DALLAS (AP) — Some passengers aboard the first long-haul Southwest Airlines flights from Dallas Love Field have been treated to shirts and vacation packages.

Southwest on Monday launched its first long-distance flights from its home base to seven U.S. cities, with eight more destinations next month.

Such flights were prohibited until now by a 1980 federal law that protected Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport by limiting flights from Love Field to a few nearby states. Those restrictions have now expired.

The initial schedule includes nonstop service between Love Field and Denver, Chicago Midway, Washington, D.C., Baltimore-Washington, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Orlando, Florida.

Southwest on Monday also announced plans to give away 1,000 free flights to celebrate the carrier’s new long-distance schedules.

The carrier began service in June 1971.

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Online:

http://www.southwest.com/

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