Is Southwest's load factor picking up?

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srn121

Well-Known Member
I was looking for flights late this month from a major metro area to two separate airports on the east coast and it seems like most of their flights are already saying sold out on their app. I know it's not indicative of how things are in all their markets, but does anyone have any good sources of information on ticket sales?

I'm plugging in a lot of departures and arrivals from their non hub cities for late in the month and many are already sold out and Want To Get Away Fares are very hard to come by. Try some for yourself.
 
They're only selling flights at 2/3 of aircraft capacity to keep the middle seats open, so it could be legit. Especially considering they aren't running a full schedule either.
 
Anecdotal and not about Southwest but I had two deadheads on United/ United Express yesterday, and both were nearly "full"- meaning 70% as United is only booking to 70% load factor. I understand most other airlines have such a limit as well but don't know about Southwest. I hear it's hard to get a seat as a non-rev lately (the 70% will not be exceeded for non-revs). But I doubt hogh load factors mean much with how much the airlines have pulled down their schedules, since they're flying a fraction of the flights they used to. On the other hand the part of Concourse A at IAD that United Express uses seemed almost as crowded as in the old days.
 
FlyingAccountant said:
They're only selling flights at 2/3 of aircraft capacity to keep the middle seats open, so it could be legit. Especially considering they aren't running a full schedule either.
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I'll take an improvement over the numbers we've had and these were for flights during the last week of June. It seems like American Airlines is usually the cheapest lately when I look for domestic flights and they along with SWA are offering double miles/points so I'm even more eager to fly knowing how roomy and comfy any flight will be.
 
SFLAX said:
Loads have been great...but still only at 25% of TSA totals a year ago. With 350 planes parked, it’s a false positive.
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They can step up and add planes if they're getting higher and higher loads. I'm not saying we're out of the woods yet, far from it, but I'll take any positive news and the information on where things are trending is useful as loads seem to only be improving and the numbers I'm hearing for July (albeit secondhand) are very promising.
 
C5 at IAD will be running roughly the same fight hours in June as pre covid. Perchance the traffic in A concourse will now warrant more than JUST Jersey Mikes being open so the line doesn’t stretch the entirety of the concourse.
 
Yes, SWA loads are picking up. It was very difficult to none-rev my family of six to the east coast at the end of May. My last three day trip had 6 legs total. Three legs were full, 70% capacity, the other three had 60 to 80 passengers. It was nice not greeting my lone passenger by name on the P.A.
 
QXDX said:
According to SeatGuru.com, Southwest's 737-8 has 175 seats. If the center seat is not sold, that leaves 110 saleable seats (62%). What does that do to their economics? Is there even a hope of at least breaking even with those kinds of load factors? If no-center-seat becomes the norm, do they have the pricing power to raise their fares accordingly?
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Then it becomes a trade off on some routes and when people can't get tickets they'll have to charge more or the travelers will demand the middle seat be made available. Perhaps they'd lose less money flying at a slight loss than parking planes and not getting any revenue from them. I'd imagine some airlines might bet on bookings months out in hopes they are able to use that middle seat.
 
Alaska says they won't sell half of first and all the middle until the end of July. Many of the flights I look at are nearly "full" on that basis. They have already added a third plane to SEA-ORD that was a two. I think it was 5 pre-covid. I don't see Alaska sticking to the reduced capacity until the end of July unless all the other airlines do the same. Once one of them starts selling middle seats the others will have to follow.
 
One of their dispatchers told me their loads have “sky rocketed.” But more than anything I think that comes from both the slight increase in demand, but also the far fewer choices being presented. Had a trip schedule changed by 6 hours yesterday and nothing even anywhere near what I booked. Literally one option all day.
 
QXDX said:
According to SeatGuru.com, Southwest's 737-8 has 175 seats. If the center seat is not sold, that leaves 110 saleable seats (62%). What does that do to their economics? Is there even a hope of at least breaking even with those kinds of load factors? If no-center-seat becomes the norm, do they have the pricing power to raise their fares accordingly?
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I was on SWA a few weeks ago. They also kept the first row empty, and even the last row maybe. I think they said the 737-700 were/are capped to 93 pax. The flights I was on had between 30-55 pax.
 
Are the airlines blocking out capacity when you check loads, or are they leaving it up to standby travelers to do the math and figure out what 70% is?
 
DE727UPS said:
I can check loads on Alaska (don't ask me how). You can see actual loads.
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Loads showing how many seats that can actually be occupied are left open, or loads of the whole plane that require guesswork? Just wondering because I may be flying standby soon if it looks easy enough to plan.
 
ChasenSFO said:
Loads showing how many seats that can actually be occupied are left open, or loads of the whole plane that require guesswork? Just wondering because I may be flying standby soon if it looks easy enough to plan.
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For us it shows seats available to the cap. So fi we are in an -700 normally holds 143, capped to 93. It will say Seats available for sale and that's based off the 93 number.
 
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