, but now we can finally offer some help. See http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=655660 for more information. Now you never need to miss a Ding sale!

2. Speaking of Ding, you ought to make sure you have downloaded Ding and that you have given it your Rapid Rewards number. If your Update Registration screen does not show a blank field for Rapid Rewards number, Ding already has your number. Southwest is running a massive giveaway to Ding users from now through June 22. See http://www.southwest.com/rapid_rewar...ns.html#ding20
The prize will show up in your Rapid Rewards account if you win. You don't need to see the Ding message announcing it, and you don't need to click on anything.

3. Flights to or from California earn double credit if booked online by March 8, 2007 and flown between February 8 and April 4, 2007. You could combine this with the Fly 3, Get 1 Free promotion at http://www.southwest.com/rapid_rewar....html#intracal to get 1.75 awards after 3 intra-California round trips.

4. ATA code share flights to or from LGA or Hawaii are offering double Rapid Rewards credits until April 30. That's 2 credits each way for LGA and 4 credits each way for Hawaii. That $300 round trip to Maui never looked so good. See http://www.ata.com/awards/partners/o..._wn_offer.html