Sunday, December 03, 2006

Adventures in Airline Travel

Another cruise note...

We flew to Florida on Southwest Airlines, an interesting experience to say the least. It had been several years since my last dealings with them, mostly because I was overcome by the cornball humor of the flight attendants and was disgusted after sitting for 90 minutes face-to-face with a dude who ate a giant Zero's sub with onions on it (this was back in the day when SWA had facing rows; thankfully, that's over and done with).

The flight was pretty uneventful, save for the pilots' having to return the plane to the gate in Orlando after a gauge failed. Amen, brothers. Equipment not workin' for ya? Let's get it fixed. Nothin' but the best for you...as long as I'm ridin' wit' ya.

One intriguing thing happened. My wife and I, being tall sorts, were successful in landing ourselves in the exit row on both flights. I've been in this row on just about every airline and every type of plane and SWA and their 737's offer the most preternaturally wide exit rows I've ever seen. Probably two people could stand side-by-side facing out the window. I'm not kidding. There's so much space that you have to lean forward to use your tray table. Not a complaint, just an observation.

Here's the catch -- when we sat down and the flight attendant came around to make sure we understood our obligations, she added in that by sitting there were agreeing to help evacuate the plane. That means, we gathered, that, though we were sitting right by the door, we were to help everyone else get out before leaving ourselves. I haven't found any background on this, but it's hard to imagine such a thing could be enforced. My wife made the comment that it was probably a CYA thing for Southwest in case someone stays behind and the plane explodes and the survivors sue. I have to admit, if a plane I'm flying in crash-lands and I'm sitting by the door, there's going to be a contrail behind me as I run screaming out the door after opening it for my fellow travelers (and my wife, of course). Sorry, dude sitting next to me with your fat rolls taking up the armrest. You're a swell guy, but.........

Posted by Unclejbird @ 8:46 PM