DING! You are now free to make reservations on Southwest Airlines for travel through August 24, 2007!
Thanks everyone for your...ummm...."patience" while we've finalized the Summer 2007 schedule. This has, in all honesty, been quite an eye-opening experience for us in Schedule Planning. While our goal has always been to maintain between 120 and 180 days of bookable inventory, as I explained in my last post, we have on numerous occasions dropped down into the 90's (the last time being for the Summer 2005 schedule) and, frankly, we've never gotten a lot of negative feedback about it. Of course, that was pre-blog! So, because we have heard the opinions of our Customers (man, oh MAN have we heard you!) on this subject, going forward we are going to much more strictly maintain a minimum of 120 days of inventory.
I think you'll be happy to know that the blog thread and your replies have spurred a couple of other improvements as well. We're working with our colleagues in Reservations and at southwest.com to find better, more effective ways to communicate the date we anticipate releasing new booking inventory. Of course, and I will warn you right now, these will be planned dates--and they will shift around a bit--but we're learning that even information that may change can be better than no information at all. So, standby for communication improvements!
And finally--now that the Summer schedule's out for sale, I'm going to get back to my job, but I want to take the opportunity to thank the folks that actually wrote the Summer, Memorial Day, and July 4th schedules. So--Desiree, Bob, Dan, Matt, trainer superior Kerry Marie, and even you, Friedman--GOOD JOB!!!!!!
Happy booking, everyone!
Comments
I'm glad I was able to book a direct MDW-SAN for Memorial day weekend for $278 roundtrip. I was fevereshly refreshing at 10am CST waiting for the change to show up!!! Was a bit disappointed that by the time the website showed the Aug 24 booking change, (probably 10:07am CST) all the Rapid Rewards flights and the one-way fares had been used up so I couldn't use one of my free RR :(
Bill,
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Now that this is all done it is time to start on the next schedule isn't it?
One more n/s in dtw ;-) not too bad. Those lower landing fees must be helping.
not a blog boy,
Joe Friedmann
This comment is really about my thanks to your great company for helping special needs passengers.
I've been using your company for personal travel for about ten years. Because I am obese, I buy two seats per destination because I don't want anyone sitting on me and I don't want to sit on anyone.
Anyway, your company is the ONLY airline that will refund the expense of the additional seat if the flight was not full. I see those news stories about people being asked to purchase additional seats due to their girth and think everyone hears all that bad press about your company but no one hears about the good things you do for us.
So I appreciate your company and your flight attendants, pilots, baggage personnel and every Southwest employee who doesn't make me feel like an anomaly when I board the plane!
I appreciate the updates and finally releasing the schedule. However, I noticed that ATA award availability does not seem to extend past May 31st. Are you able to comment on when we can expect award availability on ATA flights June 1 and beyond?
Well Bill, after all that waiting, you did not come through. Just booked my 7 rt tickets to Orlando on AA from Tulsa 05/26. Your prices are not only higher than AAs, they are higher than NW, Delta and Continental. Of course there were no internet special fairs available at 10:01 today for my flights, but even if they had been, they would still be a few dollars more than AA. My tickets were $299 each. Your "special was $159 each way. Just another airline now huh Bill? Nothing special in the air.
I am very sad today. I had been following this schedule issue and was able to log on about 15 minutes after you opened the new schedule up. EVERYTHING REASONABLE WAS BOOKED! Unreal. I am in shock. I figured you must still have the active duty military fare available so I called. It seems there is no active duty fare between Norfolk and Law Vegas (there is a military fare but not the usual reduced rate we sometimes get to enjoy (thank you) - it's only a few dollars less than the full fare- $1200 on SWA "military fare" to vegas is way to much that my military salary will allow.) Anyway, it was all booked up and I was on only about 15 minutes after you all opened up.Geez!!!!! And the seniors still have an incredible rate between these two markets! Nothing against the seniors but how about giving us some of those seats! ;-) Anyway, I am shocked how this all went down so fast. Wish I had gotten the delta tickets a month or so ago.
Can someone explain how at 1:00 est flights to Las Vegas from CMH were $99 one way and $79 back, but 6 hours later the only flights available are for $169/each way - which is almost the same as your big name competitors? I was on my lunch break and didn't have time to make the reservations then, had I only known all the good rates would dissapear that quickly????
Wow! I never knew the release of a Southwest schedule was like the start of a clearance sale at NordstromÃ
I've been waiting for the summer schedule to come out, checking each day several times a day. I want to voice how disappointed I am at what must be a severely limited rapid rewards seat availability on certain flights - actually from Dallas to Seattle and Seattle to Dallas and between Dallas and Oakland after only a few hours since the schedule came out. I am a very frequent flier on Southwest, being in my second year of companion pass and will be getting the third. However the limits that Southwest has put on rapid rewards seats is a big negative in my mind and after I get the next companion pass for which I need about 8 more credits by June, I will start to fly on other carriers. It is not worth the hassle to be loyal to southwest and then not be able to use my RR awards very often.
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