Air travel seemingly keeps getting more unpleasant.
First, you have to get to their airport and park. That doesn't seem like it should be a big deal, but record crowds at major airports like Las Vegas' Harry Reid International, among many others, have pushed parking capacity to the brink.
That often means driving around a garage hoping for an open space and sometimes finding one in a garage that's not optimal for the terminal and gate you need to get to.
Related: Southwest Airlines makes a big baggage change
Once you get inside the airport, the experience does not get much better. You have to go through security which often means waiting in a long line. Then, once you get to the front it's time to take your shoes off and try to figure out exactly what the rules are in this specific security line.
Some airports make you take your laptops out, while others have newer technology where you don't have to. In other cases, all bags must go in a bin while sometimes they travel through loosely.
Add in the inevitable pat down or bag that gets rifled through by security, and it's easy to be flustered before you even get crammed into a seat for your flight (which may be next to a crying baby or person with a suspicious cough.)
Southwest Airlines LUV has taken a step to try to make travel a little bit easier for some of its passengers. It may not seem like a big move, but it will have a sneaky large impact.
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Image source: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP
Southwest Airlines moves its international hub
Southwest Airlines has joined its chief rival JetBlue JBLU in trying to compete with full-fare airlines including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines for international routes. The company has been growing that business and recently made a change that will make international travel easier for many of its customers
"And as we shared last quarter, we are taking actions to accelerate the maturation of our developing markets and to optimize our schedules to current travel patterns. The most recent example is today's announcement that we're shifting the bulk of the international service in Fort Lauderdale to Orlando," COO Andrew Waterson shared during the airline's third-quarter earnings call.
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That may seem like a small move, but Orlando is a much larger airport than Fort Lauderdale. More flights already connect through Orlando (MCO) and it's also an airport that can handle more passengers comfortably.
"This will offer better connectivity in our domestic network via the nearly 140 daily departures at MCO. We are fully committed to delivering on a plan that enables operational excellence, improves operational efficiency," he added.
The change will also result in shorter connecting flights once planes land in the United States.
"Orlando being a little bit further north and having more flights for Southwest Airlines north of Orlando allows us to have the good complement of the local, plus the flow," he shared. "...For a lot of the international, it requires us to offer that as a connection for some of our kind of further northern cities. So Orlando, the combination of the local market, plus allowing us to access our big customer bases on the Upper Midwest and Northeast, makes a more network sense given scarce capacity if you will."
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In addition, Southwest Airlines has a crew base in Orlando. That should lower costs for the airline as it will have to pay for fewer overnights and won't have to transport crews between the two MCO and FLL, which are about four hours apart by car.
