Comments on: Southwest Airlines Top Four Destinations – YOU VOTED

By: ANG20

ANG20 — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 03:13:09 +0000

Was ALBUQUERQUE on that list encompassing cities to vote for?

By: sunni247

sunni247 — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 05:06:55 +0000

I am very glad they included orlando in the list. Yes its true you can drive about about 65 miles either way to a beach if you want to. However it’s not the same as pcb. I have a lot of family and friends that live up there and several friends who have moved here to orlando for work. We can fly to miami or puerto rico for that matter for less than 100 dollars but if you want to fly to pcb you’re paying 350-425 for a ticket from orlando.I check all the time. I’m a native floridian and Ilike to vacation in florida, but the 5and ahalf hour to 6 hour drive is a bummer. I think with the current economy a lot of people do want to vacation but need to stay closer to home. there are 2,054,574 people that live in central florida. We also have the largest university (UCF) by enrolled student in the state. A lot of people want to get away somewhere close and beautiful. We get tired of disney and often want something else to do in our homestate. Plus Daytona beach and cocoa beach don’t compare at all. You can bet I’ll be visiting often!I hope the prices are good. You can only visit south florida so many times you know!

By: Ken Dalley

Ken Dalley — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:12:08 +0000

I think they are missing a huge Canadian market that flys out of Buffalo to Florida.Buffalo should be one of the destinations.

By: rob-missouri

rob-missouri — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:17:04 +0000

It was interesting to see what cities people thought WN would be flying to.

I was in the airline business for nearly 40 years and have two sons and two brothers who are
commercial pilots. (None of them fly for Southwest).

There a term in the industry called, O & D passengers. It stands for originate and destination.

Someone mentioned Little Rock and Memphis. From this new airport Southwest, (their two letter code is WN) with a 150 seat 737-700 would probably carry 30-40 people per flight. Remember,
we are talking two flights, 7 days a week with them, unlike Allegiant from Las Vegas, which flies to cities 2-3 days a week with only one flight each day.

Many people say Southwest is not a hub and spoke airline…..wrong. Southwest has several huge
hubs, like Baltimore, Chicago/Midway, Houston/Hobby, Phoenix, Las Vegas, ect., and many
mini-hubs. Nashville would be a good example. Southwest has around 50 flights a day to nearly 20 cities. This means there would be connecting flights to Philly, Detroit, Raleigh, Hartford,
Providence, Cleveland, etc. So, Nashville is a mini-hub for Southwest.

For example, if I wanted to fly from Orlando to my hometown of Sacramento, California, on
Southwest I would need to change planes in either Chicago, Phoenix or Las Vegas, since WN
has no stops to Sacramento from Orlando. That connection, (and thousands everyday just like it) is called a Hub city.

BWI would be a good choice for both O & D traffic, serving the huge complex of greater Washington D. C. and connecting traffic to many Northeast cities where WN flies.

Orlando is not a surprise since it too is a large mini-hub for WN with flights all over the country.

I must admit that I thought Chicago/Midway would have been on the list before Nashville,
but knowing Southwest, it will be added soon, along with Denver and perhaps even Phoenix
or Las Vegas, which are huge hubs for WN. (Thoses cities would cover all the California cities, cities in the Northwest, and Salt Lake, Reno, Boise and Spokane.

It will be a very positive thing for people living in that area of Florida and people flying there but
not such good news if you are working for a regional airline at one of the nearby airports.

The only problem I see is that the airport will not be able to get too big too fast since there will
only be one runway avialable for both landing and departing flights, but that may be many years away.

By: Ted

Ted — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:43:37 +0000

I’m very disappointed to note that Chicago wasn’t chosen for one of Southwest’s first four inaugural cities into PCB. While I realize that the due diligence conducted by Southwest made for other selections, I can’t help but think that Chicago would have been a greater draw than Orlando? Hopefully Chicago will be added to their non-stop destinations (soon).

By: Poolside

Poolside — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:51:16 +0000

The four cities are: Houston, Texas; Nashville, Tenn.; Baltimore, Md.; and Orlando. Service will begin May 23, 2010.

By: jeff wallace

jeff wallace — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:39:33 +0000

so relieved to know Nashville will be on the list.

By: David Shearon

David Shearon — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:10:21 +0000

Panama City Beach needs to touch all markets that South Florida does not control. Pittsburgh, Ohio,Iowa, Illinois, Indiana maybe even Kentucky. Nebraska and Oklahoma. Concentrate on core areas that will fill planes for direct flights to Panama City Beach. The TDC Walton Bay Okaloosa counties need to work together to show case the area for tourism. Other than the military, tourism is our main industry.

By: Poolside

Poolside — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:31:44 +0000

Tomorrow is the big day!!!! 10 am
http://m.newsherald.com/thenewsherald/db_15669/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=7aSCAoml&src=cat

By: Cara Dee

Cara Dee — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:59:47 +0000

As long as it is within a 2 hour driving distance of Baltimore, I dont care! BWI would be perfect, we use SWA all the time out of BWI, but Philly wouldnt be too bad. Beats driving to Jax on this end of it 5 and 6 times a year!

And THANK you all for proving that people north of Kentucky DO actually vacation here! I have been in an ongoing argument with someone that believes that I am lying about anyone from the N.E. (my hometown near Baltimore) and beyond would EVER consider coming to rednecky PCB. She insists everyone up there turns thier nose up at my beloved PCB…LOL