In a big schedule update for 2024, Southwest Airlines this week announced plans to introduce or resume service in a number of markets in June, including several in California. At San Francisco International, Southwest plans to begin daily flights to Chicago Midway on June 4, while seasonal weekend service from SFO to Dallas Love Field is set to return June 8. At Sacramento, a new daily flight to Eugene, Oregon, and daily service to Nashville begin June 4, and Saturday-only flights to Orlando resume June 8. Seasonal Saturday-only flights from Fresno to Dallas Love Field are also slated to begin June 8.

Southern California is a focus of the airline’s summer plans — especially Hollywood Burbank Airport, where Southwest says it will introduce new routes on June 4 to Boise, Kansas City, New Orleans, San Antonio and St. Louis, all with daily service. On the same date, Southwest is set to resume daily Burbank-Chicago Midway service. Daily Ontario-Nashville flights take off June 4. At San Diego, seasonal weekend service to Indianapolis, Tampa and Milwaukee starts June 8. Southwest plans to offer multiple flights per week from Los Angeles to Lihue, Kauai, beginning June 6, while weekend service from Long Beach to Orlando and Kahului, Maui, is slated to return June 8.

In other Southwest news, the airline has added a baggage-tracking feature to its website and mobile app. Southwest said that “customers can view the status of their checked bag across three different milestones of each checked piece of luggage: confirming when bag tags are printed and when bags are loaded and unloaded from our aircraft,” according to Simple Flying. The airline also now allows customers to save time at the airport by checking their bags digitally at home and then printing out bag tags at the airport kiosk. Unlike other major U.S. carriers, Southwest still allows customers to check two bags at no additional cost.

Low-cost Frontier Airlines said it will introduce a “new, upgraded” version of its Frontier Miles loyalty program in 2024, making it easier for members to achieve status levels and adding more benefits. Following an industry trend, the new program introduces a spending metric. It also adds a new Silver elite tier for members who accumulate 10,000 miles (equivalent to spending $1,000), and it renames the existing tiers: The Elite 20K, Elite 50K and Elite 100K status levels become Gold, Platinum and Diamond, respectively. In addition to flight miles, members will earn miles per dollar spent on Frontier flights and ancillary services (baggage fees, seat assignment fees, etc.) with a multiplier starting at 10 (10 miles per dollar spent) for non-elites. The multiplier increases with elite status levels, rising up to 20 with Diamond status. 

All four status levels provide advance seat assignments for no fee; priority boarding and customer care; and the elimination of change or cancellation fees when a flight change is made at least seven days in advance. Those at Gold status or higher get a free checked bag and free upgrades to premium seats based on availability. The airline is giving members “early access” to the spending multiplier of 10 effective now. Frontier World Mastercard holders who spend $3,000 on the card by Feb. 29, 2024, “will earn Frontier Miles Gold status valid from March 2024 through December 31, 2024,” the airline said.

There are plenty of international route changes this weekend as major airlines begin to shift from their summer to winter schedules. At San Francisco International and Los Angeles International, United Airlines is beginning a substantial expansion of its transpacific service. Effective Oct. 28, United plans to boost its capacity from SFO to Australia by operating twice-daily 777-300ER flights to Sydney and daily 787-9 departures to Brisbane. It is also set to expand service to Melbourne, operating daily flights from both SFO and LAX, up from a previous combined total of 10 a week, along with deploying a 777-300ER — its largest aircraft — between SFO and Melbourne, adding another 100 seats a day to the route. United is also supplementing its SFO-Auckland, New Zealand, service with a new LAX-Auckland route starting Oct. 28 with four flights a week.

On Oct. 29, United is introducing a new transpacific route, becoming the only U.S. carrier to fly nonstop from San Francisco to Manila, using a 777-300ER. On that same date, the carrier is set to increase its SFO-Taipei, Taiwan, schedule from one flight a day to two. United is also due to resume San Francisco-Beijing flights in November. On Oct. 28, the airline is adding a daily nonstop 787 flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong and expanding its LAX-Tokyo operation by adding a daily flight from LAX to Narita Airport, supplementing its existing LAX-Tokyo Haneda service. United’s SFO-Hong Kong schedule, which was increased in August to 12 flights a week, is growing again to twice-daily departures this weekend.

Across the Atlantic, United is reducing its San Francisco-Frankfurt schedule from two daily flights to one Oct. 28. On transborder routes, United is cutting its SFO-Toronto and SFO-Calgary service from two daily departures to one on Oct. 29, while its SFO-Vancouver schedule will operate three daily flights instead of four. The airline is also boosting some Latin America service, increasing San Francisco-Los Cabos, Mexico, flights from eight to 14 a week effective Oct. 29 and Denver-Liberia, Costa Rica, from three to seven a week on the same date. At its Newark hub, United is due to add a second daily departure to Delhi, India, on Oct. 28; its Newark-Athens service, a seasonal route that was previously slated to end on Oct. 28, has been extended to Nov. 28. The carrier this week ended its non-hub route from Boston to London Heathrow. Meanwhile, United has ended its code-sharing partnership with Ireland’s Aer Lingus, according to Simple Flying. The Irish carrier still has code-sharing deals with American Airlines and JetBlue.

In other transatlantic news, JetBlue announced it will add two more European destinations next year, operating daily seasonal service from New York JFK and Boston to Dublin, Ireland, from March 13 to Sept. 30 and from JFK to Edinburgh, Scotland, May 22 to Sept. 30. The carrier already flies from JFK and Boston to London, Paris and Amsterdam. (However, JetBlue expressed concern that it could lose its takeoff and landing slots at Amsterdam next year as officials there press ahead with plans to reduce flight operations at Schiphol Airport. JetBlue last week asked the U.S. Transportation Department to ban the Dutch carrier KLM from JFK airport if that happens.) Delta has extended the cancellation of its New York-Tel Aviv service from Oct. 31 to Nov. 15; “Additionally, while booking was suspended earlier this month for TLV flights to and from Atlanta and Boston, Delta will cancel all flights between those markets Nov. 1 and beyond,” the company said.

United’s latest expansion at its Denver hub includes new Caribbean service, with daily flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico, beginning Oct. 29 — the first-ever nonstop flights in that market. Then, on Nov. 4, the airline is set to offer new weekly flights from Denver to Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Alaska Airlines this week announced two new seasonal routes starting next spring, including the longest one in its system. That route is a 3,386-mile trip between Anchorage and New York JFK, where Alaska plans to use a new 737-8 — an aircraft that allows the carrier to add “new nonstop destinations that we couldn’t before,” the company said. The daily Anchorage-JFK flights are expected to begin June 13. The other new route is Anchorage-San Diego, where Alaska is slated to offer weekly Saturday-only service starting May 18. Both routes continue through mid-August. On the East Coast, American Airlines gets back into the New York LaGuardia-Boston market on Oct. 29 following the court-ordered termination of its Northeast Alliance with JetBlue. AA will operate four daily A319 flights between the two airports.