Southwest Airlines Starts Preparation for its Houston-Belize Route
Our always attentive readers will remember a piece we posted late last year that Southwest Airlines is planning to start a new Houston- Belize run beginning next October 2015 (“Southwest Airlines announces flights to Belize” 12 December 2014).
You may have even joined us in responding to the news with a hearty, “Sweet!”
Well, even though the inaugural flight is still months away, a new announcement from Southwest has us saying, “Sweeter!”
Check this out:
According to Southwest’s Senior Communications Advisor, Brad Hawkins, the airline will allow passengers to and from Belize to carry two bags of up to 50 pounds each for free, which, last time we checked, can tack up to a couple hundred dollars on the price of a flight with competing airlines.
Southwest is apparently also scrapping additional fees for changing your tickets. Nice!
Combined with free Wi-Fi and live TV, it sounds like Southwest is going the distance to attract Belizean business, meaning that they see this increasingly popular little country as a valuable destination.
And that’s music to our ears…
Oh yeah, speaking of music, it sounds as if Southwest will also be adding Belizean music to the inflight playlists.
Does that mean that we’ll be able to enjoy Andy Palacio, Paul Nabor, the Garifuna Collective, Mr. Peters, the dulcet tones of Aurelio Martinez and other Belizean greats in the air?
What a cool way to prepare for arrival in Belize!
In addition to the fact that Southwest seems committed to making flying to and from Belize cheaper and more enjoyable, the big news for us is that Belize is becoming an important enough destination that airlines are acting more competitively – and in the case of Southwest – proactively – in securing our business. How different that is from years gone by when the few flights at odd hours created the impression that you were lucky to be able to fly into Philip Godson International at all.
There’s no doubt that we’ve come a long way, baby, and that feels good. Perseverance, hard work, excellent word of mouth and quality service in a stunningly beautiful country has resulted in the happy situation where lots of people want to come to Belize, and airlines are recognising this and competing to get their share of a growing business.
So thanks, Southwest. We’re sure your sweeteners won’t go unnoticed, and we’re wishing you all the best with this new Belizean service. It’s certainly off to a good start.
And readers, we’ll continue to keep you informed of any new travel developments.
Stay tuned…