Friday, July 25, 2008

I want to post that our airport and airplane experience flying Sothwest from Austin to Seattle was PERFECT. I know many people are having bad airplane experiences lately and I'm a nervous flier anyway, so it seems important for me to accentuate the positive. We were treated kindly and warmly even in security and strongly so on the plane, where all workers did their jobs cheerfully without seeming boored or automatic - really kind. The flight was smooth, efficient, we even arrived twenty minutes early and the pilot made a joke about hoping we'd remember that the next time they were twenty mionutes late. The plane was completely full and I do find it wearing to be so close to so many people I don't know for hours, but everyone I interacted with at all was totally courteous and I think we passengers made the experience of being crowded together as nontoxic for each other as it could be. I was astonished at how quiet people kept their tiny children (less than four). I've always found that a hard task when my girls were little.Between Austin and Phoenix we had a family of four in the three seats in front of us mom, dad, toddler girl and four year old boy. I had fun making silent eyes with the little girl and didn't even know the little boy was there until they got off the plane. ASTONISHING!

1 comment:

Peggy said...

Glad to hear you had such a good flying experience. I have had good luck in the past with Southwest and with Alaska too. We had a fairly OK flight from St. Louis home on American (and going as well) but I can't get over how really penny-pinching they are. They could charge $5 or $10 more per ticket and be gracious with snacks and have enough blankets and pillows for heaven's sake. Not one would notice $5 or $10 increase. And now this ridiculous policy of charging for checked bags.