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Seeking suggestions for airport that SW flies into and has PNS connections

Seeking suggestions for airport that SW flies into and has PNS connections

Old Aug 17th, 2014, 05:31 AM
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Seeking suggestions for airport that SW flies into and has PNS connections

We have a boatload of points on SW. We'd like to rent a house for a week in March in Pensacola. We live in NH and fly from Manchester but can get to Logan pretty easily. When I tried to look up flights from either MHT or BOS to PNS, I got a message saying those flights have been discontinued. So I'd like to use SW to get to another airport that would have (relatively inexpensive) flights into PNS. Does anyone have a suggestion either for an airport or for how I could search this without entering every airport SW goes to?
Thanks for any ideas or suggestions.
gail
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Old Aug 17th, 2014, 07:45 AM
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You may want to consider flying from Manchester to New Orleans and then rent a car for a short 3 hour drive to Pensacola.
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Old Aug 17th, 2014, 08:01 AM
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Try flying into Panama City - SW has a limited number of flights to there from Boston (but they are not "non-stop").
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Old Aug 17th, 2014, 02:50 PM
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The Southwest schedule is only open until the first week in March - that "might" be the reason you can't find flights.
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Old Aug 18th, 2014, 03:56 PM
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AA: thanks for suggestion - I'll check out MHT to New Orleans flights. Do you think it's really only a 3 hour drive???
Roams: I did try looking at flts into Panama City and they're very limited and I got the same message I got for flts into PNS: that service is ending.
DebitNM: yes, you're right, I know the schedule only goes until 3/6 and it might get better -- I called SW directly and they're going to update schedule again on 8/25. I'm thinking PNS is too far north for a lot of snowbirds to want to go til it gets warmer, and might pick up business later in March so I'll check again, but I'm not optimistic, that's why I decided to post and look for other possibilities.
Thanks to all of you for ideas and suggestions.
We have an hour and a half drive from home to MHT, add that to getting to the airport a suggested 2 hours early and a flight that has an hour and a half layover, and then a 2-3 hour drive after we land, and it makes getting to PNS kind of an ordeal. I might find a way out of this, however! Wish me luck.
gail
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Old Aug 18th, 2014, 04:05 PM
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Quick update: I just checked SW for flights to New Orleans and that appears to be my best option at the moment. We have a couple of decent choices flying down, but coming back there seem to be only two flights, one arriving in MHT after midnight. The other we'd probably have to either leave Pensacola area about 1 or 2 a.m. to catch or spend the night before in NO (not entirely unreasonable, either). I'll wait and see what SW offers next week. But thanks again for suggestions.
gail
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Old Aug 18th, 2014, 11:58 PM
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Do you think it's really only a 3 hour drive???

Yes, it'a about 200 miles on I-10.
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Old Aug 19th, 2014, 08:30 AM
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well, that's definitely tolerable, especially if we spend a day in NO on the returning end. Thanks again for the advice.
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Old Aug 19th, 2014, 11:52 AM
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Southwest flies to PNS from BOS with a change of planes in BNA (Nashville)Schedule only open until March 6 2015
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Old Aug 19th, 2014, 11:57 AM
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I just did a search for SWA Boston - Pensacola for Sept 23 and also for Feb 13 and there is one flight per day change in Nashville or Houston.
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Old Aug 19th, 2014, 05:25 PM
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I checked out one way SW flights using different cities going back to NH from Pensacola area and it's just really impractical.
There's a Delta flight that leaves MHT at 7 a.m. and we'd be in Pensacola at 11:08, but we'd have to change planes in Atlanta with a one hour layover. Is this realistic? I know Atlanta is huge -- does anyone familiar with either Delta flights or the Atlanta airport think we can make this or is it not a good idea?
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Old Aug 20th, 2014, 03:52 AM
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An hour connection in ATL is fine. Yes the place is huge but you won't be going all that far, and there's a good and quick train between the concourses. It's easy. And, even if you miss, Delta is probably the best in the industry for getting you to you destination without hassle.
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Old Aug 20th, 2014, 04:00 PM
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NoFlyZone - thanks for the encouragement. Other than international flights, we've pretty much only flown on SW for years because of the free flights with points. We usually have to make connections at BWI, so I'm a little intimidated by ATL. You sound like you might use Delta with some frequency. Any advice about the seat selection process? (Something else we never have to do on SW, where we just line up and hope for the best...)
Appreciate your thoughts,
gail
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Old Aug 20th, 2014, 04:18 PM
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Seat Selection? I just look at the seat map, with seatguru.com at the right page, look for my favorite and grab it.

Exactly where I seat depends on lots of factors but generally when in first class it doesn't matter one iota. In business, depends on the aircraft. Upstairs in the 747 (81A or 84A are my faves); on the 777 I prefer 1A or 7A. 767, no preferences. In coach I always try first for a non-bulkhead exit row with a seat that reclined and if not available as far forward as I can get. The same guidelines apply if I decide to buy Economy Comfort.

Port or starboard depends on the time of day. During an east/west mostly daytime flight I will sit on what will be the north side. For night and all north/south flights it doesn't matter.

Aisle or window is a personal preference item.
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Old Aug 20th, 2014, 04:22 PM
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Whoops, typo. On the 747: 73A and 77A. And although these seats (and the 777's) are for Delta, the location holds for other airlines in general.
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Old Aug 23rd, 2014, 08:55 PM
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On the flights from ATL to PNS, which seats don't really matter. You hardly get off the ground before you are landing in PNS. Short and sweet.
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Old Aug 26th, 2014, 07:09 AM
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Thanks for the advice. We're finalizing the dates and will be purchasing the tix this week.
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Old Aug 27th, 2014, 02:29 PM
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You might be able to book MHT-PNS over the phone.

For example, on 3/25 there is a nonstop flight from Nashville (BNA) to PNS at 8:15 PM, arriving at 9:30 PM. There are 8 suitable one-stops from MHT to BNA (but no nonstops) that day. The latest of the 8 really isn't that bad—leave MHT at 1:35 PM and arrive BNA at 5:25 PM (so not quite a 3-hour layover). I'm not sure why that combo is not offered as an MHT-PNS flight. The other 7 leave MHT between 5:40 and 9:15 AM, so not as appealing.

For the return on 4/1, there is a nonstop PNS-BNA at 7:00 AM, arriving 8:20 AM. Then there are 3 late morning/afternoon flights BNA-MHT. There is also a 1-stop via Houston Hobby (HOU) at 10:40 AM, arriving BNA 4:20 PM, and then another 3 that leave BNA 6:00-6:15 PM and arrive MHT around midnight.

You could also go MHT-(HOU)-PNS, but the connections are not nearly as good as MHT-(BNA)-PNS and there are not as many flight choices.

It's probably worth calling Southwest's reservation center just to see if it's possible. It's probably not any worse in total elapsed time that flying MHT-MSY and renting a car, and you would not have the hassle of the 3-hour drive and the need to spend the night in New Orleans before your return flight.
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