737 @ 737 Flight Report

Monday, May 02, 2011 Unknown

Woke up Saturday morning feeling some excitement.


My flight from Portland, Oregon to Spokane, Washington was essentially a fairly routine one. While I have never flown that sector before, I have been to both airports and both cities a few times now.


Yet Southwest Airlines flight 3218 was no ordinary flight for me. It was the 737th flight in my life. Yup, I have left the ground 737 times -and returned 737 times. I have fastened my seatbelt 737 times. 


Thanks to Southwest airlines being an airline who (currently) only fly Boeing 737s, my 737th flight would be on a Boeing 737. For a plane geek, thats the ultimate in geekiness!


I checked in online and was assigned position B5. Southwest do not assign seats. Instead you get allocated a position in the boarding line based on essentially the time you check in. You then  board in 3 groups of 60: Group A, Group B and Group C. My position meant I would board as the fifth person in the second group. Once on board, you are then free to choose your own seat. The earlier you board, the better your chances of bagging a good seat. In my case, there would be at least 65 people ahead of me.


N744 SW at Spokane airport
Our plane was N744SW. This 737-700 first flew for Southwest on 26th March, 1999 and has  137 economy seats. I was surprised to easily get 11D, an aisle seat in the emergency exit row. While it does not have much more leg room, the seats in row 10 do not recline and there are only 2 people in the row.


Friendly welcome from the on board Southwest team (as always). Contrast that to the usual grumpiness at United, the surliness of American and the cool aloofness at Virgin America). 


While it was a full flight, the luggage compartments did not end up being full. Southwest do not charge for checked in luggage which makes boarding  less stressful compared to United, for example where people try to carry on board small mountains of luggage and fight over every inch of luggage space.


We took off right on time and landed right on time. It was  a very smooth flight with some light turbulence as we descended into Spokane airport. 

Thanks crew
I shared with the crew 3/4 through the flight about how my "hobby" of recording my flights started. Just before his death,  my friend Tony Chapman set up a Flight memory account into which he painstakingly entered 100s of my flights from my junior jet club book and frequent flyer statements).


As soon as I told the crew that it was my 737th flight, they understood the significance and connection with this aircraft. 


On the ground, I was invited into the cockpit, met the captain and recorded these happy snaps.
Captain= good sport






Co Pilot
Thanks Southwest for a memorable 737th flight - six stars today! Below is a table summarising of all of my flights- 3.2 months inside planes with 76 airlines to five continents- one million miles of flying (and because I offset my carbon emissions many, many trees). More at my Flightmemory. Of all my flights, 193 (just over a quarter)have been in 737s.




Map of all my Southwest airlines flights (below)

Table of my 27 Southwest flights (below)



 
Labels: , , | edit post
13 Responses
  1. Unknown Says:
    August 21, 2011 at 1:59 PM

    Check out my 747th flight which was on a Qantas 747 http://mjtravlife.blogspot.com/2011/05/i-did-it-my-747th-flight-in-747.html

    and 757th was with United Airlines: http://mjtravlife.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-757th-flight-on-united-757-uber-fail.html


  2. crystal.travel6 Says:
    February 17, 2012 at 10:30 PM
    This comment has been removed by the author.

  3. iffatali Says:
    August 22, 2012 at 9:39 PM

    You got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.
    Flights to Windhoek
    Cheap Flights to Windhoek
    Cheap Air Tickets to Windhoek


  4. Anonymous Says:
    September 12, 2012 at 7:34 PM

    I wish you could make century of leaving ground but the thing is how many times you get cheap flights and which destination is giving less expense on flights.


  5. Anonymous Says:
    May 10, 2013 at 3:37 PM

    Fine way of describing, and fastidious piece of writing to
    take facts on the topic of my presentation subject, which i
    am going to present in university.

    My page home business ideas


  6. Anonymous Says:
    May 10, 2013 at 9:40 PM

    There is definately a lot to know about this subject. I like all of the points you have made.



    Feel free to surf to my site ... akribos Watches


  7. Anonymous Says:
    May 11, 2013 at 3:25 PM

    Hello Dear, are you genuinely visiting this web site on a regular basis, if so
    after that you will absolutely get fastidious know-how.

    My page: seo tips


  8. Anonymous Says:
    May 12, 2013 at 12:03 AM

    Hey! Do you know if they make any plugins to protect against hackers?
    I'm kinda paranoid about losing everything I've worked
    hard on. Any recommendations?

    Feel free to visit my web site - blackdolyak.com


  9. Anonymous Says:
    May 13, 2013 at 12:18 PM

    Hello to every , since I am truly eager of reading this website's post to be updated on a regular basis. It contains pleasant information.

    Feel free to visit my site http://yongyuandepengyou.com/index.php?do=/blog/30090/keeping-time-the-swiss-way-with-a-swiss-army-watch/


  10. Anonymous Says:
    May 14, 2013 at 6:19 AM

    Hi there are using Wordpress for your blog platform?
    I'm new to the blog world but I'm trying to get started and set up my own.
    Do you require any html coding knowledge to make your own blog?
    Any help would be greatly appreciated!

    Also visit my webpage relic watches for women


  11. Anonymous Says:
    May 15, 2013 at 4:55 AM

    First of all I want to say excellent blog! I had a quick
    question in which I'd like to ask if you do not mind. I was curious to find out how you center yourself and clear your mind before writing. I've had difficulty clearing my thoughts in getting my thoughts out there.
    I do enjoy writing however it just seems like the first
    10 to 15 minutes are generally lost just trying to figure out how to begin.
    Any recommendations or tips? Many thanks!


    my web site :: livecameraman.com


  12. Anonymous Says:
    May 16, 2013 at 10:13 AM

    I do trust all of the concepts you've offered for your post. They're really convincing and
    can certainly work. Still, the posts are too short for beginners.
    Could you please lengthen them a little from subsequent
    time? Thank you for the post.

    Feel free to surf to my web-site ... women's vestal watches


  13. Anonymous Says:
    May 17, 2013 at 5:54 AM

    Hi there all, here every one is sharing these kinds of familiarity, thus it's nice to read this webpage, and I used to pay a quick visit this webpage everyday.

    Feel free to visit my page; women's victorinox watches


Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)