Southwest, the cattel call airline.

So I had to fly southwest to SMF from SEA. I have always avoided them like the plague, but they flew direct and they had the time that I wanted. Contrary to popular belief its not first come first served anymore, they still do not have assigned seats, but they line up in odd ways, and you have a group (A, B, or C) then you have a number 1-50 or something like that. you then are supposed to line up in order, I am not sure how they get these numbers since I booked the flight hours before.

Once on the plane the seats are leather of some kind, which is nice, there is no extra room, but at least the planes are all 737-700's which makes them a little nicer. one sat down the flight attendants are given liberty with the safety instructions, saying things like "the seat belt, in case you have not been in a car since 1963 operates by taking the metal tab and putting it in the slot until it clicks" and "there is absolutely no smoking on the plane, but if you would like to step out on the observeration deck on the wing you can see our in flight movie "gone with the wind" if you have any questions you can talk to our flight attendant "Wendy." This made the experience much more entertaining, but the cattle call still left a bad taste in my mouth, perhaps just because it was different.

I think i understand why southwest tends to be more on-time than other air-lines, they taxi to the runway at like 90 MPH, also when the pilot said "we will be cruising at 41,000 feet" I didn't think he meant we would make it there in 5 minutes. but over all it was a present flight, and I might even try it again some day. I think I will fly back home through Denver though.