Things in the Sky

This weekend, I was very lucky to be able to attend some of the events for Southwest’s launch of its Boston service. The big press event is actually this morning, but there was plenty of exciting stuff over the weekend!

My brief trip started on Saturday morning with a drive down to the Providence train station. Driving into Boston can be pretty annoying, so I enjoy taking the commuter rail, which is less than $16 roundtrip. When one considers the cost of gas and parking, it’s a good deal. I was also excited about the ride because the trains now feature Wi-Fi, and I was pleased with the service. It can be spotty, and the connection isn’t all that fast, but it’s fine for catching up on e-mail.

After arriving at South Station, I had lunch with a friend from Southwest who was helping out over the weekend. I originally met him at the AAAE Conference in PHL this past June, but we didn’t get to talk much, so that was great.

Then I hopped on the subway (or, rather, the T) to check in to my hotel. After getting settled, I met up with Tom from The Airline Blog and we took the T to the airport together. We then got our gate passes at the ticket counter, and then headed to the gate. Southwest is using a couple of the old Northwest gates, and while I don’t have a picture from one of my flights there, Southwest really improved the look:

I was told that the column wraps are a new addition that will be tested out in Boston first, as well as the decoration for the gate door:

The ferry flight soon arrived and the employees onboard deplaned very enthusiastically. I could describe it but I’ll let the video speak for itself!

After that I was able to meet a bunch of people, which was fantastic. For example, I finally met curbcrusher from FlyerTalk (who was on the ferry), and Paula, Christi, and Caleb from the Emerging Media team. I always love meeting people that you’ve only been talking to online! We all headed to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

Later that evening we were off to the House of Blues for dinner, which was also very enjoyable as a met even more people. Ginger Hardage, Southwest’s Senior VP of Culture and Communications was there, and BNA-WNFan from FlyerTalk flew into Providence from Nashville and drove up to see us. A bit later on was the official Southwest Summer Social, also at the House of Blues. Ah, nothing like karaoke! Then I headed back to the hotel.

I awoke a bit after 6 on Sunday morning, got ready for the day, and gave curbcrusher a wake-up call. Then we both met up with Tom again to head to Logan to catch the first flight out.

The check-in area was decked out in Southwest style, and the big attraction was the large bag, which Southwest had been using for promotions in Boston during the week. Of course, there were Southwest employees who donned Spirit Jr. (aka TJ Love):

The three of us got our gate passes, and got to the gate just as the first flight to Midway was boarding.

First flight pushing back.

Southwest was also very kind and was giving out free breakfast. Passengers were also receiving free thank-you gifts like luggage tags and keychains. Nice!

Meanwhile, both curbscrusher and I were excited as we were both allowed to don Spirt. Jr.!

After that, Tom and I waited for the first arrival, which came from Baltimore:

Then we decided to grab some lunch, and waited for the first international arrival (Icelandair) to get a quick picture.

At the same time, many Southwest employees were off to the Curtis Guild School to perform some repairs and paint a mural. It really is great of Southwest to make a charity event part of the weekend’s events.

So, many thanks to Southwest for letting me take part in the festivities, which were just a blast. It was simply amazing to see that the enthusiasm that the company’s employees have for the company.

I’ve said many times before how nice they’ve been to bloggers, and this is just yet another example. Thanks guys!