Interesting Routing
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,203
Interesting Routing
We see such routing all the time on WN.
Why is it so?
Software unable to exclude such stupidity?
Going to New Mexico to PA via stopping in BOTH CA and FL (nearly 15 hours trip - You can fly to Hong Kong for that much time)
And.. it shows lowest fare of about 579 USD!!
(cheaper fares are "sold out")
Why is it so?
Software unable to exclude such stupidity?
Flight details (4 stops, includes 1 plane change)
- #2294
- Depart: Albuquerque, NM (ABQ)6:00 AM
- Arrive: Las Vegas, NV (LAS)6:30 AM
- #2294
- Depart: Las Vegas, NV (LAS)7:05 AM
- Arrive: Sacramento, CA (SMF)8:35 AM
- #2549
- Depart: Sacramento, CA (SMF)9:35 AM
- Arrive: St. Louis, MO (STL)3:10 PM
- #2549
- Depart: St. Louis, MO (STL)4:00 PM
- Arrive: Orlando, FL (MCO)7:20 PM
- #2549
- Depart: Orlando, FL (MCO)8:10 PM
- Arrive: Philadelphia, PA (PHL)10:35 PM
Going to New Mexico to PA via stopping in BOTH CA and FL (nearly 15 hours trip - You can fly to Hong Kong for that much time)
And.. it shows lowest fare of about 579 USD!!
(cheaper fares are "sold out")
#4
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 339
We see such routing all the time on WN.
Why is it so?
Software unable to exclude such stupidity?
Going to New Mexico to PA via stopping in BOTH CA and FL (nearly 15 hours trip - You can fly to Hong Kong for that much time)
And.. it shows lowest fare of about 579 USD!!
(cheaper fares are "sold out")
Why is it so?
Software unable to exclude such stupidity?
Flight details (4 stops, includes 1 plane change)
- #2294
- Depart: Albuquerque, NM (ABQ)6:00 AM
- Arrive: Las Vegas, NV (LAS)6:30 AM
- #2294
- Depart: Las Vegas, NV (LAS)7:05 AM
- Arrive: Sacramento, CA (SMF)8:35 AM
- #2549
- Depart: Sacramento, CA (SMF)9:35 AM
- Arrive: St. Louis, MO (STL)3:10 PM
- #2549
- Depart: St. Louis, MO (STL)4:00 PM
- Arrive: Orlando, FL (MCO)7:20 PM
- #2549
- Depart: Orlando, FL (MCO)8:10 PM
- Arrive: Philadelphia, PA (PHL)10:35 PM
Going to New Mexico to PA via stopping in BOTH CA and FL (nearly 15 hours trip - You can fly to Hong Kong for that much time)
And.. it shows lowest fare of about 579 USD!!
(cheaper fares are "sold out")
Of course nobody wants to take that routing, hence the ridiculous fare... but because of the way the IT works it sees it as one flight and is willing to sell it to you
#6
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: SFO
Programs: OZ Diamond/*G, IHG Diamond Amb, Hilton Gold
Posts: 2,240
Long story short WN has ancient IT. Basically, because they run 3 separate schedules (M-F, Sat, Sun) they need to use 3 completely separate sets of flight numbers for each. (i.e. you can't run flight 728 M-F and Sat at different times or on different routes like the other guys do). So... they have to attach the same flight numbers to as many flights as possible, hence why one flight number has 4 stops. This is also why the flight numbers are quickly approaching the high 6000s.
Of course nobody wants to take that routing, hence the ridiculous fare... but because of the way the IT works it sees it as one flight and is willing to sell it to you
Of course nobody wants to take that routing, hence the ridiculous fare... but because of the way the IT works it sees it as one flight and is willing to sell it to you
#7
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 339
I think Amadeus also offers an optimize/scheduling feature but WN didn’t get it or hasn’t switched over yet? It’s been awhile since I was at WN, well before Amadeus, but the effects on scheduling don’t seem to have changed
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,203
Reservation system quirks discussion has been fairly common subject on FT (not just for WN)
Kindly ignore if found not of interest.
Last edited by desi; Aug 12, 2018 at 12:16 am
#10
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Peoria
Programs: Southwest, Best Western Gold, La Quinta, Dollar
Posts: 819
Choosing a random date a couple weeks from now, I look and see there are five one-stop flights and several 2-stops listed for that date, ABQ-PHL. Call me crazy, but I probably could find one of those which suits my needs OK without going to California and Florida on the same itinerary.
Sorry, I couldn't control the urge to post.
Sorry, I couldn't control the urge to post.
#11
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Peoria
Programs: Southwest, Best Western Gold, La Quinta, Dollar
Posts: 819
Note also that on the days the 4-stop itinerary exists, one can choose a better alternative of connecting to a nonstop LAS-PHL flight at Las Vegas instead of the LAS-SMF-STL-MCO-PHL routing outlined in the original post. But that one involves a 2+ hour layover at Las Vegas; maybe some people don't want that?
#12
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Programs: HH Gold, AA Gold
Posts: 10,458
Long story short WN has ancient IT. Basically, because they run 3 separate schedules (M-F, Sat, Sun) they need to use 3 completely separate sets of flight numbers for each. (i.e. you can't run flight 728 M-F and Sat at different times or on different routes like the other guys do). So... they have to attach the same flight numbers to as many flights as possible, hence why one flight number has 4 stops. This is also why the flight numbers are quickly approaching the high 6000s.
Of course nobody wants to take that routing, hence the ridiculous fare... but because of the way the IT works it sees it as one flight and is willing to sell it to you
Of course nobody wants to take that routing, hence the ridiculous fare... but because of the way the IT works it sees it as one flight and is willing to sell it to you
That said, it does appear that their "connection builder" software needs some help. But, if you tighten the criteria, then you allow fewer legal connections. So, it's probably better for all of us to have a few "strange" connections and direct flights. I once booked a ooe-stop flight from PVD to PHX and the stop was at MCO!!! However, the price and the overall flight time were reasonable, so I took it.
#14
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2000
Location: RDU
Programs: AA LT Gold, DL SM, HY Disc, Marriott LT Gold
Posts: 12,507
Many years ago, EasySaabre on Compuserve (see, I told you it was many years ago) would offer UA 1 for LAX-JFK as a three stop. Of course, UA1 and UA2 were the round-the world flights, so the routing was LAX-HKG-DEL-LHR-JFK.
Sadly, it wouldn't price out in F to be the same as UA 2 LAX-JFK nonstop....
Sadly, it wouldn't price out in F to be the same as UA 2 LAX-JFK nonstop....
#15
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,933
We see such routing all the time on WN.
Why is it so?
Software unable to exclude such stupidity?Flight details (4 stops, includes 1 plane change)
Why is it so?
Software unable to exclude such stupidity?Flight details (4 stops, includes 1 plane change)
- #2294
- Depart: Albuquerque, NM (ABQ)6:00 AM
- Arrive: Las Vegas, NV (LAS)6:30 AM
- #2294
- Depart: Las Vegas, NV (LAS)7:05 AM
- Arrive: Sacramento, CA (SMF)8:35 AM
- #2549
- Depart: Sacramento, CA (SMF)9:35 AM
- Arrive: St. Louis, MO (STL)3:10 PM
- #2549
- Depart: St. Louis, MO (STL)4:00 PM
- Arrive: Orlando, FL (MCO)7:20 PM
- #2549
- Depart: Orlando, FL (MCO)8:10 PM
- Arrive: Philadelphia, PA (PHL)10:35 PM
They don't necessarily fly enough between any of those (mostly) secondary cities to be able to dedicate a plane to flying and back and forth on any shorter "more logical" subset of these routes.
I'm not sure easily they can solve this without going to something closer to a hub-and-spoke model. But then wouldn't likely have flights like Sacramento to St Louis, etc, because probably neither one of those cities would be a hub for Southwest.
If you want a hub-and-spoke airline, fly a hub-and-spoke airline, instead of flying Southwest.
Or if you want to fly Southwest efficiently, ignore where their planes go throughout the day and just book the most time-efficient connection (if there is no nonstop). Don't look for "direct" flights, this is what "direct" flights are on Southwest.
There's probably no person that actually flies this routing the whole day, only the plane itself does. No passengers choose that routing, the crew times out so they have to change crews along the way, etc. It's just to keep the plane in use all day, that's it.
Last edited by sdsearch; Aug 12, 2018 at 8:06 pm