airline antics

april 14, 1 pm

i'm not going to fly united or american anymore. there are so many other airlines out there, and they are great. i guess when you're the smaller guy you have to find something different. first, continental is great because they serve you food. i remember the first time i rode continental, and they offered me breakfast - cereal, milk and a banana, and i was so surprised that i couldn't speak, because i was thinking of how best to ask "how much does it cost" without sounding pretentious or ignorant. the next time i flew continental, i knew i'd get food, and it was bad because i was taking the plane to texas for collegiate nationals, and i was barely on weight. but then i figured, hey, i have that night and the next morning in case i wanted to run off the weight, and i'd been under for the past week anyways. then the cheeseburger came. first i said, "i'll eat the salad and save the cheeseburger. the warm, soft, gooey cheeseburger. then i ate the cheeseburger.

now southwest airlines is something else. rick had given me some inkling of what they're like - no assigned seats, funny pilots. the free seating was cool but no big deal, because it doesnt really matter where i'm sitting and i didnt really mind sitting in the middle somewhere because i was travelling alone. but then the flight attendant was funny and basically a sassy hispanic guy who said things like "please pretend to give us your attention for a second", "for those who haven't been in a car, these are called seatbelts", and "if you're flying with multiple children and the oxygen bags come down, choose the one with the most potential." i wonder if they write their own material, and if it's company policy: "low prices, no assigned seating, and comic relief."

i've decided that when i stop doing taekwondo i'm still going to travel about once a month...what it would be like to just take a vacation.

update: things i learned reading spirit magazine, southwest's in flight magazine:

1. you can choose not to withold money on your paycheck so that you can get the tax money now and pay later.

2. southwest will honor your tickets if you don't use them for up to a year. that means i could have skipped portland to avoid the $50 late reg fee.