WTF? SWA no longer has any non-stops to NYC? (Phoenix: credit card, school)

[Voebe]

I couldn't believe this.

Southwest Airlines has not only discontinued its non-stop flights from Phoenix to Newark, but has NO non-stops flying into the New York area at all. WIth Phoenix being something like the tenth largest metropolitan area, I'm stunned that they'd be shafting us like this. Someone there primly told me it wasn't sufficiently profitable, but considering that all the flights I've been on, for years, were jam-packed, I find that hard to believe. I've been flying them for years, not only because they've tried to keep their prices down, but because they're the only major carrier I know of that doesn't tack on fees for changes or basic luggage.

[Pink Jazz]

Southwest pulled out of Newark altogether since they weren't making money, and cannot fly from LaGuardia to Phoenix due to its perimeter rule (the exception is Denver which was grandfathered in when the perimeter rule was established). Apparently at Newark they couldn't compete with United's hub.

[SK115]

Frontier is adding flights from PHX to Newark. United also flies there as well.

American, Delta, and JetBlue all have flights between PHX and JFK.

[Pink Jazz]

Originally Posted by SK115

Frontier is adding flights from PHX to Newark. United also flies there as well.

American, Delta, and JetBlue all have flights between PHX and JFK.

AA also flies PHX-EWR as well.

And as for why Southwest doesn't fly to JFK, remember that JFK is slot controlled, so another airline would need to sell their slots before Southwest can enter.

[DetroitN8V]

It seems they also eliminated their direct to DTW flights.

[Soccernerd]

You could always just connect in a place like DEN, DAL, STL, MDW, or BNA to LGA if flying Southwest is that important. Of course it could easily add two hours to your travel time.

Otherwise United, American, Delta, JetBlue, and Frontier offer (or will be soon) nonstop flights to New York area airports.

[Bondurant]

Southwest made changes to a flight I had booked due to route changes. It's going to cost me 6 hours. I am starting to wonder if something is going on with Southwest. Had a terrible experience last December and both my flights since have been delayed. On the aforementioned December flight I was impacted by two planes with "mechanical failure". It may become necessary to spend more booking elsewhere to trade away the headaches of recent Southwest flights.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Disclaimer: I'm a SWA bigot. I'll use them for a direct flight whenever possible. Their companion ticket is the bomb (albeit they raised it from 110,000 to 125,000 points). My wife and I are flying to Nashville for $85 converted to point one way; for both of us (free companion). We booked 3 flights back in June with points. We recently canceled two of them because we now know which will be the best timing. All the points were put back in our account. And our credit card was credited the $5.20 tax. Once, we forgot! No problem, the points were automatically put back in without asking. A little too generous but that's how they roll! Hence, I'm a HUGE fan. Cut paste repeat for a flight to Seattle next month. We have multiple flights booked in the coming weeks. I cannot say enough good things about SWA.

Re: Newark. Obviously Southwest is focused on... well.... the Southwest. I've been told that the downing of the Boeing Max-8 jets has but a lot of pressure on their routes and revenue. I did a quick google. 1st read https://www.usatoday.com/story/money...-8/3285829002/ Now that was 34 planes in the Spring time. They would have had ANOTHER 40 more by now or 75 planes total. It's discussed here https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/17/how-...-airlines.html

We often use points for flights out of Boston (son goes to medical school). They have been retooling the Northeast runs as of late. Boston has also been hit. My guess is because they have had plans to expand to other areas like Hawaii. So it's decision time. I read that they are pulling out of Newark because they have more opportunities in other locations. i.e. they are looking at ROI and growth markets and were forced to make tough decisions. While some news outlets say they are losing $$'s, most never mention that. Rather, they had to make route decisions. A quick google and here it is:

"Southwest Airlines is pulling out of Newark Liberty International Airport and consolidating its operations at LaGuardia due to the continued grounding of the Boeing 737 Max plane, which it has more of than any other carrier, the airline said in its second-quarter earnings release Thursday.

Effective Nov. 3, the budget airline will no longer fly out of Newark, citing limited growth opportunity. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Southwest-Newark-Airport-Boeing-MAX-737-Consolidate-Operations-LaGuardia-513184911.html[/url]

And in the New York Times said they pulled out because "It's really about the Max" https://www.wsj.com/articles/southwe...ia-11564054566

When they say they "lost $150M in revenue last quarter" this is a whole lot different than saying they lost money last quarter. i.e. their profits are down because of the Max 8. It seems it could be a lot longer before it is fixed. It's probably why they are making new long term business decisions https://www.businessinsider.com/boei...ulator-2019-11

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by Voebe

I couldn't believe this.

Southwest Airlines has not only discontinued its non-stop flights from Phoenix to Newark, but has NO non-stops flying into the New York area at all. WIth Phoenix being something like the tenth largest metropolitan area, I'm stunned that they'd be shafting us like this. Someone there primly told me it wasn't sufficiently profitable, but considering that all the flights I've been on, for years, were jam-packed, I find that hard to believe. I've been flying them for years, not only because they've tried to keep their prices down, but because they're the only major carrier I know of that doesn't tack on fees for changes or basic luggage.

Shafting you? How so? Now if they took your money and kept it, that would constitute "shafting". Making tough business decisions because of limited resources happens day in, day out.

[Voebe]

Originally Posted by Pink Jazz

Southwest pulled out of Newark altogether since they weren't making money, and cannot fly from LaGuardia to Phoenix due to its perimeter rule (the exception is Denver which was grandfathered in when the perimeter rule was established). Apparently at Newark they couldn't compete with United's hub.

What's a perimeter rule?

Originally Posted by SK115

Frontier is adding flights from PHX to Newark. United also flies there as well.

American, Delta, and JetBlue all have flights between PHX and JFK.

I particularly liked SWA for its safety record. I don't much like American and United, and when I priced Delta last year, they quoted me prices that were so outlandishly high that I kept politely asking if they might be misreading the information.