Southwest Airlines leaves passengers scrambling after cutting routes in peak travel season

St Louis travelers are seeing changes at their airport – and they’re not happy about them. 

Southwest Airlines is axing seven nonstop routes from one of its biggest Midwest airports as the carrier continues its massive business overhaul.

The cuts have already taken effect as of March 2026, particularly impacting St Louis flyers from July through September of 2026. It marks another major shift for the airline as it focuses on routes that generate stronger demand and higher profits.

The Dallas-based airline dropped flights from St Louis Lambert International Airport to Des Moines, Little Rock, Tulsa, Wichita, Oklahoma City, Omaha and Pensacola, according to aviation data. 

This is not a new or unexpected change, Southwest told the Daily Mail – this shift was original announced in an August 2025 and its been ‘in place’ since March 2026. 

‘While it is true we “ended” seven routes from STL, we also added routes elsewhere to account for that change,’ the company confirms.

In its place, Southwest now operates Chicago Midway to Des Moines, Chicago Midway to Tulsa, and Chicago Midway to Wichita, along with Dallas Love Field to Oklahoma City and Nashville to Little Rock. 

The reason behind this change, according to Simple Flying, is the airline is moving away from its ‘current point-to-point network,’ which is where an airline flies planes directly from an origin to a destination, rather than routing passengers through a central ‘hub.’

Other airlines, like American and Delta, operate out of ‘hubs’ to have competitive control over a specific area. United Airlines, as one of the largest carriers in the US, has nine hub airports as a part of its global network. 

Now, Southwest has adopted a kind of hybrid model. 

While the company doesn’t use the term ‘hubs,’ it does coordinates its schedule to help passengers transfer between connecting flights in cities like Denver, Chicago-Midway, Baltimore and Dallas Love Field.

Despite those seven axed St Louis routes, Southwest continues to have a large presence at the airport. With 9,945 scheduled departures last quarter, St Louis cements its place as Southwest’s 11th-busiest base. 

Southwest’s upcoming flight routes also impact potential passengers in the south Florida area, with Simple Flying noting 43 routes changes after the carrier updated its flight schedules.

The aviation outlet analyzed Southwest’s submissions to aviation data firm OAG, comparing flights operated between January 2025 and May 2026 with those currently planned from June 2026 through March 2027. 

Southwest told the Daily Mail that the routes named were ‘never intended’ by their schedulers to permanently be part of its route network. 

‘We, like all airlines, routinely turn on and turn off routes based on seasonal demand,’ the statement continues. ‘Using the copious amounts of data available to us we’re able to marry Customer preferences with aircraft availability/staffing/airport space/etc.’

They argued that Orlando, Southwest’s largest operation in Florida, has ‘consistently grown’ over the past 18 months to two years. In fact, they hit an all-time high with 203 scheduled Saturday trips there during February 2027. 

This wouldn’t be the first time Southwest tweaked their flight paths – one Reddit user shared their frustration about traveling between St Louis and Oklahoma City, saying not only would it be cheaper to drive but also faster. 

‘This airline is just tanking, rapidly,’ they added. ‘I understand that changing to assigned seats and no more free checked bags just makes them like every other airline, but what is getting me is their new routes.’

‘Totally agree,’ another Reddit user chimed in. ‘I want to know who in their organization approved all these huge changes at once. I guess they saw it as ripping off a band aid.’ 

Another shared that the new point-to-point business structure was ‘yet another change I’m not thrilled about.’ 

‘I would give it two years until we begin seeing articles about the downfall of Southwest,’ one Reddit user wrote. ‘The experts will be perplexed as to how this happened.’