I met my wife in 1995 and began a long distance romance between Omaha and Detroit over the next year and a half. In 1996 I flew a total of 30 round trips on Southwest, most of them to Detroit from Omaha. It got to the point that I got on a Southwest jet in Phoenix and a flight attendant said "Larry, don't you usually go to Detroit?" No kidding.
My memories of Smith terminal are simple. In those 30 round trips not one was late and I never lost luggage, and those flights always included a stop over at Midway. I didn't really eat at the Smith terminal as I just wanted to get out of the terminal to see my future wife or we waited until the last possible moment before I entered the terminal to catch a flight home to Omaha. Smith was ok at the time, and it was pre-9/11 so not really long lines at security.
By the way, since Southwest played such a part in our romance we invited Herb Keleher to the wedding. He wrote a very nice note saying he had a prior commitment but he did send a very nice gift and ever being Herb, invited us to bring "any little ones" along on future flights. Herb would be happy to know that our kids are now 9 and 6 and are seasoned Southwest fliers, both with their own Rapid Rewards cards.
We now live in Detroit after 12 years living in Omaha, and we look forward to many trips from the North Terminal, but we'll miss Smith since it was such a big part of our lives all these years ago.
Good luck in the new Terminal!
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Well, I suppose it can be construed as a victory, but it still smells bad.
Since we don't want to wait any more for nonstop flights from Omaha to Dallas, we're just going to move to Kansas City. No, we aren't kidding.
Omaha's been a backwater city for Southwest since LUV came here, while KC has seen huge growth in both frequency and cities served.
So, as they say "Goin to Kansas City, Kansas City here we come"
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