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Dr. StrangeGel, or how I learned to stop worrying and love the TSA
Southwest 436
N474WN
BWI-BNA
7:48am(EDT)- 8:13am(CDT)
8/11/06
[photoid=369335]
Let me preface this with some notes. I have never flown Southwest before and honestly I have never wanted to. I rather fly UA or US where I get FF miles and the chance to fly on a 757. Of course this time, both of them cost $200 more than everyone else. So I found myself on Southwest.
As you all know, the TSA banned liquids on planes and raised the airline security threat level to Orange. So I was expecting the worst as I arrived at BWI. I was not thrilled that I had to show up 2 hours before the flight and put up with the already obnoxious TSA. I was however excited about getting to use the new terminal A at BWI. The previous terminal A had 3 UA gates and an interior that was modern about when people actually enjoyed Disco. Ergo, the new spacious 11 gate terminal A was impressive. The spacious interior lent itself well the masses or sheep clamoring to check their luggage and cram themselves into 737’s to fly somewhere exotic…like Tulsa. The line for check went rapidly and soon we were tossing our bags up to the scale and scurrying off to the security line.
Here’s the part of the day I was least looking forward to. I had heard rumors about cameras being disallowed on U.S. domestic flights although I was hoping the TSA would actually read their FAQ’s and leave my precious DSLR alone. I pulled off my shoes and got my laptop, camera bag, laptop bag onto the conveyor and walked through, the moment of truth was upon me. I held my breath as my bags went through the xray machine. Score! My camera bag slid out unmolested. I gathered my gear and headed off to McD to grab a Sausage biscuit and hash brown. The line was the longest of the day but finally we managed to get the greasy goodness and head off to gate A6.
We took our seats at the gate and watched the news copters hover over the field to transmit live pictures of the airport. Exciting. Soon the time came to get into the zone lines. We were in zone A, as were the majority of the 70 or so people who be flying to BNA. We boarded and were able to snag seats 4EF. After a quick boarding due to the low LF we pushed back and taxied out to 28 for immediate takeoff. Our captain told us that we would be cruising at 40,000ft for our 1 hour 35 minute flight. We passed through several layers of overcast, but it was beautiful at the cruising altitude. Seemed like a very short time later we began our descent to BNA. We passed through lots of clouds before we landed at a damp BNA. Seriously, it was dank there. If any of you try to upload shots from BNA with the overcast I swear I’ll reject them.
We taxied in to Gate C16 and lost about 15 pax. I wandered around looked at the cockpit and wandered back to my seat. Soon boarding began for our very full flight to LAX.
Southwest 436
N474WN
BNA-LAX
9:05am(CDT)– 10:56am(PDT)
8/11/06
This was my first experience with staying on the plane for the layover…ok I lied, I stayed on an HP flight in Vegas once but I was 13 so I don’t remember much. The plane filled up with folks who were either from BNA or had flown from somewhere else and changed to our flight. The woman in 4D had flown from Florida and was going to SJC. We taxied out and were shortly airborne soaring past the nasty storm clouds and breaking out in the clear enroute to 40,000ft and LAX. Because we were out of a more southern city than I was use to the terrain was a little different than I’m used to if I fly from PHL or n/s from BWI.
The inflight service was awesome, our F/A was polite and just a nice guy. We got drink service 3 times and received a snack box with dried fruit, Oreos, Ritz crackers and peanuts. A lot more service than I have received on some full service carriers. One drawback was that the pilot’s intercom was soft and we could not here the flight deck announcements very well. It didn’t seem like long before we became our descent to LAX. We passed over ONT and I saw another WN 737 takeoff and parallel us far below before he turned to the east. We lined up and paralleled an Air Tahiti Nui A340 that was going into the southside complex. We passed over the famous In and Out and touched down a few minutes early. Their was quite a bit of congestion on the taxi ways as we made our way to the A terminal. We saw the AA 763 that had the engine explosion; it was still there on the field. We made it to the gate and we got off quickly. We made our way to the baggage claim and our bags were some of the first off.
So what did I take away from this flight? WN isn’t evil; their service was impeccable, prompt and just plain enjoyable. Also the TSA isn’t completely worthless they managed to hold together their operation even with the new liquid threat. Will I fly WN again, most definitely. Hope you enjoyed this report; I should be able to write another for my return on 8/19.
[photoid=390277]
Southwest 436
N474WN
BWI-BNA
7:48am(EDT)- 8:13am(CDT)
8/11/06
[photoid=369335]
Let me preface this with some notes. I have never flown Southwest before and honestly I have never wanted to. I rather fly UA or US where I get FF miles and the chance to fly on a 757. Of course this time, both of them cost $200 more than everyone else. So I found myself on Southwest.
As you all know, the TSA banned liquids on planes and raised the airline security threat level to Orange. So I was expecting the worst as I arrived at BWI. I was not thrilled that I had to show up 2 hours before the flight and put up with the already obnoxious TSA. I was however excited about getting to use the new terminal A at BWI. The previous terminal A had 3 UA gates and an interior that was modern about when people actually enjoyed Disco. Ergo, the new spacious 11 gate terminal A was impressive. The spacious interior lent itself well the masses or sheep clamoring to check their luggage and cram themselves into 737’s to fly somewhere exotic…like Tulsa. The line for check went rapidly and soon we were tossing our bags up to the scale and scurrying off to the security line.
Here’s the part of the day I was least looking forward to. I had heard rumors about cameras being disallowed on U.S. domestic flights although I was hoping the TSA would actually read their FAQ’s and leave my precious DSLR alone. I pulled off my shoes and got my laptop, camera bag, laptop bag onto the conveyor and walked through, the moment of truth was upon me. I held my breath as my bags went through the xray machine. Score! My camera bag slid out unmolested. I gathered my gear and headed off to McD to grab a Sausage biscuit and hash brown. The line was the longest of the day but finally we managed to get the greasy goodness and head off to gate A6.
We took our seats at the gate and watched the news copters hover over the field to transmit live pictures of the airport. Exciting. Soon the time came to get into the zone lines. We were in zone A, as were the majority of the 70 or so people who be flying to BNA. We boarded and were able to snag seats 4EF. After a quick boarding due to the low LF we pushed back and taxied out to 28 for immediate takeoff. Our captain told us that we would be cruising at 40,000ft for our 1 hour 35 minute flight. We passed through several layers of overcast, but it was beautiful at the cruising altitude. Seemed like a very short time later we began our descent to BNA. We passed through lots of clouds before we landed at a damp BNA. Seriously, it was dank there. If any of you try to upload shots from BNA with the overcast I swear I’ll reject them.
We taxied in to Gate C16 and lost about 15 pax. I wandered around looked at the cockpit and wandered back to my seat. Soon boarding began for our very full flight to LAX.Southwest 436
N474WN
BNA-LAX
9:05am(CDT)– 10:56am(PDT)
8/11/06
This was my first experience with staying on the plane for the layover…ok I lied, I stayed on an HP flight in Vegas once but I was 13 so I don’t remember much. The plane filled up with folks who were either from BNA or had flown from somewhere else and changed to our flight. The woman in 4D had flown from Florida and was going to SJC. We taxied out and were shortly airborne soaring past the nasty storm clouds and breaking out in the clear enroute to 40,000ft and LAX. Because we were out of a more southern city than I was use to the terrain was a little different than I’m used to if I fly from PHL or n/s from BWI.
The inflight service was awesome, our F/A was polite and just a nice guy. We got drink service 3 times and received a snack box with dried fruit, Oreos, Ritz crackers and peanuts. A lot more service than I have received on some full service carriers. One drawback was that the pilot’s intercom was soft and we could not here the flight deck announcements very well. It didn’t seem like long before we became our descent to LAX. We passed over ONT and I saw another WN 737 takeoff and parallel us far below before he turned to the east. We lined up and paralleled an Air Tahiti Nui A340 that was going into the southside complex. We passed over the famous In and Out and touched down a few minutes early. Their was quite a bit of congestion on the taxi ways as we made our way to the A terminal. We saw the AA 763 that had the engine explosion; it was still there on the field. We made it to the gate and we got off quickly. We made our way to the baggage claim and our bags were some of the first off.
So what did I take away from this flight? WN isn’t evil; their service was impeccable, prompt and just plain enjoyable. Also the TSA isn’t completely worthless they managed to hold together their operation even with the new liquid threat. Will I fly WN again, most definitely. Hope you enjoyed this report; I should be able to write another for my return on 8/19.
[photoid=390277]
Stop Searching. Start Traveling. southwest.com 
It's nice to see that travelling is still enjoyable despite the new safety measures. Of course, it's not as extreme as it is in the UK, but it's still stricter 
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