Schedule Question
Nov 19, 2014, 4:03 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 6,607
Schedule Question
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 $$ depending on the price ) most times the earlier you book the better so most likely I would be better off booking the outbound flight when it goes on sale in late 2014.
This is months before the SW schedule for November 2015 would be released.
Any thoughts ?
The earliest arrival for MSP/TPA the day after Thanksgiving (11/28/14) is 6pm. Since that flight is 7 plus hours and arrives after sunset I opted for an 7:45 arrival.
Is it likely that next year will also have the earliest arrival around 6pm ?
I am looking at booking the outgoing flight on AA, UA or Delta to get me into TPA by 1pm or so for 2015. If I use miles ( or even $$ 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 ?
Nov 19, 2014, 6:03 pm
#3
Join Date: Oct 2001
Programs: LTP, PP
Posts: 8,700
Somewhat related, why would "normal" scheduling be interrupted on Monday 12/1 (the Monday after Thanksgiving) vs. the rest of the week starting Tuesday 12/2? 2 flights I normally take on Mondays are gone for that day only and return Tuesday. I reckon it relates to exploiting Thanksgiving travel but what an inconvenience to business travelers who still gotta go...
Nov 20, 2014, 3:38 pm
#4
Join Date: May 2012
Location: DCA, lived MCI, SEA/PDX,BUF (born/raised)
Programs: Marriott (Silver/Gold), IHG, Carlson, Best Western, Choice( Gold), AS (MVP), WN, UA
Posts: 8,737
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 $$ depending on the price ) most times the earlier you book the better so most likely I would be better off booking the outbound flight when it goes on sale in late 2014.
This is months before the SW schedule for November 2015 would be released.
Any thoughts ?
The earliest arrival for MSP/TPA the day after Thanksgiving (11/28/14) is 6pm. Since that flight is 7 plus hours and arrives after sunset I opted for an 7:45 arrival.
Is it likely that next year will also have the earliest arrival around 6pm ?
I am looking at booking the outgoing flight on AA, UA or Delta to get me into TPA by 1pm or so for 2015. If I use miles ( or even $$ 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 ?
With southwest schedules are a very weird thing. Since southwest doesnt have a typical hub/spoke a;lignment they can put in some weird connection routes or they prevent you from getting legit connections for exampl,e you could see a flight from MSP to MDW with a 40 min layover and then MDW -TPA that arrives in the afternoon but it can only be booked as two different trips. MSP-MDW-TPA is unavailable. To add on to this example it could be unavailable because it has a too short layover time of 30 minutes when it first comes out, but later on the adjust the schedule which then makes the connecting time 40 min and thus allowed in the system to book.
looking ahead to next year is a big uncertainty with the full absorbtion of airtran (uncertainty of what ATL will be) and the activation of DAL as a real airport how this could affect routes and planes.