Southwest Airlines To End Some Fort Myers Routes

Southwest Airlines has a large presence at the Fort Myers, Florida (RSW) airport with destinations all over the country. But some of those routes will be going away.  Today, Southwest Airlines reported its first quarter 2024 financial results. And it's a bit of a mixed bag.

If you're not aware, Southwest Airlines flies Boeing aircraft, which has been in the news a lot lately. Some of Boeing's troubles may have had an effect on Southwest's bottom line.

Bob Jordan, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "Achieving our financial goals is an immediate imperative. The recent news from Boeing regarding further aircraft delivery delays presents significant challenges for both 2024 and 2025. We are reacting and replanning quickly to mitigate the operational and financial impacts while maintaining dependable and reliable flight schedules for our Customers."

Bob Jordan continues ""To improve our financial performance, we have intensified our network optimization efforts to address underperforming markets. Consequently, we have made the difficult decision to close our operations at Bellingham International Airport, Cozumel International Airport, Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, and Syracuse Hancock International Airport. I want to sincerely thank our Employees, the airports, and the communities for all their incredible support over the years.

The timeline on the closing of the operations at these airports is uncertain, but the website lends us some clues. Checking on the Southwest Airlines website, flights to and from Fort Myers to Bellingham International Airport show available flights until August 4th. No routes were listed for Fort Myers to Cozumel International Airport. Checking availability for flights from Fort Myers to Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport shows flights available until August 4th.  Fort Myers to Syracuse Hancock International Airport are also listed until August 4th. Searching other destinations such as Columbus, Ohio allows bookings through September.

Staffing will also be affected as Southwest plans to end 2024 "with approximately 2,000 fewer Employees as compared with the end of 2023."

Vacations and travel are supposed to be fun right?  What could be worse then getting to your destination to find that your luggage has been lost? No one wants to wear their plane clothes any longer than they have to.

Unfortunately, it's happening all too often across the United States and apparently, especially here in Florida.

I've been a victim of lost luggage in the past and it just plain sucks.  That's all there is to it.  We spend so much time packing and planning, to make sure we've got everything we need for a trip.  Then to find out you've got nothing, and don't know when or if your stuff will ever reach you.  UGH!  Super frustrating.

With summer in full motion, the crew over at Forbes, put together a list of the worst airports in the country for lost luggage.

In order to complete the list Forbes Advisor compared the nation’s 100 busiest airports using TSA data across four metrics.

The worst airport for lost luggage isn't in Florida.  Phew! Taking the number one spot is John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.  Also among the top 10 worst were Los Angeles, Norfolk, Boston, Harry Reid in Vegas, Newark, Daniel K. Inouye in Honolulu and Dulles in Washington DC.  You can read the full study completed by Forbes here.

So, how did the 5 Florida airports rank in the top 25 worst for lost luggage?  Let's take a look

Between 2013 and 2022, Miami International Airport had the second highest number of both property loss claims and property damage claims

https://www.miami-airport.com/

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport had the ninth highest number of property loss claims over the past decade and tied for eleventh with LAX for property damage claims

https://www.fort-lauderdale-airport.com/

Only about 29% of property loss claims were fully reimbursed.

https://www.orlandoairports.net/

Just over 24% of property loss claims were fully reimbursed.

https://flyrsw.com/

Less than 20% of property loss claims were fully reimbursed.

https://www.tampaairport.com/