# Can't buy a ticket on Southwest from MSP to PWM **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 5, 2013, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-buy-a-ticket-on-southwest-from-msp-to-pwm/662692 "2013-07-05T04:55:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-buy-a-ticket-on-southwest-from-msp-to-pwm/662692/1 "2013-07-05T04:55:48Z")
One of my trip ideas is to go to Prince Edward Island, and Portland, Maine is the closest city that Southwest flies to. I keep getting “Oops, flights are not scheduled to operate” when I try to do searches. I can buy tickets from MSP to BWI, and from BWI to PWM, but the system won’t combine them, even though it will generate other two stop trips Did someone in the boardroom decide that they don’t want to let people fly between those two cities or is it a computer programming glitch. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-buy-a-ticket-on-southwest-from-msp-to-pwm/662692/2 "2013-07-05T05:06:15Z")
I think Southwest recently merged with AirTran and their online system may not be up to speed with the changes. Did you try calling them? ---
**Author:** ![\_Olive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/4af34b/32.png) [@\_Olive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Olive)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-buy-a-ticket-on-southwest-from-msp-to-pwm/662692/3 "2013-07-05T05:25:20Z")
Oh my, I had the best lobster I have ever had on PEI. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-buy-a-ticket-on-southwest-from-msp-to-pwm/662692/4 "2013-07-05T12:05:48Z")
Works for me. What dates are you trying? It may be that one or both of the flights are sold out on the dates you’re looking. I just did MSP-PWM on July 22, return on the 24th, and I found flights. > [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > I think Southwest recently merged with AirTran and their online system may not be up to speed with the changes. Did you try calling them? This is almost certainly not the issue. I used to have connections to AirTran/SWA, and the website merge wouldn’t affect flights being displayed. If they did, it would be considered a hugeass bug, and would have been found and fixed months ago. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-buy-a-ticket-on-southwest-from-msp-to-pwm/662692/5 "2013-07-05T14:28:30Z")
I’ve flown Delta from JFK to Charlottetown. Just remember to watch out for Scott, he’s a dick. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-buy-a-ticket-on-southwest-from-msp-to-pwm/662692/6 "2013-07-05T14:30:06Z")
You’ve still got a serious drive from Portland, on that route. Would you consider another airline? ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-buy-a-ticket-on-southwest-from-msp-to-pwm/662692/7 "2013-07-05T14:49:16Z")
Another idea: if you’d like to fly to Prince Edward Island (or other small places in Canada), check out Porter Airlines. It’s a pretty good airline, and they go to a lot of small Canadian areas. ---
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-buy-a-ticket-on-southwest-from-msp-to-pwm/662692/8 "2013-07-05T15:59:16Z")
I’ve been trying various random dates in September. I did try July 22-24 and it did return flights. I do realize the travel distances, but I’ve never been to Maine, Nova Scotia, or New Brunswick either. I would only do the trip when and if ferry service from Portland or Bar Harbor to Yarmouth resumes that I could take one direction. YYG seems to be an extremely expensive place to fly to from MSP on legacy airlines; Kayak returns results the range of $800 round trip plus three checked bags. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-buy-a-ticket-on-southwest-from-msp-to-pwm/662692/9 "2013-07-05T17:31:46Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > You’ve still got a serious drive from Portland Serious, yes - but undeniably interesting and scenic, especially in September. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-buy-a-ticket-on-southwest-from-msp-to-pwm/662692/10 "2013-07-05T18:28:56Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > Another idea: if you’d like to fly to Prince Edward Island (or other small places in Canada), check out Porter Airlines. It’s a pretty good airline, and they go to a lot of small Canadian areas. I was going to suggest this too, until I investigated the details. Porter flies to neither Charlottetown nor Minneapolis. The OP would have to drive to Thunder Bay (6 hours), fly to Moncton via Toronto, then drive to Charlottetown (2 hours). That doesn’t save any driving time compared to driving from Portland to Charlottetown (8 hours).