The Trip of a lifetime with the SWA Crew.


Oct 30th.
This morning I drove up to STL, to meet up with Matt (mjlhou) at the Hotel. We got in my car and went to denny’s cause he was hungry haha. So we chatted there and then went back to the hotel to chill until it was time to go to STL. We left a bit earlier to give us a chance to walk around and chat some more. So we got on the shuttle, argued about jetblue, airbus and all the petty stuff haha. The shuttle took us to the East Terminal and we got off and got in. Got myself checked in and we went to gate E-4 for our STL-LAX Flight 732 segment.

Picture of the Halloween decorations at the check in desk at Lambert.



STL-LAX
FLIGHT 732
N460WN

The plane arrived from FLL extremely early, giving us almost an hour on the ground to board and all that before we had to take off. The other two flight attendants on our flight who flew in with Matt arrived and I met them as well. We all chatted about the STL-LAX flight, with the light load and all. I tried to get some pics of the plane at the gate but it came out horrible so I tried to do some more while Matt talked to his wife. Still got nothing good all blurry but here they are.



Oh , remember how everyone on airliners.net claims the passengers on board SWA all line up 2 hrs before, hogging the line jumping over each other like cowboys? Hmmh, I didn’t see it in this picture. This picture is taken about 45 minutes before the flight is scheduled to LEAVE and NO ONE is in line here. So much for THAT!



It was time to board, and I boarded and took a pic of the seat room.



I decided to sit in the bulk head seat since Matt would be working up front, it would give us more time to chat and go over some Flight Attendent information I needed to figure out. Pic of the winglet here.



Once we finished boarding, Matt got on the PA and did his lovely F/A stuff, along with the other crew. I just sat and paid attention to be polite and try not to make fun of him either :-P. We backed out, and taxied to Runway 12L. We did a rolling take off. There is a huge difference from sitting up front to in the back! More vibrant and you seem to notice more things too! We turned right near the airport, and then headed west for LAX. Then the F/A got up and did their deliveries. Drinks, Snack Pack, the works. This was going to be my longest Flight on any airline period. I sat back and relaxed, matt would swing by my row and chat a couple times, updating me with stuff.

I spoke with the woman sitting next to me, she knew her stuff about flying!! We talked about TWA, and Eastern, all the old airlines. She was a great passenger.

There really wasn’t much else to do on the flight, I’d talk to the other F/A on occasion, and matt when he stopped by. Flight was excellent and great service was done by Matt and the others.

Matt in the gallery




View in flight.

Then it was time to start landing so the crew did their clean up and all. We descended into the smog of LAX. Landed on 24L, then passed the intl planes God they were amazing. Everyone got off and I stayed with Matt and talked to the pilot and got some pics.

















LAX-LAS

This flight was the shortest of them all. Everyone boarded, a low load as well. I stayed in the bulkseat. This flight only took 38 minutes.

Same thing as usual, F/A did they safety stuff, then we took off on 24L and headed for LAS. I really enjoyed the approach into LAS. This was the first time I went into LAS. We landed and people got off, I then ran off to grab some food for matt and myself since we were both starving!!

We got a new bunch of people on board for LAS-MSY, and there were a ton more people. A couple who got married was on board too.

We backed up and headed for the runway. We took off and turned for MSY. This was a nice take off, since I could see the famous buildings such as MGM and Mandalay Bay and the others. I think I saw Elvis somewhere  

F/A got up to do their usual stuff again! Hand our drinks and snacks, though most seemed to be sleeping since it was such a late flight.

Matt came by and we chatted some more about regular stuff about the flights. Soon in no time it was time to descend for MSY. The F/A walked around and cleaned up the cabin, and I kind of looked over to see where we were it was dark so not much could be seen. We came in for landing, and taxied to the gate. God I LOVE Boeing 737-700’s!!!

The Crew waited till everyone got off the plane, then we got off the plane and walked to find the shuttle. Got in the shuttle, and went to the hotel.

Hanging out with the crew at the hotel was awesome, and a lot of fun. It also showed me how and what I would need to hear and do off the plane as well! So we all kicked off our shoes, and changed into our regular clothes and chatted about stories flying. Had a great time, and we were up quite late! But we finally headed to bed and woke up the next day to get ready for MSY-MDW.

MSY-MDW
Matt and I got downstairs to wait for the rest of the crew to get on the shuttle to the airport. We had a republican crew also going with us. Went to the airport and got off at the terminal.

Walked in and had to check myself in again. Once that was done we went through security, and then matt had to grab lunch. So I took the time to walk around and familiarize myself with the airport. I took a pic of the tug here.




Soon there was an announcement that Matt informed me stating we had an equipment change, and our -700 was switched to a -300, then SWA took that -300 to operate a MSY-DAL flight! So we were without a plane now and delayed. This was going to make me a bit nervous as I had a tight connection in MDW. So we just hung out and around , waiting for the plane, it finally arrived at 2:15 or so. They quickly got everyone off the plane and on board, we had another low load on this flight not bad at all.

Once on board, again same thing as the other flights. Announcement and Briefings were said on board. I wasn’t happy about the switch to the -300 and the other F/A were not either.

We backed out and taxied to the runway, did a rolling take off, and we flew over the coast which was really neat to see. Matt made some more announcements and then settled in for the flight. We were rushing to get to MDW as quick as we could to make up for the delay. F/A served their thing, and we walked to the back and talked with other FAs...or even at times amongst ourselves.

I also spoke to the other two F/A and thanked them tremendously for taking the time to allow me to stay with them and hang with them and all. Really appreciated it.

Pretty soon it was time to start the approach for MDW, and as we were getting ready to land we found out there would be another equip change at MDW this time back to a -700. UGH, Great matt gets a -700 for the rest of his trip I get another Danged -300! As soon as we stopped at the gate, joy, opened the door so matt and I could get off so I could run to the gate to catch it. I said bye to Matt and ran to the Gate (B-7) to try to get the flight, they had pretty much finished boarding. I hurried up to check in, get my boarding pass, and then ran on board. Oh good low load so I went to the back and sat there. I looked out and saw the -700 matt was switching to, it was next to us and I saw him out of the jetbridge haha.

The pilot who was in front of me recognized me from our STL-LAX leg and asked what I was doing. I explained him the story and he said wow.

Plane backed out after taxing, and we taxied to the runway. On the way there I saw N270WN, the delivered plane from Ford. Pretty cool!! Threw me off without the winglets.

Pic of Matt standing by the jetbridge at the gate next to me.



We took off after a few WN planes landed, then turned left and headed for STL. Flight was simple and easy and in no time we landed on 30R at STL. Taxied to the gate. I got off the plane and took the shuttle back to the hotel where my car was parked!

I want to extend a special thank you to Matt for allowing me to do this with him and the other two crew members for allowing me as well. I had an amazing time, got to see what it was like in the life of a Southwest Airlines crewmember, from flying, traveling, at the hotel and all. I truly appreciated it and they went above and beyond to make sure I was doing great. Its people like matt why SWA is so successful and I truly see they really do enjoy their job and will go out of their way to help people like me to see what it is like and advise me to get a job there which I certainly hope I can. It was a great time by all and myself and I look forward to my next flight on SWA!

Alex