tommyalf
03-09-2004, 02:36 AM
Southwest Airlines
3/1/2004
Flight 962
ISP-LAS one-stop in MDW
Over wing exit seat
Overall experience- good
Flight Atl- 37,000
Southwest Airline
3/6/2004
Flight 438
LAS-ISP one-stop in MDW
Over wing exit seat
Overall experience- very good
Flight Atl- 41,000 feet
Well this was my third trip in under a year on Southwest and like the other flights I've had with Southwest one word can sum up the Southwest flight experience, that word is efficient.
I arrived at Islip really early in the morning, 4:30 A.M to be precise. My flight was at 7:30 but Southwest parks nine planes overnight at ISP so you do the math. Interestingly enough I wasn't the first passenger at the airport but the second. I was first online at WN's ticket counter and waited online until 5:15 when they opened. After having my bag inspected I checked in and was in the A group, like that wasn't a surprise. By the time I was checked in there were over 100 people online for Southwest, so you see why I arrived so early. After breezing through security I headed to the snack bar and grabbed an egg sandwich and some OJ, not to bad overall. Sadly it was much to dark to take pictures. Parked overnight at ISP were 9 Southwest 737's, six of them were parked since WN only has three jet bridges. A mix bag of old and new colors and two with winglets. Continental had two ERJ's and one B1900D, US Airway's had two Dash 8's, American Eagle had one ERJ-135 and Comair had two CRJ's. Overall I was impressed with the amount of aircraft ISP houses overnight.
About 45 minutes before departure I headed to the gate where a flight to KFLL was boarding. After that flight was closed they let us line up for our flight. I beat a number of people to be first online in the A group. If I was going to be on the same plane for six and half hours I was taking the over wing exit row. After they towed our plane to the gate we boarded and I proceeded to B line for the exit row, which I successful claimed, got a few dirty looks from taller passengers wanting the same seat, but the hell with them. Nobody sat in the middle row, which was nice. I guess you can call that seat the closest thing to First class on WN. The legroom was great and you have two full windows to call your own. The flight to MDW was smooth and latest about 2 hours and 10 minutes. The landing into MDW was really ruff, felt like we bounced down the runway until we stopped. MDW is nothing special allot of WN and ATA. After the MDW passengers got off I got up stretched my legs and bullshitted with the FA's for about 10 minutes. We turned around in 22 minutes and were off to LAS. Again nobody sat in the middle row, which was a blessing for the four-hour flight. Southwest served their snack pack that consisted of cookies, crackers with peanut butter, gram bears, and all the soda you could drink. The flight to LAS was really smooth and uneventful.
Return Trip
On the return I arrived to LAS at 10:30 for a 1:30 flight. Check in and security was smooth and quick, once again I was in the A group. I walked the C concourse and finally picked a great seat with a clear view of the taxiway, 25L and 25R. Two far away for 4x optical zoom lens to get any good pics but I enjoyed just sitting there watching the planes go by. About an hour before my flight left I picked up some food for the six hour trip home and proceed to the gate. Again there was a flight boarding so I had to wait to get in line. Again I was determined to be on line first to get the exit row seat. This time another guy also looked very determined to beat me on line, talk about stare down. I was ready to deck him if he tried to cut me off. My determination paid off again and I was first on the A line. Had to wait about an hour online before our plane arrived and we boarded. Again I sat in the over wing exit seat, this time a young couple sat next to me. They were about my age and the girl was really cute, she sat next to me :twisted: her boyfriend was a bit larger then me so flirting was not going to happen. They both were really cool and we had a great conversation all the way to MDW. We did hit some moderate turbulence over Colorado which made the ride a bit interesting, hey I enjoyed it. We arrived in MDW about 30 minutes early and had 20 minutes on board before they planned the MDW passengers. I headed up to the cockpit and chatted with the pilots who couldn't have been friendly. Our flight to ISP was smooth and quiet. The couple that were on the LAS flight got off in MDW so I caught some shut eye before we arrived in ISP.
Overall another good experience with Southwest, while I don't like open seating, Southwest provides a good product with upbeat FA's and friendly pilots.
3/1/2004
Flight 962
ISP-LAS one-stop in MDW
Over wing exit seat
Overall experience- good
Flight Atl- 37,000
Southwest Airline
3/6/2004
Flight 438
LAS-ISP one-stop in MDW
Over wing exit seat
Overall experience- very good
Flight Atl- 41,000 feet
Well this was my third trip in under a year on Southwest and like the other flights I've had with Southwest one word can sum up the Southwest flight experience, that word is efficient.
I arrived at Islip really early in the morning, 4:30 A.M to be precise. My flight was at 7:30 but Southwest parks nine planes overnight at ISP so you do the math. Interestingly enough I wasn't the first passenger at the airport but the second. I was first online at WN's ticket counter and waited online until 5:15 when they opened. After having my bag inspected I checked in and was in the A group, like that wasn't a surprise. By the time I was checked in there were over 100 people online for Southwest, so you see why I arrived so early. After breezing through security I headed to the snack bar and grabbed an egg sandwich and some OJ, not to bad overall. Sadly it was much to dark to take pictures. Parked overnight at ISP were 9 Southwest 737's, six of them were parked since WN only has three jet bridges. A mix bag of old and new colors and two with winglets. Continental had two ERJ's and one B1900D, US Airway's had two Dash 8's, American Eagle had one ERJ-135 and Comair had two CRJ's. Overall I was impressed with the amount of aircraft ISP houses overnight.
About 45 minutes before departure I headed to the gate where a flight to KFLL was boarding. After that flight was closed they let us line up for our flight. I beat a number of people to be first online in the A group. If I was going to be on the same plane for six and half hours I was taking the over wing exit row. After they towed our plane to the gate we boarded and I proceeded to B line for the exit row, which I successful claimed, got a few dirty looks from taller passengers wanting the same seat, but the hell with them. Nobody sat in the middle row, which was nice. I guess you can call that seat the closest thing to First class on WN. The legroom was great and you have two full windows to call your own. The flight to MDW was smooth and latest about 2 hours and 10 minutes. The landing into MDW was really ruff, felt like we bounced down the runway until we stopped. MDW is nothing special allot of WN and ATA. After the MDW passengers got off I got up stretched my legs and bullshitted with the FA's for about 10 minutes. We turned around in 22 minutes and were off to LAS. Again nobody sat in the middle row, which was a blessing for the four-hour flight. Southwest served their snack pack that consisted of cookies, crackers with peanut butter, gram bears, and all the soda you could drink. The flight to LAS was really smooth and uneventful.
Return Trip
On the return I arrived to LAS at 10:30 for a 1:30 flight. Check in and security was smooth and quick, once again I was in the A group. I walked the C concourse and finally picked a great seat with a clear view of the taxiway, 25L and 25R. Two far away for 4x optical zoom lens to get any good pics but I enjoyed just sitting there watching the planes go by. About an hour before my flight left I picked up some food for the six hour trip home and proceed to the gate. Again there was a flight boarding so I had to wait to get in line. Again I was determined to be on line first to get the exit row seat. This time another guy also looked very determined to beat me on line, talk about stare down. I was ready to deck him if he tried to cut me off. My determination paid off again and I was first on the A line. Had to wait about an hour online before our plane arrived and we boarded. Again I sat in the over wing exit seat, this time a young couple sat next to me. They were about my age and the girl was really cute, she sat next to me :twisted: her boyfriend was a bit larger then me so flirting was not going to happen. They both were really cool and we had a great conversation all the way to MDW. We did hit some moderate turbulence over Colorado which made the ride a bit interesting, hey I enjoyed it. We arrived in MDW about 30 minutes early and had 20 minutes on board before they planned the MDW passengers. I headed up to the cockpit and chatted with the pilots who couldn't have been friendly. Our flight to ISP was smooth and quiet. The couple that were on the LAS flight got off in MDW so I caught some shut eye before we arrived in ISP.
Overall another good experience with Southwest, while I don't like open seating, Southwest provides a good product with upbeat FA's and friendly pilots.