SEATTLE – Goodbye Dallas, hello Emerald City.
Southwest Airlines is once again offering nonstop flights from Love Field Airport, where it is the dominant carrier, to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
The route may offer aviation enthusiasts a little trivia nugget: roughly 1,668 miles (exact distance may vary by a few miles) it is the longest nonstop flight the airline operates from Love Field. Southwest’s longest route overall is from Phoenix to Honolulu, over 2,900 miles.
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Late last week, The Dallas Morning News was on the first nonstop trip when Southwest flight 173 departed Dallas and landed in SeaTac shortly after 9:30 a.m. local time.
Southwest previously operated the route in a seasonal capacity, before it made the decision to make it a mainstay last fall. The airline also began nonstops between Dallas and Portland, Boston, and San Francisco this week, stretching its formidable domestic network.
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The routes were announced in August, just three months after Southwest bolstered its commitment to Love Field until 2040. The airline operates out of 18 of the airport’s 20 gates.
Recently, Southwest has been in the throes of major operational changes, including the start of assigned seating, extra legroom options, and fees for checked bags.
Adam Decaire, Southwest’s senior vice president of network planning and network operations control, told The News in an interview that the new permanent routes are a “continuation of everything that we’re doing as a company,”
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He added that “we’ve always flown long flights like California to Hawaii and California to the East Coast. We’ve always had that but as we change our product it’s going to make them even more comfortable. And so you can see that going on nationwide to some extent. You see us trading a few of our short haul flights here and there.”
A Southwest Airlines flight inbound from Oakland passes over the Space Needle in downtown Seattle as it heads for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in SeaTac, Washington, March 5, 2026.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
Eyeing the competition
Decaire may be onto something. The first Seattle flight was nearly completely full. The turnaround flight back to Dallas was slightly less occupied, but still had a healthy group of travelers, showcasing the demand Decaire referenced.
“And now we’re bringing people to further destinations from the places that we’re really strong at, in places that people really love to get to.”
The new routes, including Seattle, will also help Southwest connect customers across its network, according to the executive.
“People that are flying from Seattle down to Florida, Dallas is actually a really good spot for them. We have big customer based in Orlando and Tampa, and those are folks that want to get to Seattle.”
By adding the nonstop Seattle flight, Southwest is steeping into the ring with crosstown rival American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Alaska Airlines, all of which operate nonstops between DFW and Seattle.
SeaTac is a major gateway from the U.S. to Asia, making it one of the most important aviation markets in the U.S. And while Southwest isn’t the largest carrier in Seattle, it still maintains a meaningful presence.
According to Diio by Cirium data, the airline is flying more than 1,100 flights at the airport this month. But Decaire thinks his carrier his well-positioned to eat into others’ customer share.
“Our people take care of you and care about you from the moment you step on that airplane to the moment you step off…you’ll notice the difference. That’s just different than some of the other carriers out there.
Southwest Airlines competes against Delta Airlines for space a Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Sea-Tac, Washington, March 5, 2026. The Southwest flight, which is the longest non-stop flight from Dallas, just arrived from Dallas Love Field. The nonstop is now year round after it was just seasonal.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
“American may be bigger in Dallas, but we’re definitely the most loved in Dallas…we’ve got better reliability.”
He also lauded Love Field as the more convenient airport for customers living on the east side of Dallas, highlighting the time it takes to get from the parking garage to the gate— and the confusion DFW Airport can cause if you have travel disruptions like gate changes.
“So why not get the people what they want, which is a nonstop flight. And maybe pull some of those other people that are driving past Love Field and get them onto our airplane.”
DeCaire said that because of technology like cell phone data, Southwest is able to evaluate customer activity and travel habits. He said that data showed that on a daily basis, about 1,200 people are flying between Love Field or DFW Airport and Seattle.
“We got a better understanding of what customers’ true origin and destination really is. And that’s what gives us a lot of confidence,” the executive said.
“Right now out of that whole market, only 7.5% of them are choosing Love Field as a choice. And we know that more than 7.5% of people will choose Love Field if they have a nonstop offered.”
Decaire added that even without the nonstop flight between Dallas and Seattle, Southwest was still attracted an average of 92 customers, more than half the capacity of one of the carrier’s aircraft, per day to fly there using a connection.
And customers that spoke with The News on Thursday sounded eager to choose Southwest’s Seattle offering.
Southwest Airlines flight attendant BR Ricks serves drinks to passenger Becca Gourgues of Orlando on their nonstop flight to Dallas Love Field from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Sea-Tac, Washington, March 5, 2026. The flight, which is the longest nonstop flight from Dallas, is now year round after it was just seasonal.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
While waiting to board Southwest’s return flight to Dallas on Thursday, Thomas Norman, a Richardson resident, tells The News that convenience factored into his choice to fly Southwest back to Dallas, instead of another airline.
Norman flew Southwest to Seattle last Monday with a connection after his wife booked the trip, which he joked sparked an argument with her (but he has since apologized). At the time, he didn’t realize the airline wasn’t offering nonstop flights between Dallas and Seattle on that day, and it stuck him with a long layover in Sacramento.
“It is convenient because I live in Richardson,” he told The News. So, I don’t have to go all the way to DFW.” Norman said that he’s a loyal Southwest customer, provided that there are no options for his first choice Delta Air Lines.
“It just makes it easy to book,” he told The News while sitting in the boarding area in Seattle. “I’m pretty used to their app, the technology…there’s not glitching, they don’t make it a hassle.”
Andy Green, sitting next to his wife Gay Green in the SeaTac terminal, tells The News that’s he flown Southwest since the ‘80s and “always had good service with them.”
The Flower Mound, TX. couple travels to Seattle often since their son lives north of the city; even without direct flights, the couple would still choose to fly to the region using a connection on the airline.
And the couple is wasting no time, already having booked more nonstop flights between Dallas to Seattle.
“We’re coming back two more times this way so we’re booked on the direct flights coming in,” said Andy Green. “They need to do some long hauls ‘cause, you know, I go back to the Wright Amendment days where they couldn’t go anywhere,” he said, referencing the now-repealed law that once prevented Southwest from flying to neighboring states, in part to safeguard DFW’s dominance.
“That was always a pain,” Green said.
“If they’re gonna continue to grow, they’re gonna have to do some more of that stuff.”
Southwest Airlines passengers settle in gfor an early nonstop flight to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Sea-Tac, Washington from Dallas Love Field, March 5, 2026. The flight, which is the longest non-stop flight from Dallas, is now year round after it was just seasonal.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer