The best thing about having to fly somewhere that Southwest doesn't go -- is that by the end of our round trip via Another Airline, we are once again fully cognizant of just how many reasons we have for LoVing to fly SWA, first/foremost of which is:
OPEN SEATiNG - It's NoT difficult, folks! Just GeT ON the plane, then SiT the *%^&* DoWN, please!!
On a recent trip to the British Virgin Islands, we were seated mid-cabin on both legs of the journey to and fro. Thanks to our years of experience as seasoned SWA "Get-On-&-Go" passengers, we were able to proceed directly to Row 14 and plunk ourselves down -- with our carry-on totebag and backpack stowed overhead, books/snacks bag under the seat in front of us, plus enough time to stow a guitar in our overhead compartment for the guy sitting 2 rows ahead of us -- before the passenger assigned to the seat across the aisle from us proceeded to hold up the boarding process for at least 7.25 minutes (we didn't start timing him right away, so we're trying to give him the benefit of the doubt...) whilst he agonized over the placement of his roll-on weekender bag and straw hat in the otherwise empty overhead compartment above his seat.
When the flight attendant finally was able to fight her way thru the crowd to ask if she could assist him, he wanted to know if she could hold his hat for him until he could be sure that nobody else put anything in the overhead bin that might touch -- er, crush -- it...
...Talk about people who REALLY don't use their head~{{;>}~!!! Thanx, Gary, to you & Herb & Colleen & Everybody @ SWA (especially our dearly beloved friend Mardi Coleman, who started out in Reservations and has been loving his job more with every promotion, and my DJ-turned-Adjunct-Multimedia-Professor husband's former RCCD student Chris Sommers, who works on SWA's interactive training videos),
Betsie Bolger (Mrs. Jon Mott)
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The oNLy "good thing" about having to fly somewhere that Southwest doesn't go to -- other than getting to spend a (mostly free) week @ Little Dix Bay on British Virgin Gorda, reconnecting with family and celebrating my husband's 50th birthday -- is that by the end of our round trip via AnyOther Airline, we are once again fully cognizant of just how many reasons we have for LoVing to fly SWA:
* OPEN SEATiNG - It's NoT difficult, folks! Just GeT ON the plane, then SiT the *%^&* DoWN, please!!
* Flights go where we want to go, when we want to go there -- and because the fares are consistently structured (i.e., 30-day/14-day/7-day Advance Purchases) @ such reasonable prices (even pre-Ding!, SWA made sure to let us know whenever we deserved Special Fares) that we just build our itinerary accordingly: e.g., when Islip, L.I., was added, we flew there from Dallas to spend a weekend with friends @ Fire Island before commuting back to NJ by train for a family reunion "Down The Shore."
* Rapid Rewards - Never was a name so aptly chosen (although I did recently find my original Company Club Card stashed in a box of sentimental treasures)!
I've been flying SAW ever since 1980, when I moved to Dallas as a newlywed and landed my 1st post-collegiate full-time job. My inauguaral assignment as a brand-new Associate Editor @ TEXAS HOMES magazine was to attend a symposium on the Architecture of O'Neill Ford -- in Austin, TX, on the Friday and Saturday of Texas-OU Weekend. As anyone on either side of the Red River can attest, that's a level of hoopla that will either kill you or cure you, but I came home hooked for life on Southwest.
When I flip-flopped my career choices midway through the '80s in favor of turning pro as an equestrian -- with freelance writing/editing on the side -- SWA proved to be just the ticket for affordable horse-hunting junkets plus regular bookings for out-of-town clinics.
But my ReaL "Love affair" with Southwest Airlines didn't start until I'd graduated from my "starter marriage"...and met a guy in Houston who just happened to be the DJ/VJ @ the horse show crowd's favorite dance club, Rich's (2401 San Jacinto; 25+ years & STiLL the most festive place in town). For most of the next decade, I commuted almost weekly -- sometimes via my trusty (and VeRY high-mileage) series of Volvos, but usually via SWA: "Love to Hobby; Hobby to Love!"
Thanks to SWA's sensible system of totting up trip segments rather than miles flown, I was able to wing my way to from the riding ring to the dance floor every weekend -- and back again in time for my Tuesday AM Ladies' Lesson.
My Houston guy and I also flew free every year to visit both of our families, mine back East in NJ (via Islip or Philadelphia, depending on which friends were were planning to visit enroute) and his up North in Michigan (via Detroit Metro, of course) for birthdays, Thanksgiving and/or Christmas -- and in 1994, we celebrated the Yuletide weekend by flying to his hometown for our wedding.
After the ceremony, we all went out for a big family/new-in-laws dinner followed by one memorable night "Ã
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