Though it
might not say it on the calendar, summer unofficially kicks off today with the
start of the Memorial Day weekend holiday and
Southwest Airlines says it is ready for the expected deluge of passengers.
With ‘deluge’ being the
operative word there.
Starting today and running through Labor Day on September 2, Southwest expects to carry some 57 million passengers on its flights. The projected numbers are staggering, with the airline flying an average of 4,112 daily flights.
More than 2.1 million people
are expected to fly on Southwest this weekend and 2.8 million during the
Independence Day weekend holiday in July. Southwest estimates the peak
day for travel will be Sunday, July 7, when it has already scheduled 4,452
flights.
Already famous for its policy of no fee for the first two checked bags, Southwest is touting several other amenities, including no change fees or cancellation fees up to 10 minutes before departure and points and flight credits that never expire.
In addition, passengers may
also take a same-day standby flight without incurring fees.
Ever since its meltdown
in Christmas of 2022 that resulted in thousands of canceled flights, Southwest
is also emphasizing its completion rate of nearly 99 percent.
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