The weather is getting colder, Election Day is approaching – it’s the perfect time to avoid falling into an abyss of existential dread by planning your next summer vacation. And Southwest Airlines has good news for travelers who prefer to depart from Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

The Dallas-based airline, which handles about 70% of BWI’s air traffic, has announced six new nonstop routes between BWI and the West Coast starting in mid-2025. It includes flights to and from San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, as well as to three other California airports: Long Beach, San Jose and Ontario, east of Los Angeles.

Starting June 5, there will be daily flights between BWI and both Portland and Seattle.

But remember your eye mask and neck pillow: the return flights from all these cities are red-eye night flights. Southwest already operates six other overnight flights to BWI. They come from Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and Phoenix.

“Every flight in our network is a route,” Southwest Airlines spokesman Chip Perry said in an email. “If we fly it one way, we fly it the other way with the same frequency. The caveat here is that the only daily flight FROM Baltimore to the six airports above is not a red-eye flight, but the flights TO Baltimore – of which there is also one daily from those six airports – are red-eye.

Southwest now offers flights to San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose, but travelers typically have to catch a connecting flight in cities like Las Vegas or Phoenix.

The new routes are the latest service expansion for the airline that has almost single-handedly fueled BWI’s growth.

Despite a 2022 holiday crisis and difficult negotiations with the pilots’ union, Southwest remains an airline of choice for Baltimoreans. It helped BWI set a record for international passengers last year.

“These new flights will promote tourism and business development for our state and region,” said Ricky Smith, executive director and CEO of BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, in a news release. “We are working to improve the travel product for our customers while creating more options for air services from our airline partners.”