Southwest sees ‘daylight’ with extra flights for Taylor Swift U.S. tour dates – The Points Guy

Southwest Airlines is the latest airline to jump into its Swiftie era.

The airline will add a dozen flights to its schedule in October as Taylor Swift’s Eras tour returns to the U.S. following a summer touring across Europe.

The additions will come in South Florida and New Orleans as the tour visits the two areas in late October. The full list of extra flights is:

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Thursday, Oct. 17

• Flight 22 – Depart Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) at 8:25 a.m. and arrive at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) at 11:05 a.m.
• Flight 1989 – Depart Nashville International Airport (BNA) at 2:00 p.m. and arrive at Miami International Airport (MIA) at 5:15 p.m.

Sunday, Oct. 20

• Flight 1213 – Depart FLL at 4:35 p.m. and arrive at BWI at 7:05 p.m.
• Flight 1313 – Depart MIA at 10:30 a.m. and arrive at BNA at 11:50 a.m.

Thursday, Oct. 24

• Flight 22 – Depart BWI at 9:25 a.m. and arrive at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) at 11:15 a.m.
• Flight 1313 – Depart Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) at 2:20 p.m., Arrive at MSY at 3:40 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 25

• Flight 1213 – Depart San Antonio International Airport (SAT) at 7:15 a.m. and arrive at MSY at 8:35am
• Flight 1989 – Depart Dallas Love Field (DAL) at 10:15 a.m. and arrive at MSY at 11:35 a.m.

Sunday, Oct. 27

• Flight 22 – Depart MSY at 4:45 p.m. and arrive at BWI at 8:10 p.m.
• Flight 1313 – Depart MSY at 12:25 p.m., Arrive AUS at 1:55 p.m.
• Flight 1213 – Depart MSY at 7:55 a.m., Arrive SAT at 9:35 a.m.
• Flight 1989 – Depart MSY at 11:55 a.m. and arrive at DAL at 1:25 p.m.

Following New Orleans, the tour heads to Indianapolis for three performances at Lucas Oil Stadium. Southwest has not added flights to Indianapolis International Airport (IND) yet — while the airline has seen significant spikes in flight searches and bookings for the first two stops, there hasn’t been as much of a surge for IND, a carrier spokesperson said. The airline may add flights to IND if that changes, the spokesperson added.

although Southwest is not planning to add flights for those dates, a spokesperson confirmed. The tour then heads north of the border for a series of dates in Canada in November.

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It’s common for airlines to add a handful of flights or frequencies to support major events, ranging from sports finals to major conventions like the annual CES consumer tech conference in Las Vegas.

Perhaps the industry could coin it “The Taylor Swift” effect — a play on “the Southwest effect” terminology introduced in the 1990s when Southwest emerged as a disrupter in the airline industry.

Similarly, the Taylor Swift effect has had an outsized impact on airlines and the broader travel industry. During the first U.S. segment of the Eras Tour, Southwest saw more than a 10% increase in bookings in most concert markets on the dates surrounding the show, a carrier spokesperson said.

Elsewhere, the tour boosted hotel demand in Asia last year, while search volume for Airbnb listings in Europe coinciding with Taylor Swift concerts were up 70% in June, and even higher for the U.S. dates.

In September, the U.S. Travel Association reported that the total economic impact of the tour likely exceeded $10 billion, between direct travel expenses and indirect spending, while a QuestionPro report found that the tour had a total $5 billion direct impact on the economies of 20 different cities visited by the first U.S. tour.

As airlines struggle with higher costs and a softening domestic revenue market, the boost from the Taylor Swift effect clearly helps to fill a blank space.

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