The McBournie Minute: Traveling

Every time a holiday comes around, the country has a mass exodus to home or some other vacation destination. All that means is everyone is treated to a long and painful trip home, regardless of the method of transportation.

One of the most common to complain about is flying. Luckily, that was my chosen way to Boston this past weekend. I flew out Saturday at noon (after oversleeping and missing a flight earlier that morning, but that is a different story). It wasn't just any airline, it was Southwest, the Wal-Mart of airlines.

I have no problem with low ticket prices, but there are some things about Southwest Airlines that boggle my mind. For example, there are no assigned seats on the plane. They put letters on your ticket. Those with an "A" get in the "A" line and so on to "C." From there, the lines board in alphabetical order, first come first serve. So even if you pay the same amount as the people in the first line, you may get last choice in seating. They are only now "experimenting" with assigned seating, welcome to the rest of the world, Southwest.

The people are really friendly, but to the point of being annoying. On my flight back from Boston I tried to nap, but the friendly flight attendants kept coming on the loudspeaker, making me jump every so often. Then, as we landed, one female flight attendant sand us a song about how much Southwest loves its customers. Awkward. Then she told us a joke.

"What did the snail say when he jumped on the turtle's back? ... Weeeeee!"