Re: Flight from Phoenix to LAS


"A Guy Called Tyketto" <tyketto@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote...

TMOliver <tmoliverjrFIX@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


The tip off to your level of ignorance was the casual use of "SWA"
instead
of the "WN", the lines two letter code.

Umm.. you do happen to know that "SWA" is the company's ICAO
code, while "WN" is the IATA code, right? Both are used, but the IATA
code is the one mainly used by travelers, while ICAO is used by pilots
and ATC.

Not to cause an argument, but this was very well close to
pot/kettle/black.

Pick of nit noted/accepted...

On the other hand, glancing above, my post and your response were limited to
"rec.travel.air", the ethereal realm of "travelers", and only rarely a forum
for aviators.

My complaint's with the undiscerning duffle***'s misconception of Southwest
as the choice of boorish louts, the Jukes and Kallikaks of the travel world,
cedar choppers, goat ropers and the tacky and trashy as they travel, laden
with truck and tucker bags, across the land, sort of Greyhounds of the air.

While the legendary "Open Seating" lends weight to this image, in reality
the pax on WN look about like those on most domestic airlines, a cut above
the back of the bus on old Aeroflot or the current frenzied mobs of Air
India, louder and more confusing than a riot about to happen.

As for the aircraft, their condition, appointments and general cleanliness,
they are a "cut above" the crowd, not nearly so frightening unkempt as those
of the "legacies" and far above the last bird I boarded bearing the colors
of the merged of bad habits of Air Worst/Useless Air, which looked as if it
had been rode hard and put up wet after evacuating wounded and incontinent
orphans from Dharfur.

WN is what it is, for most of us the most convenient available form of
commercial commuting, the sort of well-adapted system which conveys my
little sister, the aggressive lawyer, off to Houston each Monday PM and back
to near her rural ranch home on Thursday Eve (except when she's in court,
billing at a rate which would embarrass a brain surgeon or even a master
plumber), or my nephew, the software fixer and enhancer, who does not bill
for his travel expenses, but for his "time", from leaving his home or office
until the moment of his return, making hours enroute an expensive vice to be
minimized. His contractual arrangement with WN is obscure, involves some
services to the line, but involves an agreement to fly "X+" miles in
exchange for "Y+" dollars, relegating the matter of tickets and fares to low
priority.

Do they tattered and unwashed fly WN after locating the occasional bargain?
Sure, but they ain't any more tattered and seem better washed than the
frightful denizens who hang about ATL, either living there or coming early
for a flight next week.

Air travel is relative, and most, the vast majority of us who travel, aren't
regular occupants of the First Class cabin as we wing away to romantic
overseas destinations. Our mundane lives have us shuffling off to Buffalo
or en route to Des Moines or occasionally braving the horrors of LHR.

TMO


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