I know you know where I stand on this. And I know where you do too 
Meow and stuff.
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I actually just find the flights that fit the time I want to fly and at a reasonable price. I’ve been comfortable with SWs reliability (pre Covid) and generally will book for the non-stop route that fits my schedule. I would be willing to pay more for SW being reliable than book a cheaper flight that is iffy. If that makes sense.
But doesnt that happen if they combine flights anyway? One of the 2 aircrafts and crew from one of the flights will not be in service.
All Glory to the Soviets of the Feline Workers! Down with the Revanchist Hairless Apes!
Wait.
I am (mostly) hairless.
Are we in a fight?
No catnip for you.
Having it happen once or twice every few days is one thing. Chances are there will be an aircraft unexpectedly out of service, or an incomplete crew that needs one or more people to fill in, to take up the slack and not have that capacity idle. It’s another to choose to have those expensive assets sit idle by design.
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This… exactly. I always opt for the most reliable direct flights first, then start looking at fares.
Definitely willing to pay a little more to ensure my flight times won’t change three times!
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The major problem here though is Airlines are unable to meeet the demand, not that the demand isn’t underwhelming. They’re the ones cancelling a ton of flights out of the blue last minute (excuse the pun) because they can’t get flight crews to staff.
If this were all happening because no one was flying – sure, fine, makes sense. But that’s not what’s happening here. Airlines are overextending themselves/falsely saying they can meet demand, then realizing ,after people start buying in, they can’t pull it off, and then letting the customer down. Sometimes easily (with advanced knowledge), sometimes moderately (late flight/change of flight on the day), sometimes harshly (Flight’s Cancelled. Moose out front shoulda told ya.)
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Ha! I’ve never had trouble. Now, Philly, I’ve been stuck there a million times.
Hate Newark. We fly out of Harrisburg a lot but we wanted direct this time to minimize the chances of flight cancellations.
Noted 
Will avoid.
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I am having the same issues out of Raleigh. Used to have at least 3 direct flights to choose from and the prices used to be great. Now I am lucky to find one direct flight and the times are usually the worst. Plus the price increase has been crazy. Noticing Delta has much better options but I have a SW credit card. Hoping things get better. Otherwise I’ll be looking into delta credit cards to get points.
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I’m sorry, I don’t buy this. There is enough out there in the way of data science technology that airlines should be able to predict, with a fairly high degree of accuracy, what the demand will be and schedule accordingly.
All this airline nuttiness is making me long for three years from now, where Ill be a 10 minute drive from the parks (heck, one of them can give me my paycheck) and fly once a year to Indy (which will be a lot less hectic) to visit my parents.
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Sigh, the cost of my return flight plummeted and now I have $71 in travel funds. I don’t know how I will use them. With no direct flights to Orlando or Cincinnati/Columbus/Indianapolis, I can only hope things open up more.
Heck, the connections for Cincinnati/Columbus/Indianapolis are so ridiculous, even at 6 or 7 hours (or more!!) of flight time is almost as long as it takes to drive there from eastern PA!
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In non-pandemic times I’d definitely agree. In these pandemic times, I’m not sure how they can be expected to data model how Omicron spreads and knocks out a large portion of their available pilots and causes mass cancellations in their customers. You’re asking a lot to expect them to be able to properly model that I’m afraid…
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This is why even though it can be more expensive to buy points unless you get them on a special offer, it’s the way to go. Then you get all your points back and they never expire.
I don’t have many points, so not really an option unfortunately. 
You can buy them
Again it’s not always the best deal moneywise, but then you never lose any money
If you get them on sale it’s even better
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SW has a sale right now, up to 45% off on points.
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If they only had direct flights from Philly!