I'm down in South Carolina for another tire conference. Flew down yesterday to Charleston on Southwest. No problems with the flight -- it departed and arrived on time. Here are my observations:
The absolute only advantage that flying has over riding the train is that it's faster. In every other way, even granting that Southwest customer service is pleasant, the flight was stressful and uncomfortable. I might have preferred 10 hours on the Palmetto in coach to the 6 hour experience I had, but the schedule doesn't work for me on the return trip. First thing, I followed the airline's recommendation to arrive 2 hours early. It only took me 35 minutes to get from the Lyft to the gate, but I have missed planes by not arriving 2 hours early, so I take no chances.
The TSA line was a little annoying because they have some sort of new scanner gadget that allows you to run your backpack through without taking out your laptop. Unfortunately, the more sensitive scanner yields more false positives. The operator spent a lot of time looking over my bag, then put it over for secondary inspection, but the secondary inspector seemed to have taken a break. She finally showed up, took my bag, scanned it gain, then opened it and rather cursorily pawed through the stuff, and gave it back to me. All the while, I was standing there in my socks, as my shoes were also in the tray. Which is another point. After almost 20 years of having us take off our shoes, you would think someone would have decided it might be a good idea to install carpeting in the security section where everybody is walking around in socks and bare feet.
You could tell they were a little short staffed, as there was only one gate attendant, and when he had to help a pre-board with a wheelchair, there was nobody around. That wasn't so bad, but Southwest's open seating is a bit of a nuisance, as the first people on board take seats in the front of the plane and bock the aisles while they're settling in, thus blocking boarding by the people behind them. That said, I did manage to snag a seat with a little extra legroom in the exit row. But legroom really isn't a problem, it's the width of the seats that is. This flight was packed 100%, and while I had an aisle seat, someone was also sitting in the center seat. We were packed together shoulder to shoulder the who;e flight. At least is was only an hour and a half flight, I don't know how I tolerated cross-country trips packed in like that. Amfleet 1 or Horizon coach seating is way more comfortable, and Amfleet 2 coach seating is positively luxurious compared to this.
The Charleston airport (CHS) had a few annoyances, too, though I got a nice view of the Boeing factory while landing, with all kinds of widebodies in various exotic (at least for me) foreign airline liveries sitting around, and a few Dreamlifters parked there, too. The main problem was that none of the rental car companies had any cars available, though to be fair, I didn't arrange the trip until the end of last week. This meant I had to take a taxi to an off-site Enterprise location. (Normally, Enterprise will pick you up, but not at the airport, or this airport, at least.) This seems to be a common occurrence, as the dispatcher at the taxi stand said "Enterprise" as soon as I told her the address. Unfortunately, there were no cabs at the stand! I had to wait for about 5-10 minutes, and then shared the cab with a lady who was going to a different Enterprise location. It was just a couple of miles, but it was a fixed fare of $17. The cab driver confirmed that lack of rental car availability at CHS was a common occurrence (it must be a lot of his business), and also the lack of cabs at the airport had more to do with the local regulatory climate than and real lack of drivers in the Charleston area.
It was a 2 1/2 hour drive from there to Hilton Head, made longer by my stopping for lunch in Beaufort (which I learned is pronounced "Buford." I wish I had been able to fly to Savannah ,as it's a shorter drive, but I didn't realize that Southwest flies direct from BWI to Savannah now. I learned while waiting at BWI for my flight, and they announced a flight to Savannah. But what I really wish is that there were more trains on the Atlantic Coast Service so that I could ride down on a train that fit my schedule. and also that they could cut maybe an hour off the travel time.
The absolute only advantage that flying has over riding the train is that it's faster. In every other way, even granting that Southwest customer service is pleasant, the flight was stressful and uncomfortable. I might have preferred 10 hours on the Palmetto in coach to the 6 hour experience I had, but the schedule doesn't work for me on the return trip. First thing, I followed the airline's recommendation to arrive 2 hours early. It only took me 35 minutes to get from the Lyft to the gate, but I have missed planes by not arriving 2 hours early, so I take no chances.
The TSA line was a little annoying because they have some sort of new scanner gadget that allows you to run your backpack through without taking out your laptop. Unfortunately, the more sensitive scanner yields more false positives. The operator spent a lot of time looking over my bag, then put it over for secondary inspection, but the secondary inspector seemed to have taken a break. She finally showed up, took my bag, scanned it gain, then opened it and rather cursorily pawed through the stuff, and gave it back to me. All the while, I was standing there in my socks, as my shoes were also in the tray. Which is another point. After almost 20 years of having us take off our shoes, you would think someone would have decided it might be a good idea to install carpeting in the security section where everybody is walking around in socks and bare feet.
You could tell they were a little short staffed, as there was only one gate attendant, and when he had to help a pre-board with a wheelchair, there was nobody around. That wasn't so bad, but Southwest's open seating is a bit of a nuisance, as the first people on board take seats in the front of the plane and bock the aisles while they're settling in, thus blocking boarding by the people behind them. That said, I did manage to snag a seat with a little extra legroom in the exit row. But legroom really isn't a problem, it's the width of the seats that is. This flight was packed 100%, and while I had an aisle seat, someone was also sitting in the center seat. We were packed together shoulder to shoulder the who;e flight. At least is was only an hour and a half flight, I don't know how I tolerated cross-country trips packed in like that. Amfleet 1 or Horizon coach seating is way more comfortable, and Amfleet 2 coach seating is positively luxurious compared to this.
The Charleston airport (CHS) had a few annoyances, too, though I got a nice view of the Boeing factory while landing, with all kinds of widebodies in various exotic (at least for me) foreign airline liveries sitting around, and a few Dreamlifters parked there, too. The main problem was that none of the rental car companies had any cars available, though to be fair, I didn't arrange the trip until the end of last week. This meant I had to take a taxi to an off-site Enterprise location. (Normally, Enterprise will pick you up, but not at the airport, or this airport, at least.) This seems to be a common occurrence, as the dispatcher at the taxi stand said "Enterprise" as soon as I told her the address. Unfortunately, there were no cabs at the stand! I had to wait for about 5-10 minutes, and then shared the cab with a lady who was going to a different Enterprise location. It was just a couple of miles, but it was a fixed fare of $17. The cab driver confirmed that lack of rental car availability at CHS was a common occurrence (it must be a lot of his business), and also the lack of cabs at the airport had more to do with the local regulatory climate than and real lack of drivers in the Charleston area.
It was a 2 1/2 hour drive from there to Hilton Head, made longer by my stopping for lunch in Beaufort (which I learned is pronounced "Buford." I wish I had been able to fly to Savannah ,as it's a shorter drive, but I didn't realize that Southwest flies direct from BWI to Savannah now. I learned while waiting at BWI for my flight, and they announced a flight to Savannah. But what I really wish is that there were more trains on the Atlantic Coast Service so that I could ride down on a train that fit my schedule. and also that they could cut maybe an hour off the travel time.
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