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December Remembered

cadams
Adventurer B
December--the month that was. It's a love/hate month.  I love the warm feelings, the food, the connecting with friends and relatives, the religous significance. However, there's also the sense of frustration in wanting each gift to convey the love we feel; the expectations of wanting to create a "Martha Stewart experience" for our loved ones; and balancing work with play. Since I blogged about bidding for December, I will give you a brief synopsis.  My last trip in November, I sat on the jumpseat for three days with a Crew Member recovering from the flu.  She passed it on to me, and I in turn passed it to my friend and my sister!  This must be the way you get rid of it!  This necessitated a sick call - hated having to do it.  The highs--a two-day reunion party with Flight Attendant friends from the other bases at Brenda's.  She's the best party giver.  Babysitting my six- and eight-year-old grandchildren.  (This will be repeated in the "Lows".)  While standing in their school waiting to pick them up, I looked at the bright young faces and remembered my own children many years earlier.  My eyes teared.  I attended a party at the Belo Mansion given by a law firm that has to be the party to end all parties.  In additon to the standard great food, live music, and dance floor, they took pictures for key chains, purse mirrors,and gave souvenir pictures and custom spray painted bags. Artists drew sketches, and the hosts passed out tokens for Las Vegas type gaming and distributed cowboy hats, eye glasses, and bracelets with blinking lights!  No way to top THIS party.  My family Christmas was fragmented since each family wanted to celebrate in their own homes for their children.  I enjoyed being the guest instead of the host.  I flew two trips and enjoyed the  baking of every recipe I've ever enjoyed at Christmas.  I still have six packages of cream cheese, a huge bag of chocolate chips, and the good spirits of our Customers.  Friends--both widowed--married on the 23rd.  Their happiness added to The Season.  The lows always begin with the Christmas tree!  The tree is too big for me to handle by myself, and I have gone overboard on the number of ornaments I've collected.  There's a real temptation to merely hang a wreath on the front door so the neighbors won't know The Grinch lives here.  I made Tonia's Tia Maria cake from the Southwest Cookbook.  Somehow, I became confused and thought I was supposed to leave the cake in the pan to cool.  When I tried to remove the cake from the Nordic pan it would not budge.  I put it back in a hot oven thinking it would drop right out when it was warm.  No luck.  I hammered the pan with a mallot--it was still in the pan.  I tried sticking a thin knife and bamboo sticks along the side--nothing.  In desperation (I was leaving for a party), I sliced the cake while still in the pan.  This was not the presentation I was going after.  My lowest point was standing in a parking garage in Houston by my son's van that wouldn't start-- with twenty minutes to meet the grandchildren's school bus!  Yes, I noticed the light on, but I couldn't figure out how to turn it off and didn't think such a little light would run the battery down.  A nice young man in a big red truck stopped when I stepped out in front of it with my hand up.  He jumped the battery, and I was out of there.  The kids had only been at the neighbors a few minutes!  I found the dash button to turn the overhead light off.  The next morning, I couldn't find the car keys.  As I frantically looked for the keys, my eight-year-old grandson "found" them after hiding them in the playroom.  I'll have to wait until he's older to get even with him!  It's over, and I've resolved to start shopping earlier, see the grandchildren more often, buy a prelit Christmas tree, throw out all the sweets, and lose the Christmas weight.  Anybody out there make any resolutions?   
6 Comments
jmalone
Adventurer A
Carole - I have a great idea for your "leftover" cooking supplies. How `bout making me a batch of your famous sweets. If you need my address, just let me know. I look forward to seeing you again soon! James Malone MDW FA
Terry_Lessig
Explorer B
I'm a quart low on cream cheese, Carole. Next flight over PHX please drop some for me. I made one resolution: Stop procratinating. I'm fixin' to get started on that pretty soon.
Jeremy_Wilhelm
Explorer C
I recently flew round trip from new york to utah, it was the worst airplane experience i have ever had, i have flown southwest before and have never been impressed and if i can help it will never fly southwest again. The flight to Utah was the worst part as after i had to fight ny way throuhg a mass of people to find a seat with whom i was traveling with, finally found a seat towards the back of the plane. the plane quickly filled up with people and a family found it appropriate to sit there 10 year old child behind me and whom i guess were his brothers who were probably not any older than 16 while the parents sat on the other side several aisles back, the 10 year old for the duration of the five and a half hour flight kicked the back of my seat and screamed constantly. I kindly asked his siblings to control him but any gestures just made it worse. The flight attendants were unresponsive in any way. I plan on doing a lot of travel in the near future and will forego the convenience of flyinig out of Islip, MacArthur airport and take the air train to JFK just because JetBlue any other Airline would be better than my past experiences on southwest. this may not be the right place to post this comment but so far i have not found any other place to complain on the web site, but will continue to look.
cadams
Adventurer B
Jeremy, naturally I'm distressed over your bad experience on Southwest. Two questions come to mind. Did you ever directly ask a flight attendant for assistance with the 10 year old child? If I had worked your flight and realized the situation I would have asked the parents of the child to change seats with you and your traveling companion. I have asked parents how I could help with a crying or fretfull child - juice, a color book, or simply talking to the child to relieve the boredom. The really long flights can be tough on everybody but out and out harrassment should be addressed. Did you ask a flight attenant to mention the kicking to the parents? Kicking is unacceptable - even on Public Transportation where anybody can buy a ticket and fly. I understand your frustration and appreciate you bringing it to my attention. I am on an overnight and do not have the address for you to direct your complaint. However, I will send you an address this weekend. Southwest has many employees who take your bad experience to heart. We want every person to enjoy their Southwest experience from beginning to end. I'm sorry this happened to you. Carole
Karen7
Explorer C
I just flew southwest over the Holidays from Manchester Nh to florida and some lady named Doreen was so rude and raised her voice to other employees at the ticket counter, I felt really bad for the other employee but what could i say? I felt very uncomfortable plus she really did slow down the whole process of my getting a boarding pass.. I t made me me feel sorry for the people who work there and realise I don't have to fly southwest In MHT if that is how they treat people.
MHTflyer
Explorer C
Karen, I'm so sorry that you had bad luck with Southwest in Manchester. I have flown countless flights on Southwest out of MHT, and have always dealt with pleasant, bright people. I was flying to MCO on Christmas Eve one night, and someone was in a Santa suit giving out candy canes! I hope you can give WN at MHT another chance!