Not to pile on with the Southwest news today, but they just announced the launch dates for two new international destinations. Southwest will launch service to both Cancun & San Jose Cabo on August 10, 2014.
International Route Launch Dates
Southwest also launched a website which details which cities will gain access to international routes and when. Visit the site, input your departure city and you will then be able to see what date international bookings will become available. For my hometown of Las Vegas, international routes are available after September 30, 2014.
The new nonstop routes announced are:
Cancun to: San Antonio, Austin, Denver, Chicago Midway, Baltimore (Various launch dates.)
San Jose Cabo to: Orange County, Denver, Austin (Various launch dates.)
You can see the new routes along with the connections on Southwest’s route map.
Policies For International Flights
Along with the new routes, Southwest has published their policies for international flights. Among them is that they will not accept more than three forms of payment, unaccompanied minors will not be allowed, taxes & fees will be charged for lap children and more. You can find the policies here by scrolling down.
Sample Bookings
Initial rates from LAS-SJD seem to be pretty good. I did a random search for October 2 – October 5 and found that the next cheapest ticket was on Alaska at $502 roundtrip so it seems to be pretty competitive right now. Southwest prices out at $398.98.
If we look at flights from the Los Angeles area to Cabo, Southwest looks pretty favorable as well.
For Las Vegas to Cancun connecting through Denver, Southwest is a few dollars higher than Spirit, but a few dollars cheaper than AeroMexico.
For their nonstop Denver to Cancun route, Southwest is cheaper than everyone else. The next cheapest main line carrier is American.
Conclusion
While this is only a small sampling of dates and cities, it appears that Southwest is coming out of the gate with pretty competitive rates to both Cancun and San Jose Cabo. It is also nice to see the launch of international connections & it is great that the announcement and schedule extension came before the upcoming devaluation.
I certainly am excited about these new destinations and plan to fly on one of these routes later this year using the companion pass that we recently acquired!
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