Southwest Airlines has announced 12 routes for the winter and holiday season, including some that Floridians on the Gulf Coast may recognize.
Travel + Leisure reported Monday that the airline is relaunching some dormant routes to provide travelers more options to get back and forth to Florida and California, including flights from Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) in Fort Myers and Tampa International Airport (TPA).
The discount carrier has had a rough few months. The company announced layoffs of 15% of its corporate jobs in February, one of its flights narrowly missed hitting a business jet in Chicago, a Southwest pilot was arrested for DUI in Georgia, the company was sued (along with Frontier) over flight delays, and a Southwest jet almost took off from a taxiway in Orlando just over a week ago.
Changes to customer service have also drawn ire. The decision to end cabin service earlier in the flight may have been a safety measure and last year’s move to end open seating in favor of assigned seating with premium (starting in 2026) wasn’t surprising, but starting May 28, 2025, the airline’s free baggage policy is going away for everyone besides Southwest Rapid Rewards A-List Preferred Members and Business Select fare passengers. The change blindsided some loyal Southwest customers.
Other recent changes include making fares available on Expedia, adjusting Southwest’s loyalty program, launching red-eye flights, and partnering with Icelandair.
What Southwest flights are coming back? What new flights are coming?
According to Travel + Air:
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Southwest to bring back Chicago flights to these Florida airports. What we know
Reporting by C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Fort Myers News-Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
