You’re probably thinking that B looks best, and there’s no chance anyone is going to pick deal A, right? But that’s exactly what’s just happened now that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has given its approval to United and Continental to merge. All Continental has to do is take United’s 18 daily flights and give those slots (or equivalent) to Southwest. Done deal. Those other two deals? Yeah, that would be the rejected slot swap between Delta and US Airways in Washington (C) and New York (B).

I know, I know. These are totally different things and the approvals came from different branches of government. True, but it also shows how screwy it can be dealing with the feds. I should be clear here. I think the Continental and United deal should be approved. I just think the slot swap should have been approved as well.

Let’s start with the Continental/United deal. Apparently, the Department of Justice (which tends to be more strict than the Department of Transportation) had no concerns about this deal outside of Newark. Newark, of course, is a highly-congested airport with no slots available. So Continental agreed to permanently lease 18 slot pairs (the same number of flights United operates today) to Southwest. In other words, United gives up its slots to Southwest and everything else is fine. Here’s the state of the airport after this deal.

I’m sure Southwest is thrilled to be getting in there, but it’s still a pretty small number of flights in the scheme of things. And of course, everyone else is still frozen out for now. Contrast that with the slot swap deal. First, here’s the Washington/National chart had the deal been allowed to go through.

Here you can see an airport with more balance and greater low cost carrier penetration than Newark, but that’s nothing compared to LaGuardia.

When compared to National, there’s a greater transfer of slots here, but the dominant carrier would still have held a smaller position than at the other airport. Note the even higher LCC penetration of 12.7%. That’s more than double where Newark will be after Southwest gets its 18 slot pairs. So what gives?

Well it’s hard to say exactly what’s going on when you’re dealing with political bodies. Making sense is never the highest priority. But in this case, I would assume it’s simply an issue of looking at current versus potential scenarios. Continental won’t grow in Newark with this transaction while Delta and US Airways would have grown at LaGuardia and National respectively in that deal. Really, that shouldn’t be the issue here.

If the feds want to act like they’re sticking up for the consumer, they have the ability to hold airlines over a barrel. The Department of Justice chose not to do that with Continental and United while the Federal Aviation Administration has apparently gone the opposite route with the slot swap. Go figure. One thing we do know is the feds do seem to love Southwest these days.

You’ll remember that Southwest voiced a large number of objections when it came to the slot swap. The feds came back and agreed with the airline. Remember, Southwest actually said that open auctions were the best outcome. Now it’s gone and done a back-room deal. Not bad for Southwest, and certainly not bad for Continental and United. Then again, it probably just frustrates Delta and US Airways even more. Or maybe not.

Maybe this suggests that the better path for US Airways is to get bought (as they’ve been saying for some time anyway). Then it won’t need to get an FAA waiver to give its LaGuardia slots to another airline. It’ll be that other airline, so the FAA won’t get to ruin the party. If this helps build up US Airways’ efforts to get bought, then that’s good news for the airline.

Never a dull moment inside the Beltway, that’s for sure.

American’s Express Seats: How Not to Introduce New Fees to Customers – BNET Headwinds
American has a new fee, and while it could be relatively straightforward, the way American released it was anything but.

US Airways Positions Itself as a Takeover Target with New York Moves – BNET Headwinds
The US Airways build-up in New York seems goofy, but it could actually be a smart play to get itself bought.

Passengers shocked by new touchy-feely TSA screening – Boston Herald
I didn’t even know that the TSA was tightening its screening process until I was contacted for this article. Sounds like a cheap way to get felt up to me.

Hmm. Alaska Air Group May Be Looking to Sell Horizon Air – BNET Headwinds
Horizon Air has changed its business model, and that has me wondering if Alaska is looking to sell.

Mammoth Mountain Lures United to Bring Bay Area Folks to Ski – BNET Headwinds
Another small town getting new air service. But this one makes more sense than many.

American Mechanics Shoot Down Tentative Agreement, Move Closer to Strike – BNET Headwinds
Unsurprisingly, American’s mechanics voted against the tentative agreement that had been presented. They’re moving toward a strike, but I doubt they’ll ever get there.

There are far too many reasons for this to simply be a coincidence. For example, US Airways will increase its flying on October 31, the very same day Delta does it in Washington. The new routes are as follows:

US Airways will be adding a net of 17 new flights a day at LaGuardia. And where exactly are these magical slots coming from. According to US Airways, the slots were on a “short-term lease” that has now ended. Hmm, anyone want to guess to whom those were leased? If your guess isn’t Delta, hang your head in shame.

In the comments on the Delta post, reader David asked why Delta and US Airways didn’t just lease their slots to each other if they couldn’t get permission to sell them. I figured that wouldn’t be allowed at LaGuardia, but apparently that’s not true, at least in small quantity. Then again, who knows what the feds would have done had the airlines tried to go behind their backs on the entire process. You can’t hide that, and I can’t imagine it would have been looked upon favorably, to say the least.

So the story now starts to come together, at least in my mind. Delta and US Airways tried to do the slot swap and set up some slot leases as part of that to ease the transition. Then the deal got shot down. Delta, either not content to wait for the court ruling or simply not expecting to win, took its slots back from US Airways at National and decided to build them up. US Airways, obviously pissed about this, then took its slots back and decided to throw down in New York as well.

Of the 10 markets getting new or increased flying from US Airways at LaGuardia, seven of them are served by Delta. Six are actually only served by Delta right now. The Dulles move is probably an effort to get some Star Alliance connectivity via United’s hub. Then there’s Harrisburg and Hartford. I suppose it’s possible those were the next best markets out there that didn’t have service, but really? Hartford? That’s an easier drive. Maybe they think they can get some good connections via LaGuardia. Or maybe there’s just something really goofy there that I can’t figure out. (Maintenance base, aircraft routing efficiency?)

Either way, the message here is clear. If Delta wants to try and compete in Washington, then US Airways will do the same in New York. With US Airways now actually showing a profit in LaGuardia, this move could make sense . . . until the economy rolls back downhill again. But hey, let’s not let economics get in the way of a good old-fashioned round of fisticuffs. This is a lot more fun.

Delta is adding flights in New York, but that’s not a surprise. It’s the increase at Washington/National that has me perplexed. As we all know by now, Delta and US Airways were trying to arrange a slot swap where Delta would give most of its slots to US Airways at National in exchange for US Airways slots at LaGuardia. That was shot down, and now the airlines are fighting the feds in court for permission. You would think that Delta would stick with the status quo pending the court outcome (even if it is a long way away), but that’s not the case. Delta will be adding 27 daily flights to nine cities from National while only killing off service to one city.

Which cities? Here’s the list:

All these changes happen on October 31, but where the heck is the net increase of 25 slots coming from each way? Delta is, as usual, being tight-lipped about the whole thing, but I did get spokesperson Trebor Banstetter to say:

Our slot portfolio at [National] includes slots that had been subleased to other airlines and are now available for Delta’s use, which is how we’re able to add the additional flights without making reductions other than [Huntsville].

Hmm, the plot thickens. Now, who would have been leasing a big chunk of slots from Delta? Trebor wouldn’t tell me, but come on. How many options are there? I mean, it has to be US Airways, right? Nobody else has that big of a chunk of slots that it would be able to hand back and still maintain a viable operation. Delta must have had these slots leased out to US Airways on a longer term deal, and now Delta wants them back. That’s very interesting if true. It means that besides not getting the rest of Delta’s slots that it was giving away in the deal, US Airways may have lost even more slots than that.

This gets even more interesting when looking at planned service changes. I tried to see if US Airways was cutting flights, and I found some. US Airways had previously said that it would begin flying from National to Ottawa, Montreal, Tallahassee, and Birmingham in October. I no longer see those anywhere in the schedule. That would account for some of the slots. I find myself wondering where the rest are coming from.

The strange thing is that these flights were announced fairly recently. So either US Airways was counting on the slot swap going through or it was expecting to be able to use the existing leased slots for that purpose. But US Airways isn’t talking about this either. I suppose I’m not surprised. It probably wouldn’t be something that US Airways would want to publicize. Delta’s the one who blew this up into a big announcement.

One thing that does seem clear is that by killing the slot swap, the feds have made things worse for Washington fliers. No low cost carriers are coming in to the market (other than JetBlue via its separate American swap), and instead, Delta is just putting slots on competitive routes.

Delta is not starting service on any routes that are unserved today. These all at least have one nonstop airline and some have two or even three without Delta in the mix. Most of the routes overlap with US Airways. It’s almost as if Delta is now trying to pick a fight. Meanwhile, cities like Tallahassee and Birmingham will continue to only have connections now that US Airways seems to have pulled the flights. Those towns must be really angry.

There’s still a lot more to this story. What is the deal with these leases? Why is Delta now somehow thinking that it’ll be a big player in Washington? What’s the end game? Could this just be a political ploy to add service to key senatorial markets? I haven’t quite figured it out yet. I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface on this one.

US Airways Shows Stellar Operational Improvement, but Nobody Knows It – BNET
US Airways has really done wonders for its operation and that’s great, but nobody else knows about it. They need to work on that.

How JetBlue Tends To Its Brand – BNET
There was a good interview with JetBlue SVP Marty St George about how JetBlue focuses on its brand.

A road trip is a great way to tell a person’s story, as The Cranky Flier proves -Budget Travel
Sean over at Budget Travel had a great review of my newly-released book.

Why Allegiant Shuffles Airports in Ways Most Airlines Wouldn’t Dare – BNET
Allegiant is switching its Idaho Falls flights from LAX to Long Beach. Seems strange, but there is a method to the madness.

American, oneworld Step Closer to Legitimacy with EU Approvals – BNET
The EU has approved the American and BA joint venture along with the BA and Iberia merger.

I’ll spare you the history again since it’s been recounted here multiple times. In short, Delta wanted to trade much of its slot holding at Washington/National to US Airways for that airline’s slots at New York/LaGuardia. The feds came back saying they’d only approve it if the two agreed to divest a bunch of slots to new entrants before the transaction occurred. That wasn’t palatable to anyone, but Delta and US Airways did come back offering to divest some of the slots to carriers with whom they had already set up agreements. It looked like the FAA had achieved its goal of giving slots to new entrants, but the agency wasn’t satisfied. The feds stuck to their guns and that’s how we got where we are today. (More details here)

US Airways and Delta had asked for more time to consider the swap, and the feds gave it to them. But last week, they decided to reject the requirements for divestiture and sue the pants off the government for such an absurd requirement. So let’s review exactly what the feds have thrown away here:

• US Airways would have used larger planes in Washington and would have opened nonstop service to several cities that don’t have it today.
• Delta would have used larger planes in New York to create a hub operation at LaGuardia.
• Terminal changes in New York would have made it easier for customers.
• US Airways would have received rights to fly to Japan; a new entrant into that market providing more competition.
• US Airways would have received rights to fly to Sao Paulo; again, a new entrant in that market.
• JetBlue would have received 4.5 slots at National. (The last .5 slot was available in off peak times.)
• WestJet would have received 5 slots at LaGuardia, providing competition to Canada.
• Spirit would have received 5 more slots at LaGuardia, providing low fare service.
• AirTran would have received 5 more slots at LaGuardia, providing low fare service.

And now, none of this will happen. What’s the cherry on top? The feds get to waste our taxpayer money defending themselves in a lawsuit that will undoubtedly drag on for awhile. In short, the feds decided to play a game of chicken and they lost. Now, everybody loses. Way to go, guys. I bet you thought they’d give in, but they didn’t. You blew this one.

[Original photo via Flickr user Chief Trent]

Southwest Airlines’ March Meltdown — Less Than Meets the Eye – BNET
Southwest had a rough March, but it hardly means that things are heading south.

How will the new United-Continental treat customers? – Cleveland Plain Dealer
I talked about some of the issues that the combined United/Continental will face (in the infobox) on the side.

AirTran-Frontier: Once Friendly Airlines Are Now Kicking, Gouging Eyes -BNET
The hammer has finally dropped. The once-cozy AirTran-Frontier deal is now over. It’s been fun to watch the fight.

spice up your flight – antibride.com
If you’re traveling for your wedding, it can’t hurt to try to get some perks.

Mesa Air Group Loses Battle with Delta, and US Airways Must be Smiling – BNET
Mesa’s contract with Delta is toast, and that means US Airways has even more leverage.

Spirit Airlines: Why a Threatened Pilot Strike Could Take the Company Down – BNET
Not quite as dramatic as the title would suggest, but a strike threat at Spirit is a bigger deal than at a larger airline.

United-Continental Merger: Continental Is Taking the Reins, No Question – BNET
Another clue about the leadership team at United/Continental is out there. There is no trace of United President John Tague on the integration team.

US Airways has long had bag problems (remember Philly back before the merger?) but they’ve been achieving record low mishandling bag rates in recent months. Most of this can be attributed to an improved system. US Airways now scans bags when the come on and off airplanes at every airport with the exception of a couple European stations due to technical issues. This now also applies to US Airways Express flights.

When the bag is scanned, the information is sent to a central system and there are real-time monitoring systems, built from scratch by US Airways, that make things run smoothly. I saw the system, but they weren’t willing to let me post a screenshot since it’s proprietary.

You can watch this system from a desktop or from the scanner itself. It shows for every flight how many bags have been checked in and how many bags have been loaded onboard. If a big is missing, you can click on it and see where it was last scanned. It has the person’s name, the tag number, etc. If you’re in the hub waiting for it to connect, then you can have it tracked down immediately. Since it’s in real-time, it’s easy to see the problem bags.

When I was sitting there, we looked at a flight heading to Mexico City. It had 173 bags planned, with the split between local and connecting bags shown as well. As bags are checked in, they show up on the screen. As they are loaded on the plane, that gets recorded as well. This is also used for bags that are checked at the gate, so now all bags will be loaded into the system.

As we sat there, I noticed that there was one bag from one person that was loaded and the other was not. I asked aloud about that – was it lost? Within just a minute, that bag had been loaded as well and it clicked off. Very cool.

The system is also tied in to the baggage tracking system NetTracer that’s used when you file a mishandled bag claim so it makes it easier to get information. What’s next? They’ll be automating more of the mishandled bag claim system, but more importantly, they’re talking about notifications.

Eventually, you’ll be able to get a notification when your bag is loaded or possibly if it doesn’t get loaded. This is fantastic for setting expectations. If your bag is loaded, you’ve got peace of mind and you’re happy. If it’s not, you’re unhappy but at least you know. You’ll also no longer need to sit and wait at the carousel, hoping that yours will be the last bag out. Instead, you can file a claim right away and be on your way.

Great stuff from the US Airways people here.

On the Introduction of New Aircraft
Republic CEO Bryan Bedford: We spent a lot of time looking at the narrowbody product offering and we fly a lot of Airbus products. Our employees love them. It’s a great aircraft. Then you start looking at operating capability and cost. You’re looking for that step function change to overcome the induction differences with training, different costs. Before I’m going to induct a new fleet type, I have to get a new double digit saving opportunity.

So with the [Bombardier] C Series, we saw an airplane that at least, as advertised and engineered, will deliver the goods. We compare a 138 seat aircraft to 138 seat aircraft, we’re looking at between 17 and 19% aircraft-related cost savings.

Qatar CEO Akbar al Baker: We look at the operating costs, amenities and the product improvements that these new airplanes bring. We also believe in keeping types of airplanes we operate to a minimum. We like to keep our fleet up to date. The average age is just 3.2 years.

British Airways CEO Willie Walsh: It’s great to see good competition between Boeing and Airbus and developing competition like the C Series. We have had a look at that and it looks like an excellent aircraft. We’ve ordered A380s and 787s. We see them as being very different from the A380. An aircraft like an A380 can be very effective at some destinations we serve. Hong Kong is a good example where typically we’d operate 3 747s a day and they leave within an hour of each other. So frequency is not important, volume is. If you can replace 3 747s with 2 A380s you get much better economics and it frees up a slot at Heathrow. The A380 works really well but we never saw it as an ideal replacement for the 747.

The 787 has the opportunity to be a game changer more than anything else. It’s a very efficient aircraft, it should be, and I think that will open up new destinations that are just not economic with the aircraft we have today.

US Airways CEO Doug Parker: I see nothing revolutionary coming out of the manufacturers. It’s not meant to be disparaging, the jet age is over and physics are what they are. Clearly there are some things evolutionary that would be of interest. What matters to airlines right now is, consumers don’t care, you can find no difference between aircraft types. No premium for a better airplane including even regional jets. Now it clearly matters how many seats you have. So what matters is for the number of seats you have in the market, how do you generate seats at the lowest cost. If there’s a next generation narrowbody that’s coming that works, that’s great, but I don’t think it’s a revolution.

JetBlue CEO Dave Barger: We’re kind of boring compared to Willie. I’m just looking for a winglet or a sharklet so we can go Boston to Oakland 100% of the time. We’ve been testing with Aviation Partners a winglet. We’re through the testing now and we’ll see if Airbus can work the engineering accordingly. Not just better range but the fuel efficiency that everyone talks about. That’s a big number for an airline like JetBlue. As Doug mentioned, whenever it’s decided to be built, there are some improvements that are out there technologically that can help.

Willie: I think there are issues. Doug is right to a point, but sometimes you’ve heard customers say it. “I hope I’m not traveling on that thing.” Propellers somehow still discourage people. I think there is an issue, the open rotor from an efficiency point of view sounds fantastic, but I’m not sure if it’s the right way forward. You’ve got this balance between noise, which is a very sensitive issue, and fuel efficiency. I think people need to think long and hard before leaping to these solutions.

Doug: If that’s the only problem, that’s a marketing problem. Get Sully to fly around in one and say it’s safe and you’re fine. There is more to it than that but the simple optics issue is something that we can deal with.

Bryan: Clearly today, Willie mentioned it, there is this aversion to getting on a prop plane whether it’s less safe, noisy, bumpy, lower altitude, who knows but it’s there. It’ll be one of these issues about how low a cost for someone to take the revenue.

Dave: Put TV in the back of the seat and nobody will ever notice.

On Regulation
Dave: I think, Doug I’ve heard you say, we brought [the three hour rule] on ourselves. We were there 3 years ago. It’s unfortunate that we spend so much time because we brought it on ourselves, because if we could spend more time talking about investment and technology, as we start talking about RNP and RNAV, the procedures at these airports, what a better use of time as long as we’re not stranding customers on the tarmac. That type of thing, things such as financial regulation and oil speculation and the bills that are making their way through Washington.

There are parts of the same building talking about oil going to $200 a barrel and other parts talking about shorting the airline stocks. What’s wrong with that picture? Investment in technology, focused oversights, position limits, whatever it might be so that we’re not caught in the middle is very important and then climate change. I think we’re playing catch up to other countries. Just do no harm. We’ve done an awful lot to really drive fuel efficiency. It’s a big deal.

Bryan: I agree with everything Dave said. I’d like to envision a partnership between government and industry between regulators and those who are regulated so we don’t feel like we’re constantly fighting each other. The things that bind us together are much greater than the things we don’t see eye to eye on, but the climate in Washington seems to be more of a “gotcha.”

I’m not sure what it is but it feels like there’s less cooperation. It may not be happening in the trenches, but when we see our public officials come out and castigate a guy for wanting to implement a carry on baggage fee – why is that a political thing? Customers should be able to decide not to fly that guy. I think the problems are real and significant and there’s opportunities to fix them. You’ve got very willing industry participants. We want efficiencies because burning less gas makes that pie bigger for our employees to share in. We all want the same thing; we just have a hard time getting there.

Doug: Our message is simple: do no harm, which means two things to us. Please no new taxes or fees. We’re already the most burdened industry, higher than cigarettes, alcohol. We’re taxed like we’re a vice. For now, just don’t give us any more please.

The second part of that is that you’ve got to let us go do self help so we can fix ourselves. Don’t get in the way of us trying to do things to get this industry profitable. This slot swap that we announced in August still isn’t approved. Just please execute the slot swap. It’s symptomatic about what’s going on. This is pro-consumer. Delta is going to take those slots and fly big airplanes, we’re going to do the same in Washington. This is good. . . . All we want is just let us compete; let us do the things that other businesses are allowed to do – trading assets – let us compete within the antitrust laws. There are laws if we start to violate those, but these are not even close. I can’t imagine there’s any problem with United/Continental but there are going to be people in the administration that are going to try to make problems. Our government doesn’t seem to want to let our industry get itself profitable. Just leave us alone and let us compete.

Willie: I enjoyed that. Governments and regulators have two very important roles: safety standards and security standards. It’s important to acknowledge there’s a standard of safety that we must match and aim to exceed. Regulators telling us what to charge, where we can fly, those days are long over. I think they need to stand back. We’re dealing with a situation in Europe. European airspace closed down for the best part of 6 days. As an airline we’re deemed responsible for providing food drinks, phone calls, etc. This had nothing to do with the airlines and yet with thousands and potentially hundreds of thousands of customers stranded away from home, we’re forced to pick up the bill. We then have to give priority to the people with bookings instead of trying to get people repatriated because it forces us to pay high levels of compensation to anyone who we would bump from the flight. Politicians were criticizing the industry yet at the same time telling us to comply with this legislation which prevented us from doing that. Common sense says the regulators should have suspended the legislation and allowed the industry to sort out the problem. We do well in the face of challenges like this. If we had been allowed the scope to do what’s right for customers, we would have handled that situation in a much better way. And when we talk about closing down airspace in the first place – scandal – it never should have happened. We’re forced to stop flying and yet we have to pick up the bill. Consumers do not benefit from that. We need regulators to stand back and look at the big picture and really challenge us to sort these issues out. This is a brutally competitive industry. We will fight for every customer. If one airline wants to charge you to carry on a bag and everyone else says they won’t do that, why should a regulator intervene?

Doug: I enjoyed his comments.

Akbar: I entirely agree with Willie that they should leave the airlines alone. The more they interfere with us, the more they will put us against the wall. The general public will suffer.

I could have flown out of Long Beach, but I made the rare decision to go LAX instead. Why? I’d rather not fly Mesa, and that’s who US Airways uses from Long Beach.

Unfortunately, I was unable to get a ride on the way out. Not wanting to leave my car at LAX for a few days, I just took public transit. Track closures had rail running slow, but I still arrived at the terminal about 1:15 before the flight.

I always like to leave a little buffer when I fly out of LAX Terminal 1 (Southwest and US Airways) but it was completely unnecessary today. There was no security line and I tested the new option to leave your netbook in the bag. Didn’t work. They said it had to be the only thing in the bag, so they made me take it out. Oh well.

After, I went to the gate. This was my first time flying US Airways in a long time, but it brought back memories. My days at America West were spent flying between Phoenix and LA, always taking one of the two midday flights home on Sunday. Here I was, taking the same flight (there’s only one these days) back to Phoenix.

I boarded to find a very nice, new A321 (about a year old). US Airways has done a nice job with leather seats and a bright interior design. The legroom, at 32 inch pitch, actually felt quite roomy for me. I took my seat and waited as we boarded early and pushed a couple minute before schedule.

We taxied out and sat off the runway for about 5 minutes before heading off into the marine layer. It was my favorite kind of departure – a short hop into the marine layer and then out into sparkling sunshine just a minute later. Only this time, the sunshine didn’t last long because we had high clouds that kept us bouncing much of the way to Phoenix.

This is one of the planes equipped with wifi from GoGo, but it was never mentioned by the crew and there weren’t any pamphlets in the seat back. How did I even know? There was a sticker on the door. But I wasn’t about to use it, not for an hour flight. I just did some reading and drank my ginger ale. (If you haven’t seen it, read this great piece from Mark at Upgrade:Travel Better on drinking ginger ale on airplanes.)

Soon enough we were passing over the Colorado River and beginning our descent. It may not be summer, but the temperature was heading toward the high 90s. If you’ve flown into Phoenix in the summer, you know that it can be a rockin’ ride with the thermals. This trip was no exception and the captain actually had the flight attendants sit down early so nobody would get hurt. We bounced our way into Phoenix and had a long taxi back to the gate.

After the door opened, I stood up and crossed my seat belt, another America West flashback. Seatbelts had to be crossed before boarding back in the day, and as an employee I always crossed it to help out. That’s stuck with me, and I cross it every time I fly.

I was supposed to come home on Saturday at midday, but I decided I just wanted to get home early so I switched to good old flight 24. For as long as I can remember, flight 24 (or previously 2024) has been the morning flight to LAX. I used to take this often, so once again, it was a nice flashback.

I got to the airport an hour early and found a very slow line with a single ID checker. Our line kept backing up as employee after employee kept coming through and cutting in front of us. It took 15 minutes to get through a line that should have taken 5.

Once through, I headed to the gate to find the latest Arizona plane. This is the third one I’ve been on. The first was 757 N916AW. That was returned to the lessor in the 1990s and N901AW was painted in Arizona colors. Then when the merger happened, the 757s all received regular US Airways paint and the theme planes moved to A319s.

I had forgotten I was on a US Airways-provided ticket, so when they called me up to the podium, it threw me off guard. Fortunately, they had called me up to give me a First Class ticket for the ride home.

I boarded after most, but I did find a place to put my carry on just a couple rows behind me. The flight attendants were having a rough start to their day. One was running back and forth trying to help everyone. At one point, the gate agent was on the plane when the flight attendant realized there was a child in the exit row. She asked the gate agent for help and he simply shrugged and said, “What do you want me to do?” If I could only describe the look on her face . . . . She just did it.

We pushed back on time and were told to expect a bumpy ride. Once we got airborne, it turned out to be pretty smooth, and I had a bloody mary to make the ride a little better.

It was a beautifully clear day and the service was excellent onboard. We did end up hitting some turbulence as we descended into LA, but that only prompted the flight attendant to ask me if I wanted another bloody mary. I had no intention of doing so, but hey, why not? I wasn’t driving home.

We came into LAX on a beautiful day and landed nice and early. The captain opened the door at the gate and exclaimed “Welcome to Burbank! Oops.” Those at the front laughed and then we all headed out to find our rides.

It was a great trip on US Airways. It’s been awhile since I last flew them, but I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.