SAPMAN

Now, nsx, REALLY prove yourself....

When is the NEXT schedule release?

funreal

Do you have any guidance for when WN has extended its schedule over the December holidays in the past?

nsx

Extensions covering Christmas have occurred on 7/24/03, 7/29/04, and 8/18/05. This is covered in the FAQ, by the way...

aviationkiwi

By reading the FAQ about schedule extensions. The schedule should be extended today (bookings thru September) around 10am Central Time.

What is WN waiting for? is 10:12am Central already.

curbcrusher

Good catch, aviationkiwi. I am waiting to book Labor Day travel...

alliance

It will be interesting to see how good the availability of capacity controlled award seats is on popular routes/times where WN initially only makes high fare buckets available.

uwfballfan

Might as well not wait for the schedule to open if it is discount Labor Day travel you are seeking. The internet fares will not be available from Friday through Monday of that weekend, unless of course you are going to El Paso, Omaha, Tulsa, or some other top-10 tourist spot served by WN.

curbcrusher

Yeah, yeah. We get it that you don't like WN anymore. You needn't crap in every thread.

aviationkiwi

Still waiting for the schedule to open up. Will it be then next Thursday?

uwfballfan

First, I'll post what I like, when I like. I just don't drink the WN Kool-aid and don't have a WN tatoo on my forearm.

Oversight on my part. I just viewed your profile and see that you too are in Phoenix as am I. Sugar-coat things as you like, but I suspect that few WN markets have seen such a huge increase in WN fares as has Phoenix. As you likely know, Phx/Oak was $59 on internet special for several years 'til 4/25/05. That fare is now $119 on internet special (is that the $1-2 increase Mr Kelley alluded to in comments to the press???). And you, one who is seeking Labor Day fares, certainly knows that WN will offer no low fares over Labor Day out of Phx. Did not happen last year either. Look around. The legacies are beating WN in many Phoenix markets. That was unheard of pre-4/25/05.

And forget the service edge. Baggage handling both inbound and outbound from Phoenix is dreadful. The Las/Phx flight time is shorter than is the wait for luggage at Terminal 4.

Arizzzona

I have noticed that it's been a while since WN has added frequency to the PHX market (though they have added new cities). It appears much of the east-west flow is now routed through LAS. PHX - once primarily a WN hub city seems to be transforming gradually away from that - at least %-wise of pax flown. The other major carrier has not added much lift to the PHX market - it has been focusing and deploying aircraft to transcon markets.

This city sees tremendous population growth. I suspect there is less lift per person (LPP) than 10 years ago while air travel has soared - making it more difficult to get great fares to some markets than it was before.

SAPMAN

Welcome Zona, Not sure about LPP, but that airport seems very busy to me. I just don't like Sky Harbour too much as the terminals are so spread out. And the walk from one WN concourse to the other seems like a long way.

justageek

I wonder if America West's PHX hub has anything to do with it? But they've been there a long time, so wouldn't be a new pressure on WN.

nsx

That's my guess: 10 AM Central March 30. In previous years the March extension came earlier than other extensions, and we are already at least a week overdue by that measure. The March extension takes travel just past Labor Day.

BTW, I will soon be deleting all off-topic posts from this thread, past and future, in the interest of keeping this thread as useful as possible.

fun

Is 10:00 a.m. pretty "safe" as to the time of day for Southwest schedule extensions? I've seen another discussion board (Disney-related) where posters said they check at 4:30 a.m. I don't really want to be checking 6 times a day if it's pretty well established that there's a typical time for etensions to be released....