Southwest Airlines Extends Schedule Through March 5, 2025

April 25, 2024

Southwest Schedule Extension Through March 5, 2025

Today, Southwest Airlines announced its latest schedule extension which opens up bookings through March 5, 2025. This extension gives travelers the opportunity to plan their trips through another two months as the previous schedule ended on January 6. Other airlines usually release their schedules about 11 months in advance. Southwest on the other hand usually gives you a shorter window.

When Southwest announces an extension to their schedule, many of their loyal fans are eager to take advantage, since it is one of the largest domestic carriers in the country.

The carrier also often offers the lowest prices on many routes and free checked bags, which is quite rare nowadays. However, it’s worth noting that prices are usually higher when the Southwest schedule is first extended.

If you book with points, that shouldn’t be much of an issue since you can check later and rebook if your flights drops in price. If you fly Southwest often then even cash bookings are worth it. If you book a Wanna Get Away or Wanna Get Away Plus fare, then you will receive flight credit for any price difference. Anytime or Business Select tickets are fully refundable.

And remember that you can cancel until 10 minutes before a flight’s scheduled departure time.

Next Schedule Extension

On August. 1, 2024, Southwest Airlines will open its schedule for sale through April 7, 2025. This date is subject to change! Please check back frequently. You can check flight schedules here.

Southwest’s Unique Boarding Process

If you are not familiar with Southwest Airlines, you should at last be aware of their boarding process. It can seem quite strange for first time flyers as there are no assigned seats.

Southwest’s boarding process typically includes three groups of A, B, and C, with group A boarding first. Within each group there are numbers between 1 and 60. So A15 means that you are 15th in line in the first boarding group. The earlier you board, the better the seat you can grab, as you can sit wherever you see an empty spot.

But how can you get into group A or even B? You should check in exactly 24 hours prior to departure, because that’s when online check-in begins. You should usually try to check in just a minute or so before departure time the previous day, and then keep trying until check-in opens up.

Guru’s Wrap-up

It’s a good idea to start looking for travel dates early, especially for peak travel times. With Southwest’s refund policy, there’s not much to worry about. Southwest even eliminated the expiration for flight credits.

Even if you working towards a Companion Pass but don’t have it yet, you can book now and add a companion later. You should also take a look at Southwest credit cards, if you plan to fly with them often.

Booking a Southwest flight? Let me know in the comments where you’re going next!