Southwest axes all Ft Lauderdale non stops effective Nov 2

[spuwho]

I'd be surprised if WN pulls out of JAX-FLL.  They are investing $300 million to build an international terminal there (as they are at Hobby in Houston). They will want to max out feed to those flights. Perhaps it will come from elsewhere.  WN''s approach in recent years has been to avoid fleet expansion, but maximize return on existing assets.

Ok, I'll bite... what is WN?

The IATA code for Southwest Airlines is WN.

For United its UA, American, AA.

[ProjectMaximus]

Silver Airways announced Jax to Ft Lauderdale service today for $79.

http://www.silverairways.com/

I've been on the road and out of the loop. Is this JAX-FLL once daily?

[spuwho]

Silver Airways announced Jax to Ft Lauderdale service today for $79.

http://www.silverairways.com/

I've been on the road and out of the loop. Is this JAX-FLL once daily?

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2014/05/27/silver-airlines-flying-between-jacksonville-and.html

[johnny_simpatico]

JetBlue will be (partially) filling the vacuum with two daily roundtrips between JAX and FLL.  The good news is that these trips will feed into JetBlue's rapidly developing Latin American/Caribbean service.

[/url]http://investor.jetblue.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=131045&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1934857&highlight=[url]

I can't really understand Southwest's logic with their schedule moves.  Time to switch airline loyalty credit cards.

[ben says]

JetBlue will be (partially) filling the vacuum with two daily roundtrips between JAX and FLL.  The good news is that these trips will feed into JetBlue's rapidly developing Latin American/Caribbean service.

[/url]http://investor.jetblue.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=131045&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1934857&highlight=[url]

I can't really understand Southwest's logic with their schedule moves.  Time to switch airline loyalty credit cards.

FLL will be a nice JetBlue connection, considering JB flies direct FLL to Lima, Peru (among other int'l destinations).

Southwest was never good proposition from a credit card standpoint....unless you're solely interested in flying domestic and have zero interest in flying business/first class. JetBlue credit card is even worse.

Move your spend to AA or one of the transferable points cards (Chase Sapphire Preferred or SPG Amex) or a cash-back card (Barclay Arrival).

[Gators312]

Southwest's companion pass was definitely worth churning Rapid Rewards CC pts. For me I travel almost exclusively domestic and with the wife and two young children RR is a good program if you can earn enough pts to get the Companion pass.

[johnny_simpatico]

That has been my position too, Gators 312 ... and I was looking forward to using the Companion Pass on Southwest's new international flights through FLL.  Now I'm thinking I should shift the strategy to JetBlue.

[ben says]

Southwest's companion pass was definitely worth churning Rapid Rewards CC pts. For me I travel almost exclusively domestic and with the wife and two young children RR is a good program if you can earn enough pts to get the Companion pass.

I agree, if you can get the companion pass  The CP is probably one of the best travel perks on the market, anywhere. The only reason I got it is because I signed up for 2 SW cards (50k points per card + 4k spend = 104,000 pts towards the CP--need 100k). I wouldn't have been able to get the CP without the sign up bonuses...and 100k/year is a lot of $$ to put on a card that works on only a single program.

Check out this card (Chase Sapphire Preferred): 40,000 points after spending $3,000 in 3 months. Points transfer to:

Southwest
Hyatt
Marriott
Ritz-Carlton
United
British Airways
Korean Air
Amtrak
IHG (Holiday Inn/InterContinentals, among others, like Indigo)
Singapore
Virgin Atlantic

If you don't like the transfer partners (not sure why anyone wouldn't), Chase will send you a check at a buck a point. I.E., 40,000 points is a $400 cash back check!

If anyone wants a referral link to that card, lemme know. Why spend all your money on just the Southwest when you can spend on all these programs at once?

That has been my position too, Gators 312 ... and I was looking forward to using the Companion Pass on Southwest's new international flights through FLL.  Now I'm thinking I should shift the strategy to JetBlue.

The problem with JB is..there really isn't a strategy. They're a low cost carrier. There's nothing wrong with that in and of itself--I fly them 5-6 times a year (JFK), but their point redemptions are by and large pretty terrible. Because there are no elite cabins (yet--there are plans to release them JFK/LAX in the future) and no real "upgrades" (all the seats are more or less the same), its another card I wouldn't really put a lot of spend on.