A Hay Ride on Wings

Take some industry-bucking practices, add in some thumbing your nose at the mass search engines, factor in staff and flight crew with personality and the elusive airline-industry smile, stir in some actually decent annual profits, and what do you get? No, not Emirates. Southwest Airlines! Say whaaaa? I know, right.

Bless it’s little heart – the one in the middle of those wings in its logo I guess. Southwest Airlines is just… awwwweeeeee. The AIRistocrat wants to dump on it so bad, being the world’s [probably] sole coach-only airline and all, but it’s just sort of too down-home precious for me to go all the way. As one friend described the experience to me today, it’s like “a hay ride on wings.”

So why is The AIRistocrat flying Southwest, with a layover in an airport that has no discernible Elite-Rich-People Club (that I could find… Houston Hobby)? Well, primarily because the trip was a comp, and because the plane happens to dump off in Las Vegas, so at least there was a pot of gold (or casino coins) at the end of the rainbow.

Would I fly Southwest on my own, if not handcuffed and strapped to a gurney (now we’re talking!)? Probably not. But I endured it. I will say, however, that one of the redeeming things about SWA is supposed to be the comedian flight attendants. While they all certainly seem more chillaxed than UpTight Airlines Inc. (i.e., every other American carrier), I didn’t get Pam Ann on either of my two SWA flights today. Bummer.