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Why Summer Travel is So Much Fun!
and Why I Love to Fly Southwest!
On our trip to Portland last weekend, I used a Southwest 'reward' ticket to get there. And what a reward it was! I only wish I'd had a little notebook or audio recorder to keep track of all the hilarity.
My favorite summer travel tidbits:
- The totally uptight/whiny woman in line behind me who (repeatedly) insisted that since she didn't have luggage to check, she shouldn't be subjected to standing in line with the "idiots" who couldn't work the self check-in machines. She made her boyfriend go check if there was a super secret line just for her (there wasn't) and in the meantime kept cursing about the morons who didn't know how to travel. Of course, when it was her turn she complained loudly that the machines were 'stupid' and could she get someone over there who 'knew what they were doing?!'
- The man who was operating (using the term loosely) the machine next to mine who kept forcefully pushing on the touch-screen and hollering that the goll-durn thing wasn't working. The unbelievably patient Southwest lady leaned over & peered at the screen, and then with a controlled, quiet, friendly smile said gently, "Sir, you're already checked in. It's printing your boarding passes. Please stop hitting the machine."
- The corrals. Southwest Airlines, who probably gets grant funding for psychology experiments in mob behavior, doesn't assign seats. Instead, depending on when you check in, you're assigned an A, B, or C boarding pass, and you just queue up in your assigned corral and then grab a seat whenever you're allowed to. So, this just encourages everyone to stand or sit in front of their corral sign and wait for boarding to begin.
For the (very delayed) flight from Las Vegas to Austin, people were lined up most of the way through the sitting area, and while there was a distinct line, everyone was sitting down because of the long wait. When we finally stood, a woman and her soon-to-be-embarrassed traveling companions scooted into the B line near the beginning. When a man helpfully, politely pointed to the end of the line, she LOUDLY said that our line didn't count because we were all sitting down. Then she looked at people around her for confirmation of her belief, saying, "Right? I'm right, right? This is bullsh**. Sitting down lines don't count." I'm sure she didn't appreciate my giggling.
- My plane's wing ALMOST hitting the ground on takeoff. Apparently when it's 100+ degrees outside, the planes are a bit "sluggish" trying to get off the ground. Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.
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read this before....reading it again....makes me laugh every time.
I LOVE PEOPLE.