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I BLOGGED. YOU FLAMED. WE CHANGED.

By: Bill Owen bowen

Apr 18 2007

Admittedly, while that's not quite as catchy as Caesar's famous Latin phrase "veni, vidi, vici" ("I came, I saw, I conquered"), it pretty well sums up the aftermath of my "Why Can't I Make Reservations Further In Advance?" blog piece. In it, I explained the rationale behind Southwest's policy of not allowing reservations more than 180 days in advance, and why we on occasion will drop to 90 days of bookable "inventory" before we extend the booking window back out to 180 days. Talk about sticking your head into a hornet's nest! We got 274 replies, and from the tone of some of them we quickly realized that, at least for some of you, a few of our policies were out of step with your travel needs. So...we're changing! We heard, from both Customers and Employees alike, that you didn't like our policy of not publishing the dates on which we plan to extend the schedule. No problem! We now make the tentative, planned date of the next schedule extension available to our Reservations Agents, and in short order this information will be prominently displayed at southwest.com. Bear in mind that the planned schedule extension date will always be subject to change, as we have to "tweak" the date every now and then, due to forces beyond our control–so while you can use the date as a planning tool, please check back occasionally to make sure the date doesn't change. As they say in the commercials."but wait! There's more!" Effective immediately, we will consider 120 days of bookable inventory as our minimum when getting our schedule ready for peak travel periods, such as summer or the Holiday Season. I can't promise that we will never go under this minimum for those heavy demand periods again, but I can promise that we will do everything in our power to make sure you always have more than 120 days of available flights to choose from.  I can promise that it will take something almost cataclysmic to prevent that from happening. For other, less heavy travel periods, we will try to keep a minimum of 100 days of inventory available for your booking pleasure. On the other "end" of the booking window, we're going to push the maximum available inventory from 180 days to between 190 and 200 days of inventory–and once again, we'll pay particular attention to making peak travel periods available for booking as far in advance as possible. So there you have it. We heard you, loud and clearly, and we reacted. I realize some of you wish we would extend the booking window even further out, and while we won't do that this "go-round" we will continue to study the issue and may, at a later time, choose to do so. In any event, I hope these changes make planning your travel on Southwest easier. Like all airlines, Southwest appreciates your business–but unlike other airlines, we LUV you, and we appreciate your honesty! Thanks for all of the responses and thank you for reading "Nuts About Southwest!"

Southwest Culture

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Comments

Ok, I called and they told me new booking for June will be the 30th, I stay up till 1am, and no good, and while waiting I see the Feb 2nd Date, I take a deep breath and I set my alarm again. I am waiting patiently for Feb 2 to arrive in Dallas, and while I surf this blog I see that Feb 2nd is not going to happen till somewhere between 8am and noon( depending on which entry you happen to read ) . I would be less aggravated if this was just listed where the other info was. I will be spending almost two thousand dollars on the tickets, and as you can tell by me waiting up till 1am, in an attempt to save any money possible, do you think you could just put a specific time when the new schedule will be available for booking?? I love the airline and want to be a long term customer, I take my family of four , plus relatives,to florida at least once a year, sometimes twice. I know you have folks who fly more often, but please,realize that my annual trips represent a HUGE portion of my expendable income, and any TIME, I can save as well as money, is something that drives my purchasing decision. Please add a time, or a time range,next to you not so easy to find announcement for when you will open up the schedule for booking. Now I will be tied to the silly computer later today,checking to see if Feb 2nd has arrived yet on this website :( Thanks , a very tired and frustrated Dad. ( yes I could have booked on JB, please don't drive me to that, I have invested about 3 hours into just booking this flight, I love your airline, but hate wasting my time checking to see if the website has joined the rest of the world)

Glenn you will be happy to know both of your requests are on the way for the first part of the year.
Brian

I have 2 suggestions and am unable to find a way to email them to you, so I'm using this comment.

First, as a long-time Customer and a SW evangelist, I suggest you upgrade our ability to check flight status when we're on the move. See my blog post here: http://www.allbusiness.com/transportation/air-transportation-airlines/11...

Second, when you send me a Zoomerang survey because I flew yesterday, the last question should be, "Do you have any other comments or suggestions for us?" I should be able to use a comment box to respond. Yes, you can allocate manpower to read the comments. That's what interns are for. What better way to teach them about business than analyzing comments. And that could be a solution to your inability to accept e-mails thru your Web site.

See you Thursday when I fly back.

Regards,

Glenn

Hi-
Does anyone know when reservations will open for the end of July/first of Aug 2009? Hopefully by the first part of february? I am planning a trip to Disney and Sounthwest is the only airline who flys direct from my city to Orlando.

Do you know what time on November 6th SW will open the new booking window? Is it midnight or later in the day? Thank you

I just saw this on Southwest's website "We are currently accepting air reservations through March 6, 2009. On November 6, we plan to open the schedule for purchase through May 8, 2009. This date is subject to change. Please check back frequently."

I have to go with Bob on purchasing from another carrier. I was waiting for SW but need 5 tickets in April BUF to TPA and can not wait until November. The carrier I am purchasing from ...prices just went from $426 to $449 in less than 24 hours. I hate to wait and see where things are at in Nov.

November 20th for April 2009 tickets. I really want to fly Southwest but I am afraid that if I wait until the end of November to book tickets that the fares will really be out of reach by then. I have a group of 8 and I currently have tickets from Buffalo to FLL for $375 spring break week. I am going to have to go with tickets on another carrier because I just can't chance waiting for Southwest to open up (even though I would book 8 tickets today at a simlar price!).

I just called Southwest tonight and was told it was projected to be November 20th; in other words, starting on 11/20/08 you will be able to book flights through May 2009. That 11/20 date is tentative and subject to change, though.

I am planning a trip to Disney for April 2009. When will April flghts be available for purchase?