LAX -> SJC with Southwest (travel experience w/ pics)

Captain · Post by **Captain** » 09 Feb 2005, 18:56

Flew from Los Angeles to San Jose, California with Southwest Airlines (the american equivalent of Ryanair).

Flight was from Terminal 1 at LAX. Huge airport and Terminal 1 is great for spotting as it's near 2 parallel runways where intl' heavies as well as domestic carriers land and take-off. South West allow you to print your boarding pass on the day of your flight, so I went straight through security checks to my gate.

Flight was on time and was delighted to see that I was going to fly on a B737-700 with winglets. See picture:

http://www.captainpranks.com/luchtzak/IMGP0082.JPG
http://www.captainpranks.com/luchtzak/IMGP0083.JPG (next to an America West plane)

As with other low-costs it's free seating so I sat on seat 15E which was behind the wing (cabin view http://www.captainpranks.com/luchtzak/IMGP0087.JPG ) and offered amazing views of the coast on way up to northern california. http://www.captainpranks.com/luchtzak/IMGP0084.JPG

The air hostesses came around with free peanuts (they gave me two packets). I thought airlines banned peanutes in case of a passenger developing an allergy attack? I then thought this was just a trick to get you to purchase drinks as the peanuts were good but quite salty, but to my surprise they gave free water and soft drinks and you could purchase other drinks. http://www.captainpranks.com/luchtzak/IMGP0085.JPG The seat pocket came with quite a good inflight magazine with articles on South West destinations + other stuff.

The Captain made the usual welcoming announcement as we were airborne and reminded the passengers that it is against federal law to queue around toilets (in case terrorists could stage an attack!!) I had read articles about this and quite shocked this is being enforced by airlines even for a 45 min flight.

Landed on time at SJC which is a nice small airport located in the heart of Silicon Valley and about 45 min south of San Francisco. I was overall very impressed with South West. Better service than Ryanair and other low costs for approx the same fare as you would pay in Europe. Ryanair could learn a few things from them.

JetB · Post by **JetB** » 09 Feb 2005, 19:08

Thanks Captain for the report.

I booked myself a flight on Southwest for this coming May, so I was happy to read that you like the airline.

This is my itinerary:

Tuesday, May 31 - SAN DIEGO CA(SAN) to LAS VEGAS NV(LAS)
Flight 1406 V
Depart SAN DIEGO CA(SAN) at 01:50PM and
Arrive in LAS VEGAS NV(LAS) at 03:00PM
Total for 1 Passenger(s)
AIR: ........................$36.28
TAX: ........................$5.92
PFC FEE: ....................$4.50
SECURITY FEE: ...............$2.50
___________________
Total Fare: $49.20

This is not going to be my first Southwest flight, and have to say I like this low cost airline.
If you like to compare this company to Ryanair, than I have to say Ryanair is only a cheap copy !.

Question captain, did your AC have love seats ( think that is the name for them ?), one row facing towards the back, really nice for a group to travel !.

Remember my AC to have them but that was some time ago.

waldova · Post by **waldova** » 09 Feb 2005, 19:29

Nice report! I guess that on ryanair you will never receive a free drink and peanuts!

I never heard of love seats! Indeed it should be nice if you are travalling with four people! It would be just like sitting in the train!
And by the way, in a safety view sitting on the oposite site of the plane's direction is safer than the usual seating! But ofcourse, most of the people will not accept to sit facing backwards! But I wouldn't mind, as I already sit like this always in the train.

Nice fair by the way! Not so much!

Was your plane full?

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 09 Feb 2005, 19:53

Great report. I think it's the first one of Southwest we have here so far.
It seems that Southwest is nice to fly.

CHris

chunk · Post by **chunk** » 10 Feb 2005, 10:27

I've done a lot of trips on Southwest in the past 6 years and always found them to be OK - pretty reliable and reasonably comfortable. Must say I was a bit shocked the first time I flew on them. We turned up at IAH to fly to Dallas (it was only my 2nd time in Texas) at 5am to be welcomed by people in shorts telling us to get stuck into the coffee and doughnuts at the gate. I thought I was trippin or something...what with most of the passengers dressed in cowboy boots and hats....

I don;t think they do that anymore but my last flight on them was about 18 months ago from Baltimore to Houston Hobby and no complaints again. Crews are generally nicer than most US airlines to be honest.

Advisor · Post by **Advisor** » 10 Feb 2005, 11:41

Thanks for sharing Captain. Interesting to read the post of your lovely experiences with SouthWest.

Comet · Post by **Comet** » 10 Feb 2005, 11:57

Great report! Nice to read more about LAX, it is a truly superb airport both for spotting and for travelling to and from.

And I would have thought that peanuts on an airline would have been a big no-no, with peanut allergies being fatal and killing people if they even get a sniff of a peanut. Air New Zealand never handed them out again on our flights after 1995, but I was surprised to see VLM giving them to people who did not want a sandwich back in 2002. If they are to hand out salted snacks, then surely crisps (potato chips) would be better?

chunk · Post by **chunk** » 10 Feb 2005, 13:30

Ultimately I guess MOST people aren;t allergic to nuts which is why they still give them out. I think it is like all food you buy in the shops - as long is it is clearly labelled if it contains nuts then there isn;t much more you can do....

Apart from that, Soutwest are well known in the US for their wee bags of peanuts. Strange but true.....

Post by **sn26567** » 10 Feb 2005, 15:01

Captain, thanks for nice report. You said the price to be equivalent to Ryanair (for a better service), but how much dud you pay?

JetB · Post by **JetB** » 10 Feb 2005, 15:53

$49.20 including tax for a one way is the cheapest ticket you can book online ( for a flight from CA to NV ), so that makes it $94.40 for a round trip ticket. Ryanair is cheaper !, but not better

Captain · Post by **Captain** » 10 Feb 2005, 21:14

JetB wrote:Question captain, did your AC have love seats ( think that is the name for them ?), one row facing towards the back, really nice for a group to travel !

Hi JetB. The flight I was on didn't have the love seats, though they were on the air safety cards so I must assume ther are still some around. We had a discussion on Luchtzak about these sort of seats 6 months ago or so.

Good idea for groups, bad idea if your travelling alone and have to face people for the duration of the flight. That's my opinion anyway

Captain · Post by **Captain** » 10 Feb 2005, 21:47

sn26567 wrote:You said the price to be equivalent to Ryanair (for a better service), but how much dud you pay?

I paid about $80 return incl. all taxes. I didn't book the flight that long ago but think that it's quite reasonable especially as I was flying from a major hub: LAX.

Captain