Trip Reports - Goodbye American, Hello Southwest? BWI-PVD

This trip report has been temporarily removed pending consolidation on a site I control.

Amen... wonder if Carty is listening?

I enjoyed quite a few trips on WN BWI-PVD last year... the free tickets after every four roundtrips ($300 of flying on cheap BWI-PVD fares) sure were nice. Never ran into delays, though I did get a couple interesting flights with pilots who must have been ex-military... those 737s turn out to be more agile than I thought. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Now if I could just exchange those free tickets for a flight on CX, they'd have AA beat. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

This route is very good because it's the only nonstop service between PVD and BWI. Everyone else goes through some obnoxious hub.. and usually on puddlejumpers with long layovers. It's a cheap way to get to DC.. aside from the occasional US Air weekend special.

Great post. Everything you said could be applied to United, Delta, etc...

I laughed out loud at your "perp walk" description. I fly 1st class a lot and I hope it doesn't look like I'm smirking. Besides, these days 1st class is not much to smirk about anyways.

The other thing is I really like Southwest's casual atmosphere, what with the shorts, etc... I used to wear a suit to work, and I haven't worn a suit in about 6 years. To me, unless you are auditing someone, performing a government function, or some other public function / ceremony, there is no need to be restricted to uncomfortable clothing. The uniforms the FA's wear on United look okay, but I'd be much more relaxed as a passenger if they dressed a little more casually.

Another thing is it doesn't cost a lot of money to have a friendly / fun environment. Too bad United, Delta, etc... can't provide such a working environment. Most of the UA's employees are more formal and serious than fun and relaxed.

How does the voice recognition software work for you? I'm dying to try it out but am skeptical still about its accuracy...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by CharlesMD:

One nice thing about flying on an airplane with no first-class is that you don't have to do the first-class “perp walk” past the pre-boarded premium passengers, who tend to smirk as coach passengers are herded below decks.

One striking thing was that the flight attendants wore denim, sneakers and shorts. I think that must have been the first time I've ever seen a flight attendant wear shorts.

All of the flight attendants, gate agents, and check-in staff were very friendly, motivated, and enthusiastic.

[b]Commentary Compared to my recent experiences on American, Southwest exceeded all of my expectations. I don't understand why American is cutting back on their services, charging all kinds of fees, and alienating its passengers. I would think that in the time when they need their passengers most they would try to do more. Gestures such as having the gate agents thank everyone by name or the flight attendant come around and ask everyone if they want more drinks don't really cost much but pay a lot in terms of customer goodwill. Even though American might not be that different from the other major carriers who also made similar cutbacks, they need to realize that their new competition is not only Southwest and JetBlue, but driving, taking the train, or just staying at home because I don't want to put up with the hassles of flying. If American thinks that it is going to return to profitability by giving out bistro bags instead of proper meals or charging passengers ridiculous fees it is wrong. In this case, we chose Southwest because we were fed up by American. The revenue loss to American was about $1500 for myself and my friends -- they have to charge a dozen people the stand by fee to make that up. I see a cycle where the airlines introduce new fees, offend passengers, lose even more money, charge even more fees, lose even more passengers… of course the American taxpayer will always be around to bail everyone out.

Edited as I break in my new voice recognition software.

[This message has been edited by CharlesMD (edited 10-01-2002).]</font>

Nice trip report. Thanks for sharing. I would also liked to have read about your week's vacation inbetween the flights.