No more nonstop on SW from DTW?

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

My husband thinks we should stop racking up all these miles with our SW credit card since it seems there are no more non stops from detroit or flint to MCO. Has anyone else noticed this? They haven't released April 2017 yet, but we typed in a few dates for March and they all have layovers and the prices aren't even that great.

 

[Geoff_M]

Yep, looking like IND is now the place to fly to MCO for us. Lots of non-stops and a lot cheaper. The extra drive is only 90 minutes for us to IND.

 

[greenclan67]

Fnt has non stops but only one and only Saturdays!! Grand Rapids still has non stops. But I agree. It is disheartening.

 

[justafigment27]

I think it's been a few years since DTW has had non-stops to MCO.

I was disappointed with the flight selection to MCO from Michigan this morning. Only one non-stop option in the entire state for M-F departures ... 4:05pm from GRR. Selection is a little better on Saturday and Sunday with 2 flights from GRR and one from FNT. There always used to be an early morning non-stop flight from FNT during the weekdays during spring break time ... but it's gone this year.

 

[Tigger2ntinkerbell]

We are also looking next year, but with the nonexistent non-stop flights or the every long flights for cheaper ticket makes planning even harder to do.

My DH said we should just drive from Michgian(FNT). But I can't stand being on the road that long even with 1 night in a hotel .
I like getting up and driving to FNT, getting on a plane and landing at MCO within 2 1/2 hours wh

I might even be willing to give Spirit Airlines a try if it gets me there non-stop with a decent price .


I wonder what's up with SouthWest

 

[Gary M]

Besides SWA, Delta has a non-stop from IND to MCO. I remember a few years ago at least 4 airlines had non-stop flights from IND to MCO and the fares were very cheap. Looks like those days are gone for many airports.

 

[Fire14]

SWA has nonstop from GRR friend is booked on for FEB. Also depending on where you live Check CLE or CMH for nonstop

 

[Meeko5]

The nonstop from FNT was nice - and bonus it's a way smaller airport! But now that it's down to 1 per week that's a bummer for people on the east side.

We are happy to have nonstop from GRR though! That's local and was cheaper than both FNT and DTE surprisingly.

 

[DebbieB]

Besides SWA, Delta has a non-stop from IND to MCO. I remember a few years ago at least 4 airlines had non-stop flights from IND to MCO and the fares were very cheap. Looks like those days are gone for many airports.

All of the major airlines have consolidated so that cuts down on the competition.
American West > US > American
Northwest > Delta
Continental > United
AirTran > Southwest

I've found that SW usually shies away from other airlines hubs, they can't compete for business travelers. Detroit is a Delta hub.

 

[NH-to-FL]

We have noticed that over the last few years the number of non-stops from Manchester, NH to MCO on Southwest has dropped from three to one a day. Still lots of flights through connections, mostly through Baltimore but a number through Chicago. Who wants to fly from NH to FL through Chicago? Thankfully we are flexible and will continue to arrange our schedule around the nonstop time.

 

[Sandi]

We're flying on SW FNT to MCO on 8/20, returning on 8/27. I'm in East Lansing, so it's an easy drive to FNT. It's fortunate that we can fly on Saturdays since that was when the nonstop are happening. I prefer FNT over DTW and just hope the nonstop continues there. The DTW flights are going through Chicago Midway, right? Or are they through BWI, too?

 

[jsk61006]

We pretty much only fly Southwest. For Disney, we typically fly IND-MCO or MDW-MCO. This time around, Indy was MUCH cheaper than anywhere else around so that's what we went with. It dropped even lower a couple of weeks ago and now DH and I have some vouchers for a quick getaway. We love how easy it is to adjust for lower prices and the whole "bags fly free" is awesome when you have little kids. The extra drive isn't ideal but the cost savings and nonstop flights are completely worth it.

 

[Lori74]

We're flying on SW FNT to MCO on 8/20, returning on 8/27. I'm in East Lansing, so it's an easy drive to FNT. It's fortunate that we can fly on Saturdays since that was when the nonstop are happening. I prefer FNT over DTW and just hope the nonstop continues there. The DTW flights are going through Chicago Midway, right? Or are they through BWI, too?

we are flying fnt next sat for the first time, my understanding is its a small airport, how is security? should we plan on being there 2 hrs early or can we get away with hour and a half to an hr early?

 

[MIChessGuy]

I noticed on my trip last winter that the Southwest nonstops to/from DTW had all but dried up. There was one nonstop coming back from MCO on February 6. At the start of my trip one week earlier, I had to take Southwest connecting through ATL. For my trip this month, I was able to snag a nonstop out of FNT on August 20 as well as nonstop coming back to FNT on August 27. There are a few other nonstop options if you are willing to consider alternative airports, e.g., Allegiant goes to Orlando/Sanford from TOL. But in general, if you want to reach MCO from metro Detroit, it is getting harder and harder to avoid Delta and Spirit. (There is now an occasional Frontier nonstop from DTW as well; I know nothing about them, but their fares on certain dates look pretty competitive.)

 

[Jennny]

I too am flying flint to mco August 20-27... Coming from Canada . Last year the same time we flew nonstop out of flint on a Monday returning on a Sunday... It's a shame almost all those nonstop are gone leaving only Saturday left.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Well, we don't fly out of any of those airports but we did just switch from using our SW visa to the Chase Sapphire Preferred visa. Instead of earning SW-RR points, it earns Ultimate Rewards points. They are very flexible and if we want to convert them into SW points we can with a 1:1 full point value. We can also trade them in for American Airline miles, British Airways, and some others. We can also trade them into several hotel chain's points such as Hyatt, Marriott, and Starwood points. Or just book our travel directly through their UR points website and use 20% fewer points.
We've only had it approx. 1 week and so far I'm liking it. All travel-related charges earn double points as well as any restaurant. This also is a much better offer than the SW visa which only doubles points for purchases made to SWA.
I prepaid the airport parking bill for an upcoming trip (gets us the lowest coupon rate and allows us to redeem frequent parker points.) This also qualified for double points since it's travel related.

So even if we still wish to fly SW (still a few non-stops out of Philly!) we can always transfer our UR points into SW-RR points and it would happen much more quickly, or we can opt to save a huge amount of points and do something big with them. (Europe, Hawaii, etc.) AA flies just about everywhere.
There are so many places that SW doesn't fly to and they all cost more than flying to FL.

We just happened to be in a Chase bank for something else and were offered 50k bonus points to me and dh. Also if we add an authorized user (we both added each other) that gives us another 5000 pts. I'm hanging onto my SW card for now until I see how things work out. I've had it for 11 yrs and it's hard to let it go. lol

 

[Sandi]

we are flying fnt next sat for the first time, my understanding is its a small airport, how is security? should we plan on being there 2 hrs early or can we get away with hour and a half to an hr early?

Our plan is to be at the SWA line 90 minutes before the flight. FNT is a nice, small airport. TSA goes quite efficiently, but the SWA check in can be slow and checking bags is where we get tripped up. Not always, but we've been in some long lines for SWA at FNT. Parking is usually quite plentiful, but figure out in which lot you want to park before you arrive.

Have a great trip.

 

[Sandi]

I too am flying flint to mco August 20-27... Coming from Canada . Last year the same time we flew nonstop out of flint on a Monday returning on a Sunday... It's a shame almost all those nonstop are gone leaving only Saturday left.

See you there! Will you come over the night before or do you drive over the day of. Just wondering how things are at the border. Hope it goes smoothly.

 

[Jennny]

I've heard bridge before cross over to states is under construction so that could delay us a bit. We are two and a half hours away so we'll budget 3 hours. At least with flight leaving at noon we don't have to stay over the night before. Airport nice and small so shouldn't be too bad!

 

[ChasingLeslie]

I was hoping to fly SW on our July trip, but was unwilling to make a stop. We flew with Delta and (other than the price increase for baggage) it was great. We'll probably go with Delta again next year.