southwest pilots!! a question, if you please...

[typhoonpilot]

a quick question: my girlfriend is flying from CMH to PHX tomorrow. for that long of a flight, is there any in-flight entertainment (besides the flight crew and flight attendants)?

I envy someone who thinks that a 3 or 4 hour flight is long. Mind you, without in-flight entertainment or a good book to read while sitting in a cramped airplane that can be an eternity.

TP

 

[cforst513]

heh heh, i take it from your name and the fact you're a 777 driver, you do a lot of overseas stuff. the longest i've been in an airplane during 1 leg is a bit over 4 hours, from ORD to LAX. so CMH to PHX is long to me! i have yet to experience the whole 17 hour trip over the cold, dark pacific!

 

[Iceman07]

Just my tooscents...

I had been an AA fan since I was about 7 years old, when my sister and I went from LAX to JFK on a AA 707. I tried to fly nothing but AA, I dreamed of flying the big silver birds. When I started traveling quite a bit on buisness, I always treid to go AA.

But....

A couple of years ago (not long after 9/11) I quit flying AA after too many 6 - 8 hour delays, surly flight attendents, rude, uncaring gate agents, personell that didn't have a clue, etc. etc. etc.....

So I started flying SWA. Man, what a difference. The crews are (almost) always friendly, caring and knowledgable. The on-time performance is so much better.

A couple of examples for you:

When I fly, I try to take my bike with me. I know that:

1) AA (and most other majors) charge $80.00 each way. OK, so I know this, so I just accept it and pay the fee. I don't like it, but in order to train while on the road, I just bite the bullet.

2) SWA charges $50.00 each way.

Two years ago, I was going from BDL to LAX on AA, and after paying the $80.00 for the bike, the agent then says: "Oh, and there will also be a $40.00 charge for over-size baggage" "Huh?" says I: "I just paid you $80.00 for the bike, why are you charging me another $40.00?". "Well, SIR, thats just the way it is, the box is over-size, so we have to charge you the over-size fee also". She wouldn't even discuss it with me, just either pay the fee or leave the bike. Horrible attitude. I wrote a letter to AA corporate, and they just sent me a form letter saying that that was thier policy.

Strike 1.

Year and a half ago (January 2004) I am going from JFK to Mexico City through Miami. I am watching the weather, and there is a big system over the midwest, the wx at JFK is not great, but there is some freezing precip. so we push-back "on-time" but then wait in the de-ice pit for 1 1/2 hours. As far as I can see, there is exactly one deice truck out there.
Needless to say, I miss my connection in Miami, so I walk up to the gate agent, and ask him what he can do. "Well, sir, there is only one flight to Mexico City this evening, and it is overbooked, so I can't get you on it, we are going to send you up to O'Hare, then down to Mexico City". One of the few (maybe the only time) times that I actually lost my temper. "There is no way in heck that you are sending me up to O'hare" "Well, I am sorry sir but there is nothing else we can do" I am steaming at this point. I know that if they send me up to O'Hare, there is no way I am going to get the Mexico City that evening.

Luckily, there is a passenger (yes, another pax) standing next to me that is also going to MXC, and he keeps his cool. He says to the agent: "Well, sometimes if they know we are going to be delayed, they will automatically put you on the next flight, can you check to see if
they put us on the flight?". The gate agent then very relunctantly checked, and sure enough, we are on the later fight.

Strike 2.

I write a letter to AA, and guess what I get? Yup, a form letter stating that since it was wx related, there is nothing they could do.

Strike 3.

I will not fly AA again. But they don't care, I am just one pax, there are a lot more where I came from.

I fly SWA everywhere now. Even the long hauls. The seats are more comfortable, the crews are great (Thanks to Capt. Bruce this past Saturday, BTW. While on a flight from BDL to MDW, he gave my 8 YO daughter and I a very nice cockpit tour before the flight. He let her sit in the FO seat, and was so great with her.)

There is a good reason why SWA is so succesful.

 

[RunUp]

heh heh, i take it from your name and the fact you're a 777 driver, you do a lot of overseas stuff. the longest i've been in an airplane during 1 leg is a bit over 4 hours, from ORD to LAX. so CMH to PHX is long to me! i have yet to experience the whole 17 hour trip over the cold, dark pacific!

Try LAX to MNL on Philippine Airlines. The longest 15 hours of my life.