Honey Roasted Peanuts and more Good news with WN!
WN STL-CLE
N465WN
Feb 3rd.
I drove to STL, parked the car in the garage and then walked inside. I checked in with the agent, and she said the loads were excellent and to just check in at the gate again after I went through security. I was the only one that went through and walked all the way down to the gate at E-4, checked in and he printed out my boarding pass. He noted the new pass had an SSSS on it, so he said according to this you need to go back through security again. I took the pass and said ok and walked all the way back and got myself re screened, including bags being searched and all. Then went all the way back to the gate and confirmed with him I was re screened.
I sat down and listened to my music and talked to people on my cell and just chilled. Soon the -700 from HOU arrived and everyone got off the plane. Matt got off too and met me in the area. We said hey and chatted briefly before he had to get back on board to help the plane out.
I got on with the A line and got to the back and just sat down. Loads were around 30 folks. Matt introduced me to the other crew members and i said hello. There was a full moon out, and i had a feeling it was gonna be the start of MANY events for the coming trip. Boy little did I know...
As usual with every SWA flight, announcements were done and belts were buckled and off to windy and cfreezing CLE we were.
We took off for CLE, and had a beautiful view of the full moon while taking off. F/A did their service. Once the crew settled down, it was almost time to land soon. Crew cleaned up the plane and all and in no time we were turning over the Lake to land into CLE.
We landed, everyone got off the plane. Matt introduced me to the pilots we flew with as we found our way to the shuttle to take us to the hotel. As soon as we walked outside, BAM its like someone threw ice cold snow on me, maybe Matt did?! Nah, though I am sure he was tempted to. It was just absolute bone chilling cold outside. BRRRR.
We got in the hotel van and had to wait for the rest of the F/A as they had to help a passenger with something first. Finally they showed up, and off we were to the hotel.
Got to the hotel, got our bags and we went up to our rooms. Matt was very anxious to hear more about my interview with WN so once we got ourselves dinner i told him about how it went. Then we just caught up and made plans for the next day, CLE-LAS-RNO-SJC-ONT which unfortunatly did NOT happen.
Feb 4th
N485WN
CLE-LAS-RNO-SJC-ONT Re Scheduled now to be CLE-LAS-RNO-SJC, then SJC-SNA, then SNA-SMF.
We woke up, packed our stuff and headed back to the hotel. We were making jokes about how my hearing aids could be like radios in flight and all. Just random chit chat.Got to CLE, and i went through security and met the crew at the gate. We waited around, checking the weather and just visited around until the plane came up. Once the plane arrived the crew went ahead to the gate and i sat back and waited till it was time to board.
I boarded and sat down, another light load as well for this flight. I soon came to find out later N485 was a plane used by the Southwest Kids Event thing. Pretty neat to see.
Matt and I had been talking about the honey roasted peanuts that were SUPPOSED to be on board, but wasn't on the STL-CLE flight or the CLE-LAS. Dang it, we both really wanted those peanuts. After everyone boarded, we settled in for the long 4 hour flight. Crew did their announcements, briefings and all. We had a nice take off with the Lake to our right side. We reached cruising altitude, and service was commenced. Snack boxes and drinks were done and finished. So through otu the flight I would hang with the crew in the back, and just mingle and chat while the F/A would answer any calls if any were needed. The flight flew by rather quickly. Finally we were set to land at LAS.
LAS landing was normal as usual, this was now my 3rd time back to LAS. Since we got into LAS very early, we had nearly an hour ground time and no passengers were on bord so this time matt was able to get off and get dinner with me. So we went and grabbed some dinner and got back to the plane quickly.
We had a pilot switch, and a Woman is my captain this time. She was VERY nice, and for me its been rare to get a Woman as a captain and I always enjoy them and she was certainly no different and truly carried the SWA spirit as well.
LAS-RNO
Paxs were then boarded for RNO out of LAS. Quite a full flight. Same thing as usual, and no damn honey roasted peanuts! Announcements, briefing done and announced and off we were to RNO.
We took off and headed up to RNO. Drinks were quickly served. Just another one of the many short haul flights WN is known for and this route was certainly not any different. Soon came time to land in RNO and we landed.
RNO-SJC
I was in the back of the plane talking to Matt and i suddenly realized the entire crew was gone. I looked at Matt and said where did the crew go? He said I dont know , we walked into the jetbridge and i noticed one of the F/A was on the phone. I thought oh god this cannot be good. We asked what was going on, and she said we were being re routed. SWA was taking our aircraft and crew and re routing us to fly RNO-SJC, SJC-SNA, then SNA-SMF.
I looked at Matt in sudden panic and he had the same thought I did, IM GONNA BE LEFT BEHIND! I ran off the plane and went to the agent, and I explained my situation to her. She wondered why I was choosing to switch my plan but I explained i was traveling with the crew and I needed to change my itinerary. She said ok and i got the new flight numbers from Matt and gave the agent those flight numbers, after taking awhile she finally was able to get the new itinerary up and printed out the passes for me and i ran back into the plane and let matt know it was ok.
After that ordeal was figured out, i was able to relax. Once again no damn honey roasted peanuts!
Now Our new overnight was gonna be in SMF, thats just wonderful, this meant I had to find a way to fly SMF-ONT to catch my original flight home to STL the next day. Unfortunatly, that wasn't my only problem that night.
We then flew on to SJC, usual short service to be expected on WN.
Landed into SJC just fine. I got off and re checked in and was confirmed for SJC-SNA. I was kind of excited to finally fly into SNA.
SJC-SNA
This was now my 2nd California shuffle flight, the other being LAX-SMF. Little did I also know i would have a few more Cali shuffles on this trip...
Again NO HONEY ROASTED PEANUTS, BOO!!
We landed into SNA, again same old usual WN service.
I was about to get off the plane in SNA to re check in for the SNA-SMF flight when I was told to wait. I sat down and waited, and she said I think we are being cancelled. OK WHAT?! I did NOT just go through what I did in RNO....but i did . WN Dispatch and Crew were on the phone with each other trying to figure out what to do and whether to cancel or not. As of the phone call with dispatch we had to be on the runway to take off in 3 minutes, it was not going to happen. We would be cancelled. Our new overnight would now be SNA.
I spoke to the supervisor in charge and told her not to worry about making arrangements for me or anything in regards to flights or hotel accomodations as I explained i was with the crew.
She seemed relieved it was one less passenger she had to deal with haha.
We then had to wait to find out where we would be staying, and our new flights for tomorrow if any. We had to figure a way to get to ONT from SNA .
We got to the hotel. Found some food. We then found out The crew had to DH (Deadhead) SNA-SJC, SJC-ONT to get to ONT to start their original flight. So guess where I was headed to...yep same thing. This will be lovely. now id be flying 4 TIMES a day for the SECOND day in a row.
Feb5th
SNA-SJC
N424
I was very excited to fly out of SNA now. I heard all about the take off procedure from everyone else and we would be getting ready to do it myself Finally! I walked ot the kiosk, printed out my passes to go through security. I checked in at the gate, and matt and i just hung out. This will be the first time he and i would fly together as regular passengers for now.
He boarded first then i followed. I sat down, and out of nowhere matt throws some peanuts at me. I thought WTF why is he throwing nuts at me? I looked at the bag and realized HONEY ROASTED PEANUTS WERE ON BOARD! FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So matt threw me an entire bag and he and i split about oh say 10 bags of peanuts between us maybe? We were very excited for these peanuts.
Soon after doing a bunch of paperwork according to the pilots..We backed out, and i was ready to try out this SNA take off.
We taxied to the runway, Flaps were set, and the engine roared to life. Brakes were held and we held for a bit, Then suddenly BOOM i was pushed back into my seat and I could barely move my head on my shoulders. Within maybe what 9 or 10 seconds we leaped into the air. Cruised to 1,000 feet. Then suddenly the engines idled and i was almost pushed forward.
God this was WICKED!!!!! I was smiling from ear to ear! We cruised out to the ocean for about 5 min or so then he powered the engines up again. We were then on our way BACK to SJC....
We landed in SJC and Matt told me to check my phone. So I did. I got a message stating I needed to call Southwest Airlines ASAP at a certain number....
OH. MY. GOD. I ran off the plane and told Matt the message I got he said what are u waiting around for call them! LMAO. So I got the phone number from the message I was given. I called and spoke to someone from Southwest. I was selected to go to a drug test sometimes this week or next week!! WAHOO!!!!!!!!!!! I spoke to her and she said she had to call back to let me know where to go sometimes soon. So while I am not officially hired, all I need to do is pass the drug test and I should be offered a position with SWA. HOT DAMN! So naturally Matt and I were very ecstatic, and all of a sudden this trip just turned into an AMAZING trip. I won't lie, i was very excited, and was all over the jetbridge and plane. It was awesome to actually be with Matt who helped get me started with this with SWA when I got the news from SWA themselves. Could not imagine a better time to get the news with my friends, while flying on SWA!! Perfect combination!!
So i had to re check in for the SJC-ONT section. Once checked in matt of course got into talking about future trips i could take as a WN employee.
We boarded the SJC-ONT leg, which was on N436WN.
Same stuff as usual, and we then took off for ONT.
I was seriously all smiles on the flight. I won't lie and Matt definetly noticed it with me haha. We were very excited no doubt.
Pretty soon it was time to land in ONT, and matt noticed a HUGE plane sitting on the ground at ONT. We wondered what it was. As soon as we landed we realized it was the Russian Antonov plane!
We landed past it and taxied to the gate. The crew got off, i said bye to matt and the others and re checked in for my original flight to PHX, which was the same plane.
I got back on board and as usual same stuff.
We taxied out and took off for PHX. Short flight as usual to PHX.
PHX landing was ok. I was back in PHX, and hadn't been since July of 2005.
I had an hour connect or so in PHX.
They announced boarding for PHX-STL. By now I was ABSOLUTELY tired. Boarded and I found out I ws on N243WN!! Brand new plane!!
I sat down, and we took off later. After drink and food i was out and slept almost the whole way home to STL.
We landed into more snow into STL, got to the gate. I got off, got in the car and went home!
Alex
