767747 From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 1750 posts, RR: 26 Posted (4 months 3 weeks 14 hours ago) and read 3177 times:
Greetings!
My wife and I spent our first Christmas as newlyweds in Chicago with her family, and being that plane tickets were so expensive between the Twin Cities and the Windy City, we decided to fly through Milwaukee instead and rent a car. The drive to my wife's family is only about 1 hour 15 minutes, and it is a straight shot south to Illinois on I-94. After a memorable few days, we left for the Milwaukee Airport around 10:30am on Dec 26, and arrived at the rental car return area just before 12:00pm.
Southwest is an airline I haven't flown in a long time, but I was really impressed with them. Here's a few things that in my mind make Southwest a great airline to travel with.
*Open Seating - We spent $10 extra for the "Early Bird Check-In" and were excited that we flew in the "A" group on both flights.
*Free drinks and peanuts/pretzels on all flights. (The flight attendant even did two drink runs on the MSP-MKE flight which was only a 45 minute flight ...)
*NO BAG FEES! - This is a huge plus, and something that was very nice especially as we had brought 3 suitcases to help bring back presents, etc.
*Really simple frequent flier program that seems to more user friendly than other airliners that we hold miles with.
Milwaukee is an easy airport to travel from, and within a short time we had made our way through security and into the C concourse. Boarding began just after 1:15pm for a 1:50pm departure, and everything went smoothly. The 737-700 we flew on felt brand new, and we sat in 6E/F. The flight attendants were all really friendly, and had such a great attitude. It made us feel very welcome on board, and made for a pleasant and easy flight.
We landed on-time and were able to get our bags by the time we had arrived at the claim downstairs.
Below are some photos I thought I'd share with you from the 40 minute flight back. It was a quick one for sure!
Leaving a cloudy Milwaukee ...
Over Wisconsin
Approaching the border of WI/MN
On final approach for 30 - L
View of St. Paul ... (Sorry for the blurriness, I took all these photos with my phone this time ...)
PlaneHunter From Germany, joined Mar 2006, 6183 posts, RR: 79 Reply 1, posted (4 months 3 weeks 5 hours ago) and read 2738 times:
Hi Matthew,
nice short report! WN is a great carrier which shows that low cost doesn't mean low quality.
Quoting 767747 (Thread starter): *Open Seating - We spent $10 extra for the "Early Bird Check-In" and were excited that we flew in the "A" group on both flights.
*Free drinks and peanuts/pretzels on all flights. (The flight attendant even did two drink runs on the MSP-MKE flight which was only a 45 minute flight ...)
*NO BAG FEES! - This is a huge plus, and something that was very nice especially as we had brought 3 suitcases to help bring back presents, etc.
*Really simple frequent flier program that seems to more user friendly than other airliners that we hold miles with.
mke717spotter From United States of America, joined Dec 2005, 2309 posts, RR: 5 Reply 2, posted (4 months 2 weeks 4 days 13 hours ago) and read 2030 times:
Thanks for the trip report. How was the load on your flight? Before the route switched over to WN, FL used to get fairly good loads but that was mostly due to connecting traffic.
Will you watch the Cleveland Browns and the Detroit Lions on Sunday? Only if coach Eric Mangini resigned after a loss.
767747 From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 1750 posts, RR: 26 Reply 3, posted (4 months 2 weeks 4 days 11 hours ago) and read 1947 times:
Thanks for the comments!
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 1): nice short report! WN is a great carrier which shows that low cost doesn't mean low quality.
Thanks, PH! Yes, I definitely look forward to flying with them again.
Quoting mke717spotter (Reply 2): Thanks for the trip report. How was the load on your flight? Before the route switched over to WN, FL used to get fairly good loads but that was mostly due to connecting traffic.
I'm glad you liked it! The flight from MSP-MKE was 100% at capacity, on the way back I'd say 60%. There were definitely a lot of connecting passengers on the outbound for sure!
767747 From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 1750 posts, RR: 26 Reply 5, posted (4 months 1 week 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 1526 times:
Thanks for the comment!
Quoting LO231 (Reply 4): Great! At least someone appreciates them. We get Airline US program on Belgian TV and I must say those pople at WN bases are brave. Kuddos!!!
I've seen that show as well, and enjoyed it. While I think they see their fare share of interesting travelers, I think every airline gets these types of people as well, but they're the only one to really show the world what happens at some airports! I think Southwest's main selling point, (besides their lower fares, free bags, free snacks) is that they offer a fun environment where the staff appears to be very loyal to the airline which is something you don't see too often right now!
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From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 1750 posts, 
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