Booked this one well in advance, only to find the fare go down about a week prior to departure. Rebooked on a $39 ow "DING" special and saved the balance for next month.
18 FEB 06
SAN-SJC WN 844 B737-3H4 N314SW
Meandered down to the airport via mass transit arriving about one hour prior to departure with web boarding pass in hand. Everyone was instructed to remove shoes at security. A guy with no carry-ons shoved his way to the front of the line where he was swiftly rebuked by the screener. He feigned ignorance at this strange no line-cutting policy before heading to the back of the line.
Aircraft (in the new colors) arrived from OAK a couple minutes early at 9:03 and boarding began at about 9:15 for the 9:30 departure. Passengers were still filing on as of the scheduled push time, but the crew did their best to expedite the departure. Lead F/A announced: "for the 99 of you still talking on cell phones, it's time to say goodbye." Load factor was about 98% (think I counted three empty seats, including one next to me). There was no joking during the safety demo, and I noticed the new life vest demo (recently finished installing fleet-wide to enable more over-water flying).
Ahead of us for takeoff were an Eagle Saab 340B and a 320 in the HP/US livery. Had a nice view of Pacific Beach, La Jolla and Del Mar cliffs on climbout from my window seat, as well as SNA/Newport Beach further up the coast. Flight attendants offered drinks (cranapple please) with two packets of 35th anniversary dry-roasted peanuts, and then came back to offer refills, so I had a ginger ale (even received the whole can).
Throughout the flight, I noticed snow on top of many hill tops, including a thick blanket on top of the hills east of SJ above about 1,800 ft. Pretty unusual for coastal CA. We made a right turn north of San Jose which afforded a good view of Moffett Field with it's signature airship hangars and the NASA Ames research facility. Landed on 12R at 10:55 and quickly taxiied to the gate. Not much to see, apart from the AA 777 being prepared for the NRT flight.
21 FEB 06
SJC-SAN WN 274 B737-3G7 N670SW (ex-Morris)
At security, there was a short line which moved very slowly, as only one of the lanes was open. The inbound aircraft was running late, having been delayed in GEG and SEA. Just to give you an idea of how Southwest works these birds, the full routing of this aircraft for the day was ONT-OAK-RNO-BOI-GEG-SEA-SJC-SAN-SMF-ONT-OAK, with 20-25 min in between each flight.
Boarding area was crowded and hot with the late-afternoon sun coming in through the large windows. While waiting, I started reading the March National Geographic Traveler which contained an article titled It Was Friday Night, and I Had to Get Out of Town Thats Why I Went to _______, and subtitled How Low-Fare Airlines Can Help You Discover an America You Didnt Know." The article showcases the City of Trees, calling it an ideal choice for affordable last-minute adventures. It all makes perfect sense.
Well, the inbound finally arrived at 15:52. Boarding was quick, with just "A" and "B" group passengers. Many of the forward seats and exit rows were already full by the time I boarded with A's, due to the preboarders and thru pax. There were lots of empty middle seats this time. We pushed back at 16:19 and taxiied out to 30R, passing by the Q400 of a not-so-low fare airline that had just arrived from...
Flight was uneventful, with drinks and peanuts served once again. My first bag of peanuts was a dud (everything had turned to dust) so the F/A brought me a few more. Flight was uneventful, and I was able to identify VNY, BUR by air, as well as Century City, Wilshire Blvd, downtown LA and later SNA and Miramar. We landed just as the setting sun was tingeing all of the ships in the port and downtown buildings orange. We had a very short final approach, and quickly taxiied to the gate. One of the departing pax passenger joked with the cockpit crew "this was like an Aloha Airlines flightyou guys must have cut 40 miles off the flight path."
We deplaned into the new gate 1, which is separated from the rest of the terminal. It formerly just had stairs, but now has a shiny new jetway, renovated boarding area and spiffy new restrooms. Id like to fly out of this gate more often!
Unfortunately, I had missed my express bus due to the 40 minute arrival delay, so I had to use Cloud 9 Shuttle instead, a company I have had good experiences with in the past. I told the transportation agent where I wanted to go, and he contacted the Cloud 9 dispatcher (or so he claimed). Meanwhile, I waited 35 minutes along with three other passengers (two of whom had reservations), while shuttles came and went to all the other stands aside from ours, picking up passengers who hadnt been waiting as long. Finally I caught the mans attention, and asked him to send the request again, which he did. When the van arrived, the driver took our luggage, welcomed us all on board, and then proceeded to chew out the agent while we sat on the van in full earshot. Driver claimed he had just sat in the lot waiting for 20 minutes and never got the call. Was obviously some pre-existing tension between these two, and one or two racial epithets were exchanged before the driver got in, slammed the door and drove off in a blind fury (with all of us hanging on to our seats). We did our best to calm him down and told him we really werent in that much of a hurry. He then stopped at the next terminal for about 10 minutes, claiming he was waiting for two passengers who never materialized. Anyway, the rest of the drive was uneventful, and I got back in time for a pre-standing commitment, but I assure you the driver did not get a tip, and I will be sending a letter shortly.
18 FEB 06
SAN-SJC WN 844 B737-3H4 N314SW
Meandered down to the airport via mass transit arriving about one hour prior to departure with web boarding pass in hand. Everyone was instructed to remove shoes at security. A guy with no carry-ons shoved his way to the front of the line where he was swiftly rebuked by the screener. He feigned ignorance at this strange no line-cutting policy before heading to the back of the line.
Aircraft (in the new colors) arrived from OAK a couple minutes early at 9:03 and boarding began at about 9:15 for the 9:30 departure. Passengers were still filing on as of the scheduled push time, but the crew did their best to expedite the departure. Lead F/A announced: "for the 99 of you still talking on cell phones, it's time to say goodbye." Load factor was about 98% (think I counted three empty seats, including one next to me). There was no joking during the safety demo, and I noticed the new life vest demo (recently finished installing fleet-wide to enable more over-water flying).
Ahead of us for takeoff were an Eagle Saab 340B and a 320 in the HP/US livery. Had a nice view of Pacific Beach, La Jolla and Del Mar cliffs on climbout from my window seat, as well as SNA/Newport Beach further up the coast. Flight attendants offered drinks (cranapple please) with two packets of 35th anniversary dry-roasted peanuts, and then came back to offer refills, so I had a ginger ale (even received the whole can).
Throughout the flight, I noticed snow on top of many hill tops, including a thick blanket on top of the hills east of SJ above about 1,800 ft. Pretty unusual for coastal CA. We made a right turn north of San Jose which afforded a good view of Moffett Field with it's signature airship hangars and the NASA Ames research facility. Landed on 12R at 10:55 and quickly taxiied to the gate. Not much to see, apart from the AA 777 being prepared for the NRT flight.
21 FEB 06
SJC-SAN WN 274 B737-3G7 N670SW (ex-Morris)
At security, there was a short line which moved very slowly, as only one of the lanes was open. The inbound aircraft was running late, having been delayed in GEG and SEA. Just to give you an idea of how Southwest works these birds, the full routing of this aircraft for the day was ONT-OAK-RNO-BOI-GEG-SEA-SJC-SAN-SMF-ONT-OAK, with 20-25 min in between each flight.
Boarding area was crowded and hot with the late-afternoon sun coming in through the large windows. While waiting, I started reading the March National Geographic Traveler which contained an article titled It Was Friday Night, and I Had to Get Out of Town Thats Why I Went to _______, and subtitled How Low-Fare Airlines Can Help You Discover an America You Didnt Know." The article showcases the City of Trees, calling it an ideal choice for affordable last-minute adventures. It all makes perfect sense.
Well, the inbound finally arrived at 15:52. Boarding was quick, with just "A" and "B" group passengers. Many of the forward seats and exit rows were already full by the time I boarded with A's, due to the preboarders and thru pax. There were lots of empty middle seats this time. We pushed back at 16:19 and taxiied out to 30R, passing by the Q400 of a not-so-low fare airline that had just arrived from...
Flight was uneventful, with drinks and peanuts served once again. My first bag of peanuts was a dud (everything had turned to dust) so the F/A brought me a few more. Flight was uneventful, and I was able to identify VNY, BUR by air, as well as Century City, Wilshire Blvd, downtown LA and later SNA and Miramar. We landed just as the setting sun was tingeing all of the ships in the port and downtown buildings orange. We had a very short final approach, and quickly taxiied to the gate. One of the departing pax passenger joked with the cockpit crew "this was like an Aloha Airlines flightyou guys must have cut 40 miles off the flight path."
We deplaned into the new gate 1, which is separated from the rest of the terminal. It formerly just had stairs, but now has a shiny new jetway, renovated boarding area and spiffy new restrooms. Id like to fly out of this gate more often!
Unfortunately, I had missed my express bus due to the 40 minute arrival delay, so I had to use Cloud 9 Shuttle instead, a company I have had good experiences with in the past. I told the transportation agent where I wanted to go, and he contacted the Cloud 9 dispatcher (or so he claimed). Meanwhile, I waited 35 minutes along with three other passengers (two of whom had reservations), while shuttles came and went to all the other stands aside from ours, picking up passengers who hadnt been waiting as long. Finally I caught the mans attention, and asked him to send the request again, which he did. When the van arrived, the driver took our luggage, welcomed us all on board, and then proceeded to chew out the agent while we sat on the van in full earshot. Driver claimed he had just sat in the lot waiting for 20 minutes and never got the call. Was obviously some pre-existing tension between these two, and one or two racial epithets were exchanged before the driver got in, slammed the door and drove off in a blind fury (with all of us hanging on to our seats). We did our best to calm him down and told him we really werent in that much of a hurry. He then stopped at the next terminal for about 10 minutes, claiming he was waiting for two passengers who never materialized. Anyway, the rest of the drive was uneventful, and I got back in time for a pre-standing commitment, but I assure you the driver did not get a tip, and I will be sending a letter shortly.
