Hi all,
As promised, I was about to give an inaugural report on the latest Midwest flight from Kansas City to Seattle on April 1, 2007. I indeed got into Seattle on Sunday for the inaugural party, but nothing was happening. The check-in counters are next to AA at the main terminal, and the gate that YX will use is A9 (changed from original A6). American Airlines will be in charge of Midwest’s ground operation. Anyway, I was disappointed, but nothing I could control and returned to Washington National later that night, and returned the following morning, so I could be back in LA in late afternoon on April 2. (Why did I buy RT SEA-DCA, not SEA-MCI? It was because of the fare differences. When I first looked into flying the inaugural, lots of fares for various markets are not loaded. I looked at going to MCI, EWR, and DCA, and the DCA was actually the cheapest at $299 including tax and fee. So it was a no-brainer and I went with DCA, despite longer flying time and less sleep.)
Well when I boarded my return flight, everything was fairly normal, except National was a hell hole and lots of NWA folks were missing their flight. But people… really it was the Spring break week, and lots of families were traveling, and if you were checking bags and a non-elite flyer, an hour was not sufficient. Two hours were minimal with bags, and one hour would only work if you had no bags, used a kiosk, and headed straight to security line. Lots of folks were begging for folks to let them in. I felt bad that TSA was under-staffed or not efficient enough or the airport authority was not installing enough security stations, but we, as passengers, also need to be reasonable. Folks don’t really need to let you go through! Enough whining…
As I got to MCI and headed to gate 30, N926ME was already there from the evening before. Then I saw a couple staff setting up Danish and cookie and coffee station and then I overheard them saying that, since yesterday was a Sunday and nobody was around, they chose to delay the celebration till today. So coincidentally, I managed to still attend the inaugural party somewhat. The flight itself was great and the two F/As were excellent (sorry I did not get their names), but the fact that they bothered with a third beverage service an hour prior to arrival showed how they were there to make us happy and they were great. The flight time was a full three hours and thirty four minutes, but we made it at SEA only five minutes behind schedule. Water salute welcomed us and we parked at gate A9, and welcomed by lots of cheers and speeches were made by various Boeing, Port of Seattle, and Midwest staff. Cha, the lead AA agent for YX at SEA, was passing out stickers with YX Boeing 717 over Seattle to us. Then the Boeing person told us that Midwest was the only airline with scheduled Boeing 717 carrier at Seattle and Boeing was really proud to have us here. Port of Seattle has bag tags lying at the table, and a light refreshment station was set up with cakes, fruit plates, and cheese plates, as well as Tully’s coffee station. Passengers were happy.
So I guess I am lucky to be part of the celebration after all.
BTW, the load was completely full (with one overbook passenger) on the “real” inaugural flight, my return flight was about 70% full (much better than San Diego case), and the flight going out was full too on the second day. I guess SEA is doing well for YX. Considered the competition is Southwest, and if YX matches WN flight, it is a no-brainer to go with YX.
So here is the updated album...
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...=8QbNHDNy5btyo
Enjoy…
Thanks,
Carfield