Plane & Simple on Southwest

Flight 2189, 641

PHX - LAS 10/16

I caught a night flight to Vegas this time around. About one minute into flight, a gal a few rows ahead of me rang her flight attendant call button. Two flight attendants came running up to her - as I see them touching the lights above her head. Come to find out, someone had put a full thermos in the overhead compartment and it somehow opened up, leaking all of the water inside… and in turn, raining on the girls beneath it. A part of me had to laugh… and then the other part of me felt a little bad for them. They decided not to move so I’m assuming the raining effect stopped at some point.

LAS - PHX 10/17

My flight home was delayed so I got to spend some extra time with my sister. The flight itself was a little turbulent but nothing too terribly exciting. I was able to work on some homework so I didn’t have to worry about getting that done at home. When we arrived, my favorite customer service agent was working at the gate so I stopped and chatted with her for a bit. 

Next flight will be in two days. Whew. I’m going nonstop this month!

Flight 845, 294 7/14

PHX – LAS

I wasn’t too thrilled about having to wake up at the crack of dawn this morning… since, well, let’s be honest, I’m practically nocturnal. When I boarded the flight, I heard a voice I recognized so I looked around and found a familiar face! I had met this gal 2 ½ years ago on a flight to Phoenix… it was the weekend I flew out to meet my guy for the first time. She offered for me to sit in the window seat and she’d sit in the middle. We both caught up and ended up having a hilarious seat-mate sitting with us on the aisle.

I wasn’t planning on spending more than an couple of hours in Vegas – I only had a doctors appointment. So my sister dropped me off at the airport after my appointment. What we didn’t realize was that every single Phoenix flight had filled up. Last night there were 10-20 open seats on some of the flights I was looking at… Today, there was nothing.

So I spent 6 hours at the airport.

My proudest moment of the day was when someone brought an iPad up to the counter and said they had found it on the plane. There was no identification on it, so I decided to turn it on and see if they had a saved note or app that would tell me something about the owner. No luck. My last option was to see if the person had an email address that was their first and last name or something related to their name. Success! The lady was called and she came back to the gate to pick up her iPad. She was so grateful I knew how to find her. If I recall correctly she patted me on the shoulder and said, “What would we do without kids these days?”

While I was waiting at the gate, the operations agent offered to get me a drink from off the plane. Not only did he get me a can of soda, but brought ice, and poured it for me. That was so nice of him.

I gotta give it up to the Customer Service Agents that work at the airport… I don’t know how they do their job and keep their cool. There were plenty of people there that would easily frustrate the average person but they stay chill and handle every problem with ease.

When I was finally cleared on my flight to Phoenix, I squealed like a little girl. When I got to my gate, I noticed that Florida One was parked next to us! I waited over a year to see it! So I took some pictures. :)

LAS – PHX

I got my own row to myself on the flight. It was a little bumpy leaving Vegas but nothing too exciting. I spent the flight typing up this blog and working on my wedding invites. Such an exciting life I live!

Flight 1197, 689

PHX - LAS 7/8

My guy and I were able to catch a flight together to Vegas. He forgot to bring something to listen to so I shared my earbuds with him - unfortunately, they didn’t drown out the screaming kid behind us. Oh well. We spent the flight flipping through the Skymall magazine, looking for items we’d like to have on our wedding registry. I joked with him about asking for the Big Foot figurine to put in our backyard. But seriously. I think that would be pretty epic - I wonder what our neighbors would think?

While we were in Vegas we got our engagement photos taken. Since our wedding will be travel themed, we got them taken at the airport and on-board a Southwest 737-700! I was so stoked that we got that opportunity. Big shout out to the people who made that happen!

LAS - PHX 7/12

I caught an early morning flight home to Phoenix. My guy had left a few days earlier because he had to work so he picked me up when he got off work. My flight was quiet. I read through Southwest’s SPIRIT magazine and took in the great views of the Grand Canyon.

Until next time… fly safe!

Flight 1682, 165

I got my wings back!

For those of you wondering, my stepdad is doing just fine. His only symptoms are headaches - which is to be expected when you do have a stroke. My family has high hopes for his recovery since he’s not showing any signs of slurred speech, drooping face or memory loss.

PHX - LAS

I woke up this morning to some not so great news - the flight before mine had been canceled and the people on that flight were rebooked on my flight. The next two flights were completely full and if I were to get out, it’d have to be on a flight that’d arrive at 2pm.

So I called my mom and asked if she could help. She called a friend of hers at the airport to find out the exact numbers on the flight and then called me back. I was happy to find out that some of the people on the canceled flight went out on an earlier flight - so there were open seats! I got to the airport as quickly as I could. 

At the airport I got my boarding pass and hopped on the plane. The flight was relatively full but not completely full. I enjoyed reading SPIRIT Magazine and working on some homework while we were in the air.

I got this awesome picture of the new Hoover Dam bypass bridge:

In Vegas, I spent the day with my family getting some details sorted out for my wedding coming up in November.

LAS - PHX

I think there were a total of 15 people on the flight.

I had to laugh at the drastic difference between my two flights today. I got my own row - the emergency exit row… score! - and was able to stretch out and work on some more homework.

Now I’m home and it’s starting to hit me that my flight benefits will end at the end of the year. I don’t know what I’ll do with myself… And what will happen to my blog?

Flight 2217, 1425 3/1

PHX - LAS

The flight today was calm for the first half and bumpy the second half. Wasn’t expecting that but I enjoy a little bit of turbulence. I spent the entire flight reading through the new SPIRIT magazine. I was fascinated by the featured story about how newborn babies communicate - especially since one of my best friends just had a baby two weeks ago. I also tried doing the dollar origami elephant but got so lost halfway through I gave up… What can I say, I have a short attention span when I get confused.

I spent the day with my mom and sister going over wedding plans. And trust me, I’m exhausted.

LAS - PHX

Before I go into the flight, the airport was a ZOO. Southwest Airlines system went down nation wide - which means there was no automatic printing of boarding passes, no automatic scanning of boarding passes, no automatic checking of bags… nothing. When I got to the airport, I found out that my flight had been canceled - which most people would be irritated about, but I made the best of it. I spent the first hour waiting for my flight visiting with my favorite airline agents. The next hour I spent at the gate working on homework.

The flight was full - which was funny because it was listed that there were only 30 or seats taken the night before. It was full because there were many canceled and delayed flights throughout the day. I got a window seat and was able to finish up my homework assignment on the plane. Although I was slightly annoyed with the passenger in front of me… he decided to rapidly decline his seat almost crushing my laptop.

Please, if you’re going to recline your chair, be sure to check behind you and make sure the coast is clear - whether the person behind you has a laptop or is tall and their knees are already hitting the back of your chair - be aware and courteous to your fellow passengers.

Hang in there fellow fliers!

Flight 3531, 595

PHX - LAS

Unlike most Saturdays, today was insanely busy. I’m assuming it’s because it’s President’s Day weekend. But whatever the reason, today was not the day to fly standby.

I got to the airport a little before 9:30am, hoping to catch a 10:20am flight. That flight went out completely full. The next flight leaving at 11:10am (-500 series) went out completely full as well. The next flight leaving at 12:15pm I was finally able to get on.

*Forgot to mention: While waiting to hear my name get called, I got to watch two military jets taking off on the runway. The sound they create is amazingly louder than any other plane at the airport. Everyone was looking around to see what on earth that huge rumbling noise was. It was very, very, very cool.

I ended up sitting next to another non-rev and a gal visiting Vegas for fun. The gal warned me that she may grab my hand if the flight got too bumpy since she was afraid of flying. I just let her know that pilots don’t fear turbulence just like boat captains don’t fear waves. It seemed to help. The three of us ended up chatting the entire flight. Now as for turbulence… wow… it was pretty wild. Nothing that got me nervous, but enough to hear a few gasps from fellow passengers when the plane shook.

LAS - PHX

The entire reason for my day trip was to visit my wonderful friend who just had her baby boy on Wednesday. While I was only able to spend a few hours with her and the little one, it was totally worth the trip.

Crazy weather on the West coast had a lot of flights delayed. My flight ended up being around 30 minutes delayed - no biggie. I was able to talk with my mom for a bit before the flight. I ended up sitting next to a couple that SMELLED. Oh my goodness. It was bad. They desperately needed a shower. I don’t even want to know what they did in Vegas.

And as for the flight… I thought my flight in was crazy… this one was even more wild. Before the turbulence kicked up, the pilot informed us that it was coming. He also made mention that “this Boeing was built to handle it” - I thought it was funny, you know, like I’d even consider the wings ever snapping off. But let me tell you, those bumps and drops definitely had me thinking about those wings snapping off like toothpicks. It was intense. I even had my hand gripping the arm rest. As soon as we got below the cloud line though, it was all clear.

I was happy to land in a very rain soaked Phoenix. Ironically enough, on the shuttle to my car, there was a couple individuals who were all discussing their travels… each one of them had left earlier in the day. We all got a laugh out of it. It’s not very often you’re surrounded by fellow day-trippers.

Flight 2443

PHX - LAS

For once, I wasn’t disappointed with TSA! The line for security was incredibly long (took me around 20 min to get through) but they had all of their agents working to check IDs and screen bags - so they were doing the best they could.

When I got to the gate, I found out the flight was booked to 139 (two over), but only 132 people were checked in… so I sat patiently praying to the nonrev gods… and they answered! My boarding pass read 137 - which means I was the last person to get a seat on the plane. Even more lucky for me, some people hadn’t boarded for whatever reason so I was able to get a decent middle seat in the front. Unfortunately I did have to check my bag since there was no room in the overhead stowage.

The flight itself was quick! I don’t know if it’s because I was looking forward to coming to Vegas or if it was faster than normal… either way, it felt like by the time I pulled out my iPod we were already starting our descent. Gotta love the 45 minute flights!

Flight 756, 733

PHX - LAS, 1/7/10

My flight on Friday was fun - the two people next to me were part of an 8 person group flying to Vegas for a friend’s birthday party. Even though the flight was at 1pm, they were already drunk. haha The flight into Vegas was pretty bumpy - Although the clouds were beautiful to see the least! I also enjoyed reading the new Spirit Magazine - some of my followers were mentioned in the new Tweet section!

LAS - TUS, 1/9/10

This flight was unexpected. To give you a recap, I went to the airport the night before in hopes that I would be able to get to Phoenix - however every flight left completely full. I figured I would try again this morning; so after 3 hours of sleep, I headed to the airport at 530am. The first flight to Phoenix left completely full. The next flight to Phoenix was oversold by 5 and there were other nonrevs ahead of me on the list. Every other flight out today was booked completely full. I knew there was no way I was going to get to Phoenix today. I looked at options though every city in California, Denver, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, Boise and Reno… and none of them had open seats on flights to Phoenix.

It was then that I looked at flights to Tucson, AZ. They were completely open (55 seats on the flight I was on). Tucson is around 2 hours from Phoenix - and if I wanted to get home today, I had to be on it. My boy got up early and drove to Tucson to pick me up. We were both exhausted but we made it home safely.

So if you’re asking yourself why leaving out of Vegas was so crazy today, I’ll tell ya! The college BCS game is happening in Phoenix tomorrow. The consumer electronics show (CES) ended today, and the adult entertainment convention is in town as well. There were some Oregon Duck fans in the Tuscon airport - so I knew that I wasn’t the only person trying to get to Phoenix!

On that note… Go Ducks!