Flying home from FLL to DFW/DAL (Love Field) - HUH on flight times?

[Z'Loth]

In the name of planning purposes, I thought I would check on the flights for my next cruise in January, 2024. Since the schedules aren't available yet for that date, I thought I would just stare at a closer date and see what flights are available for the flight home. Since I'm in the DFW area, I prefer to take non-stops. First off, how about Southwest airlines? Here are the non-stop departure times from FLL:

 

• 5:45 AM (NOPE!)
• 7:25 PM (WHAT?)

 

WHAT? Even when I turn off the "non-stop" filter, there is a huge gap from 11:30 AM to 6:40 PM for flights. So, I check with American Airlines "non-stop":

 

• 7:17 AM (NOPE!)
• 9:18 AM (NOPE!)
• 11:42 AM
• 3:45 PM
• 5:29 PM (WHAT?)
• 7:25 PM (WHAT?)

 

Again, WHAT?  Hopefully, when the actual bookings open up for late January, I have more options available, but for now, I'm challenged. I know that the general advice is to not book a flight before noon, but that means I'm in for a several hour wait at the airport. 11:42 AM is cutting it close, but the last few times I cruised, the ship was in port hours before noon, and I know that the airport is only a few minutes from the port. Thoughts? 

 

Oh, and in case you are wondering... my plans are to arrive on the Friday or Saturday prior to Monday cruise departure. 

[CruiserBruce]

If you look on the Florida Departures board, this is discussed daily. Unless there is some unusual problem,  you can make the 11:42 flight.

[Z'Loth]

That's good. I just thought it was annoying that my choice is to ignore good advice and book my flight prior to noon, or waiting in the airport for several hours just wanting to get home. 

[Zach1213]

On 11/25/2022 at 10:16 PM, Z'Loth said:

First off, how about Southwest airlines?

 

They're fine. Some people think they're the greatest thing since sliced bread. I can just tell you that they're fine. 

 

The funny thing is that, in all of my travels around the world throughout my life (which is a LOT), they're the only airline to damage my bag beyond repair...and they did it twice. So I just make sure not to check my bag with them anymore 🙂 But, I can admit that's an exception and not a norm with Southwest. 

[Z'Loth]

On 11/28/2022 at 8:25 AM, Zach1213 said:

(Southwest Airlines is) fine. Some people think they're the greatest thing since sliced bread. I can just tell you that they're fine.  

 

For the purposes of this post, I just was comparing the departure times of American Airlines and Southwest Airlines for a non-stop flight. Both airlines are headquartered in the DFW area, and thus DFW is a major hub for American and DAL is a major hub for Southwest. Other major hubs include Houston and Chicago or United Airlines, and Atlanta for Delta airlines.