In just over two months, November 21 will mark the start of Southwest Airlines’ operations on a long transcontinental route linking Florida and California. The corridor in question connects Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) with San Diego International Airport (SAN), and passengers can expect block times around the six-hour mark. Two other airlines will also serve this route.

From a passenger experience perspective, flying six hours cross-country on an all-economy Boeing 737 MAX 8, which is the aircraft type that Southwest has rostered to serve this route, may not seem appealing. However, unlike some eastbound transcontinental flights, the San Diego-Fort Lauderdale leg does not operate overnight, so, at the very least, sleeping upright on a red-eye isn’t an issue.

Two Months To Go

Credit: Lucian Smoot | Shutterstock

According to Cirium, an aviation analytics company, Southwest’s flights between San Diego and Fort Lauderdale will commence on November 21 and operate five times a week using the 737 MAX 8. Flying west, WN2843 will take six hours and 35 minutes, leaving Fort Lauderdale at 10:50 AM and reaching San Diego at 1:25 PM local time.

Meanwhile, the eastbound leg is set to be numbered as WN3056, with its departure time from San Diego penciled in for 9:25 AM local time. After five hours and 45 minutes on the move, it is set to arrive in Fort Lauderdale at 5:10 PM local time. San Diego is a market where Southwest has long had a strong presence.

Southwest Airlines In San Diego & Fort Lauderdale

Credit: Wenjie Zheng | Shutterstock

SAN is a key facility for Southwest, as evidenced by its high ranking among the carrier’s airports with the most scheduled departures this month. Indeed, Cirium data shows it ranks tenth in September 2026, with a total of 3,573 departures offering 577,249 seats and 485,563,484 available seat miles. From here, it flies all over the US.

Indeed, while its longest route is the twice-daily 2,614-mile (4,207 km) corridor to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL), the second-longest flies in the opposite direction, with daily 2,588-mile (4,165 km) flights to Boston Logan International Airport (BOS). At the other end of the scale, its shortest flights are its daily 192-mile (309 km) services to Santa Barbara (SBA), while San Jose (SJC) has the top frequency, with up to 12 a day.

Fort Lauderdale is not such an important base for Southwest, but with 704 departures penciled in this month, it still retains a strong presence. These range in distance from 178 miles (Orlando) to 1,703 miles (Denver). By frequency, however, the top route falls in the middle of the distance range. Its destination is Baltimore (BWI), and it sees up to five Southwest flights a day.

Two Competing Carriers

Credit: The Global Guy | Shutterstock

As it happens, Southwest will not be the only carrier serving the route between San Diego and Fort Lauderdale when it starts operations on this corridor later this year. Indeed, Alaska Airlines already links these cities seasonally using the 737: it last flew this route in May and will restart in November. According to Cirium, these flights had an 84.3% load factor in the 12 months to June.

Meanwhile, JetBlue Airways will also launch new flights between San Diego and Fort Lauderdale in November. These will start on November 19 and run daily using the 159-seat Airbus A321. Alaska’s seasonal flights on this route will also run daily, but they will restart slightly later, on November 21. According to JetBlue, Mint business class will be available, giving these flights a premium transcontinental edge.