01-23-2010
01:31 PM
8 Loves
Next time you take a flight on Southwest look at the aircraft airworthiness certificate located above the door. If the aircraft model shown doesn't end in H4 then you are on an aircraft that started life with another airline. H4 is the customer number that Boeing assigned to Southwest. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Boeing_customer_codes for a list of Boeing customer codes.
You can also get the model number by going to the FAA aircraft registry at http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/
In my case, I've ridden on several aircraft that started out life someplace else besides Southwest:
N660SW B737-301 Piedmont Airlines (the original Piedmont)
N690SW B737-3G7 America West
N657SW B737-3L9 Maersk Air (a Danish airline)
N317WN B737-3Q8 ILFC (A leasing company)
N697SW B737-3T0 Texas Air Corp/Continental Airlines
N308SA B737-3Y0 Guiness Peat Aviation (a leasing company; this is one of the few SWA aircraft I've flown more than once)
In case you're wondering: Yes, I'm anal when it comes to tracking my airline flights. I have data on all of my flights going back to 1971. 🙂
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I've sadly had to stop collecting printed timetables. I started collecting 40 years ago. The PDF versions are okay but not all airlines have them. Purchasing timetables for the era I want (the1969 and earlier) requires a loan! The prices are absurd. I collect for the pleasure of seeing the schedules, not because I think of it as an investment. My collection isn't for sale. I have them, along with my other airline items, set up for donation to an airline museum in my will.
CHERYL HAMILL: Not sure what you mean by having the schedules up-to-date. I know the schedules are produced for specific periods as short as one day.
DANIEL: The blog did mention the incident on 2294 in the news section.
COLIN GEHBART: The entire Southwest schedule is available for download as a PDF. Pick "--Retrieve All Cities--" (the default) before clicking the retrieve schedule button.
My complaint with the system-wide PDF schedule is that every other page is blank. Don't know if this has to do with my version of the PDF reader (I have the latest version available) or what but it is annoying to have a document that's nearly 700 pages long but actually contains data on only half of those pages. I haven't noticed this problem with the schedules for individual cities.
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As much as I'm getting tired of flying 737s, I will always remain a loyal Southwest passenger because I like the ability to be able to use ALL of my money in case I have to change my plans when I have a non-refundable ticket. I saw the fares for one airline between OAK and LGB. The fare was $49 non-refundable. The change fee was $45! On Southwest the change fee would be $0.
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Tim - the name of the airline is Allegiant. They do fly between Sanford (Orlando) and Louisville. (nearest cities are Knoxville, Owensboro, and Lexington).
They will charge you up to $35 per piece of checked luggage.
They will charge you a $14 "convergence" fee for booking on line. If you have the nerve to call them to book a flight it will be the $14 PLUS $10 per segment. In other words, they are charging you for the privilege of giving them money. (You can avoid this fee by going to airport and buying the ticket).
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I have no problems telling me in front of me that I have a lower number.
I don't like the fact that I'm on my computer at exactly 24 hours ahead of time but still get a relatively high number in the A group. I do understand that people are paying to "cut in line" but I still don' like it.
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Brian,
Had a few minutes to look up my older timetables. I think we are both right. While there are a few named flights (e.g. United's "Hollywood", "Advanced Hollywood", and "Overnight Hollywood", most of the flights such as Delta's Royal Scott were the type of service involved.
When I get more time, I think I will look up more flights and differentiate between named flights and flights that are named after the service on board.
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