Southwest not booking seats past October

With Southwest Airlines, passengers can freely move around the US, but so far only until October 30.

Most other carriers allow bookings for air travel through next spring, but Southwest still hasn’t posted its schedule for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays this year.

Is this one more sign of uncertainty in the industry? Not according to Southwest.

Most U.S. air carriers allow customers to book flights up to 330 days in advance. Currently, American Airlines is allowing bookings through April 2009. Delta Air Lines Inc. is permitting online reservations into May of 2009.

This feature is important for airlines offering international service, as passengers tend to make plans many months in advance.

Southwest Airlines Co. doesn’t fly outside the U.S., and typically posts shorter schedules, going only six months out.

“We just haven’t opened up a new schedule yet that goes beyond” this October, said airline spokesperson Beth Harbin, adding that the new schedule allowing reservations through January 9 will be posted late this month.

Harbin commented that the reason for the shorter scheduling period “is not about pricing, it’s just about the schedule we want to put out there for the holidays.”