I’m in the Los Angeles area for two nights and one day to visit with a team of elementary school teachers that I’m mentoring for their upcoming flight on the Vomit Comet this spring. I flew out last night and landed in Ontario, California, a city I had never heard of until I discovered that it was much closer to Moreno Valley, and thus would save me the 90-mile drive from LAX! I am actually working with two schools, one in Moreno Valley and one in Huntington Beach, so I still have some LA driving ahead of me today.
I flew Southwest, an airline that I seldom even consider for personal travel since 1) they don’t fly to one of my common destinations (Charlotte) and 2) I greatly dislike their “cattle call” boarding policies. If you don’t check in 24 hours before your flight, you risk getting in boarding group B or worse, which pretty much means you’ll be stuck in the middle. And people in general are just unreliable and annoying when faced with having to make a quick choice of seat after actually getting on the plane. In any case, I prefer being able to actually select my seat online well before the flight.
But on the flip side, if you do manage to check in early, there are advantages. I only made it into group B for the first flight from Houston to Las Vegas, but made it high into Group A for my connecting flight from Las Vegas to Ontario. The result? I snagged what is the best seat on the plane, in my humble opinion: window seat, exit row, with no seat in the row in front of me! Hellooooo, leg room. That was nice to have, since my legs are still recovering from the half marathon and were starting to bark at me after the cramped quarters of the first flight.
(Observation: people travel to Las Vegas in packs, and are quite chatty. Everyone on the plane seemed to know at least 3 other people, and the volume of conversation was higher than any other flight I can remember being on. It wasn’t annoying, but I did find it interesting.)
I should also give Southwest credit for one of the most comfortable airport terminals I’ve seen in quite a while — their terminal at Hobby. All flights into and out of Las Vegas were delayed due to bad weather, so I spent almost 2 extra hours sitting in the terminal. I found myself a nice spot in a plush armchair next to a stand full of power outlets, got 2 hours of free wifi, and went to work. It was the most comfortable flight delay I’ve ever experienced.
As for the weather, I fully recognize the irony of coming to southern California for 36 hours, only to find that it is expected to be rainy with a temperature in the 50s the whole time.
I’ve only flown SW once, one-way from El Paso to Seattle. They lost my luggage, re-routed me through Vegas – Reno, meaning 3 legs to cover about 1000 miles. I was having ear trouble, and the third flight was the most painful I’ve ever had. I thought my head would explode.
Also, because they re-routed me I lost my A boarding and got stuck in C boarding, and ended up in a middle seat next to an infant.
I was not impressed.
I don’t think one flight is enough to judge by, and to be fair, Jennifer, you just seem to not have very much luck in air travel, in general, going by your blog entries on the subject. 🙂 I’ve flown SW multiple times, and yes I’ve had my luggage misdirected, myself redirected, bumped, etc. but no more than on Continental or any other major airline, and when it does happen, it seems that they (SW) make more of an effort to be accommodating. Plus, I always get the feeling that the employees (esp. the flight attendants) actually *enjoy* their jobs, as opposed to some other airlines, where it is nothing more than a paycheck, and that makes my flight more enjoyable, and less of a hassle when something does happen.
And *of course* it rained when you were there, Sarah. 🙂 When I lived in San Diego, it only rained when people came to visit. It even snowed, once! I may be dense here, but I don’t understand why you’re saying it’s ironic; it does get cold and wet in California during the winter, maybe not in San Diego, but yes in LA (and area).