The time has come when Southwest has expanded outside of the continental US!!! I cannot even express how excited I am – although maybe all the exclamation marks will show it!!! I am hoping that this is the start of other island destinations (fingers crossed)!
Flights start to San Juan, Puerto Rico on April 14, 2013 with direct flights to/from Orlando and Tampa. While fares are reasonably priced from these Florida locations (as low as $99 on select dates), fares elsewhere are pretty steep. You can get direct flights for less than $250 from many East coast locations. The good thing about Southwest though is the Companion Pass perk – if you have one.
I can’t wait to see if Southwest to fly to more destinations! While I hope for Hawaii, AirTran doesn’t currently have operations there anyways, so I do not have high hopes. If you’ve heard anything around the rumor mill, please feel free to share.
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As a companion pass member this is very good news!
@MileageUpdate – I agree!
Here is a good article talking about the Southwest/Airtran merger and there is a list of likely Southwest destinations at the bottom.
http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/story/2012-05-23/Domestic-giant-Southwest-sticks-nose-into-international-air/55174412/1
As you are probably aware, Southwest just got approved to build a $100 Million, 5-gate international terminal here in Houston with service beginning in 2015. A Southwest phone rep I spoke to last week said that Hawaii would be a 2015 destination but I can’t speak to the accuracy of her information. I hope she is right though! 🙂
But will the companion pass work for international destinations is this question
@frank – I guess we will see. It looks like it works for San Juan.
@DWL: FYI: Coke rewards deal for 100 MCR points get $20 discount for up to 8 people. Check for terms here http://www.southwest.com/mycokerewards2012/
@Murtuza – This is great thanks. I do not know much about the my coke rewards, but I guess it is time to learn more!
@dealswelike, @Patrick Mc
I was on the Parking Spot shuttle with a Southwest Captain and he told me that they are working out the kinks with service to Honolulu. They are already flying the 737s out to Hawaii – testing them for such a long distance. He said they haven’t been able to get the fuel to weight ratio correct with respect to the amount of fuel it takes to get to HI from the west coast and the amount of fuel they have to have in reserve when flying to a place like that.
That’s what I was told – no expert here, so if some of my airline lingo facts aren’t exact, forgive me. I’m just an A List Preferred with expertise in staring at the back of a tray table for extended periods of time.