How To Book Multi City Flights On Southwest?

To successfully book Multi-City Flights on Southwest Airlines, you need to follow the following steps.

Southwest Airlines is a famous low-cost airline company in America. Southwest's route network is not hub and spoke like that of legacy airlines, which entails that you cannot book flights with multiple destinations on a single ticket directly via the Southwest website or its mobile application. However, there are a few tricks that enable the user to predetermine several cities on the route, which is not very convenient. In this guide, I will outline the fundamental steps to use that can help you with the task of booking multi-segment Southwest itineraries.

Understand Southwest's Route Structure

As discussed above, Southwest does not engage in the hub and spoke system but instead establishes its routes between particular cities. Thus, rather than changing at a hub airport, the passengers must arrange individual one-way bookings to join a trip. For instance, if one would want to travel from Nashville to Los Angeles with a layover at the Denver airport, they would purchase a ticket from Nashville to Denver, then another ticket from Denver to Los Angeles. Every one-way trip can be actually considered as a separate reservation, although here we will describe how you can connect them seamlessly.

Check Route Maps

Before you attempt to construct the scenario of traveling to several cities, be sure to go back to the route maps posted on the Southwest Airlines website to ensure that the airline offers all the routes that you intend to take. It is recommended to consult live route maps and decide for yourself which of the cities they are connected to. Ensure that there are no stopovers between each of the points you wish to visit during your trip. However, it is important to understand that if some of these legs connect through cities which are undesirable, then Southwest might not be the best bet.

Know the Restrictions

Southwest places a few restrictions regarding roundtrip discounts and itinerary changes that you need to consider when booking multi-city flights:Southwest places a few restrictions regarding roundtrip discounts and itinerary changes that you need to consider when booking multi-city flights:

• You will not get a cheaper price by combining one-way bookings and putting them into a single reservation. Only actual circuitous trips qualify for discount rates.

• Another disadvantage of one-way flights is that if at some point of the journey you have to make some changes, you would have to cancel or make changes to each flight individually. Indeed, the actual one is the multi-city reservation, which cannot be altered in a simple way.

• This policy means that if any segment is delayed or cancelled, the airline will not re-book passengers on any other flight that is operated by any other airline. Therefore, complex itineraries that cross through several cities, including other airlines, may be more dangerous.

  Check Fares Leg-By-Leg

  The first step in the process of booking a multi-city trip is comparing potential current fares on Southwest. com segment by segment. Please set your departure and arrival airports and travel dates for each flight you intend to take. This will give you an idea of the total cost, namely taking the lowest published fares of Southwest at the time into consideration. If the rate is still too high, one should consider compromising on the flexibility of dates or choice of airports.

  Identify Any Connections

  While you search segment by segment, consider if you have to create links between those flights. Southwest connection trips should be planned with at least a two-hour break in between if plane switches are involved. If all you have is your carry-on bags, you may be done in one hour. Where passengers transfer to the international flights that connect to Southwest, it is safer to have at least two or three hours. If the connections are very tight, then any single delay might mean that the rest of your schedule would have to be thrown out of the window.

  Book Segment

  After one has searched fares and connections, it is time to begin officially booking of a multi-city Southwest flight. The best approach in this case would be to buy a first flight of the trip from your home airport. Just like with any other airplane trip, you will enter your outbound airport, destination, date, and the number of people going. Check in for the flight and make sure the whole booking process is done either through the website or the mobile application of Southwest Airlines.

  Book All Other Segments

  Once you have completed the flight search & booking for your initial route, you then have to do it again for every subsequent segment. Ensure you choose the accurate airports and the date that you want them to pick you. Ensure that there is ample time required to connect between one stop over city and another depending on the duration of the arriving and departing flights. This means that you will not have to enter the passenger details again and again like Southwest does. Go ahead and buy all the remaining one-way flights to cover the rest of your travels.

  Print Boarding Passes

  Whenever you click on the yes™ button for confirming each one-way booking, ensure that you print or take screenshots of all the boarding passes for those future flights since in the future the website may not be available as it is. Boarding passes are available by looking at “My Trips” section on the account area of the Southwest Airlines’ website. It is wise to have all your passes with you in advance to avoid stumbling on serious issues such as check-in issues that can be very embarrassing once you face them.

  Monitor Your Inbox

  Look out for the next 24 hours for an email notification in the email address linked to your Southwest Rapid Rewards account. Southwest usually provides confirmations of bookings with flight numbers, time of departure and the position on the boarding list shortly after a new booking has been made. However, for multi-city bookings, you will be receiving multiple emails, each for a different journey. Make sure that all the confirmation messages are checked and ensure that all your detailed schedule is complete.

  Check-in Online Early

  However, if you book direct with Southwest, they will guarantee that any passenger who wishes to check-in online can do so up to 24 hours before the time of the planned trip. As early as 24 hours before the departure of the first flight in the trip, go to your Southwest's account and check-in to reserve a boarding position for that particular flight. Perform the rinse and repeat process to check in for the remaining flights that you have on your multi-city itinerary the moment the 24-hour check-in times are applicable.

  To learn how to change part of your itinerary, read the following section:

  If it is necessary to modify some of the details of a multi-city reservation at some point in the future, you will be able to do so by signing in to your Southwest account online or through the application. Go to the “My Trips” part located at the top and then choose the segment with which you want to work – change or cancel it. Any further flights shall not be affected as the initial flights. This means that one could adjust or rebook each one-way as they deemed appropriate. Something else to bear in mind is that going through with cancellation of any flight automatically eliminates any companion fares which have been booked on such segment.

  Enter the name of the other person who has the Companion Pass if the holder of this Pass travels with a companion.

  One extremely large positive of being loyal to Southwest is receiving their highly sought-after Companion Pass, wherein selected individuals can travel for free (only pay taxes and fees). If you still have an unused Companion Pass, it is advised to get a companion pass after you have purchased your own flights. Then, just call Southwest and inform the airline that you want to add your companion as a passenger on the chosen segments at no additional cost. These features have to be added individually by an agent over the phone once the flight is sold and paid for.

  Extra Tips & Advice

  Here are some final pointers to smooth out the multi-city booking process:Here are some final pointers to smooth out the multi-city booking process:

• I did not have any issues rebooking my flights, but to be on the safe side, only fly on flights operated by Southwest Airlines.

• Do not use very short connections where you risk missing a flight as a result of delays or any other challenges.

• For later use, register for flight status alerts to track the possibility of delays or cancellations.

• Enter Pay for Upgraded Boarding to get the most popular and sought-after seats.

• Join the TSA PreCheck program for quick security and shorter layover times.

• Pack snacks for the sake of saving money in the course of a layover that is offered without any meal.

  That, I believe, gives an outline of how to effectively navigate through the various Southwest Airlines routes and come up with a perfect itinerary! I found it easier to take the time to read about my options and understand the restrictions so that there would be no surprises during the voyage. It is okay to move segments if necessary, but for the portion of the individual flight that needs changing, you can only follow the change/cancel steps. The best strategies for planning several city Southwest tours require time and planning, especially when they occur in different states.