Getting to Southwest Investor Day… on American (Trip Report)

Analysts and media had circled September 26 on their calendars for a long time. That was the day that Southwest would present its long-awaited plan to “transform” itself. I don’t always care about going to these things, but this one seemed like it was worth making the trip. You’d think I would have flown Southwest out to the airline’s own investor day, but you’d be wrong. It’s been nearly a year since I flew American, but I had some expiring credits. I thought I’d use them up, even if it meant making the trek up to LAX.

The day before I was pleasantly surprised to see my flight scheduled out of the Bradley Terminal. This was good because I had to take a call for an hour beforehand, and I knew I’d have a better chance of finding a quite spot there.

Over the next 12 hours, however, we were treated like a ping pong ball. We had no fewer than 4 different aircraft and gates assigned. The flight ended up settling on an A321 instead of the scheduled A321neo… and we were in the bustling Terminal 5.

The blizzard of notices included one saying I had been moved back from 24F to 25F. Why? Well, 24F is an exit row on the A321 but not on the neo. There was no way they were letting me have that one for free.

It took me about an hour to get to LAX in really bad morning traffic. I parked in a nearby surface lot at WallyPark Express and hopped on a shuttle to Terminal 5.

There wasn’t much of a security line, so I was through quickly. I parked myself at the gate and hopped on my call, hoping my headphones could keep out the cacophony of sounds. I found the rarest of places in Terminal 5… a functioning outlet.

This new aircraft was coming from Orlando a little after 9:45am, and we were supposed to leave at 10:30. I figured there was no way that happening. Cleaning an airplane off a transcon from Orlando is not quick work.

Sure enough, right as the airplane pulled in at 9:47am, the airline posted a delay to 10:47am. They had known the timing for hours but waited until then to post.

I have no idea what was going on at the gate, but there were 4 or 5 different agents working the flight at various times. They all seemed hurried. They started calling some names of people who were waiting for seats, but people weren’t listening. You could hear the exasperation coming from the gate agents as they tried to get this flight ready to leave.

They called for boarding, but not much seemed to happen. I’m not sure if it was a lot of wheelchairs or what, but the process was very slow.

Once they finally called group 6, I snaked my way around the gate lice and got to the jet bridge… where it was backed up the entire way. I have no idea why it was taking people so long to take their seats.

American 1767
September 25, 2024

I got on just as the captain was finishing his announcement. I asked the two flight attendants if he had said anything good and one responded. “You know what they say. The best way to keep a secret from a flight attendant is to say it over the PA.” In other words, they tune out those announcements completely. That’s a good line, and it was just the first glimpse at a wonderful flight attendant crew.

I took my seat and stared out into the gray morning. My row filled out as the process droned on. It wasn’t until just before 11 that we pushed back, earlier than I expected.

We followed an Air Premia 787 to the end of the runway and the launched into the low marine layer. It was just a minute until we were above it, turning around to head east.

I was hoping to use internet, but I guess I forgot that American doesn’t give freebies to T-Mobile users on laptops like everyone else. Meanwhile, they wanted $16 for one hour or $21 for the flight. Insane.

There was the option to click and watch an ad to get a few minutes free, but I decided to wait until later in the flight for that.

Instead, I turned on the free entertainment and watched The Morning Show. On a separate tab, I tried to find a moving map but there isn’t one.

There’s just a line at the bottom showing origin, destination, and time remaining. Booo.

The flight attendants came through with drinks, and I had a ginger ale — they gave me a full can — and a pack of LAX-themed pretzels.

We headed south, and I had a nice view of El Paso before we turned toward the Metroplex. After one episode of The Morning Show, I was ready to move on. I scanned the podcasts, but they did not have The Air Show, so I boycotted. I ended up watching the People’s Court on live TV. Yep, it was a desperate kind of day.

It was beautiful in the Metroplex with just a few scattered clouds around, though it was gusty down below as we approached from the south and bounced our way on to the ground.

It’s possible I blacked out, but I don’t recall hearing a credit card pitch. Weird. And very pleasant. But while we were taxiing, the flight attendants did say that because we were late we had some tight connections.

They asked those with departures in the 4 o’clock hour to raise their hands, and then they begged the rest of us to let them off first. Everyone was gearing up to make a mad dash… and then the pilots took us to the northeast side of the airport where we sat in the penalty box because our gate was still occupied. Brutal.

We did eventually get to the gate, and surprisingly many people actually did let those in a hurry off first. I waited until they gave us the all clear, and then slowly made my way off.

It was a whirlwind couple of days in Dallas, but when it came time for my return, it was the opposite of the chaos on the way out. This time, there were no aircraft substitutions, and everything ran as it was supposed to.

I got to the airport early to have tea with some folks from American. When it was time to board, I headed right on over and waited for group 6 to be called. As usual, there was a ton of gate lice, but I eventually made it around them and into the packed jet bridge.

Once again, boarding was slow.

American 375
September 27, 2024

Onboard, I took my seat and popped open the window shade. Despite the slow boarding process, we only pushed back 2 minutes late. It was the usual long taxi out to the runways on the west side of the airport, but we didn’t have a long wait. We were heading north in no time.

This was one of those spectacular days to fly where there was barely a ripple in the air the entire way. It was so smooth and pleasant that I even drifted off for a few minutes. I never sleep on airplanes.

The flight attendants came through with drinks and Biscoff. Once I woke up, I flipped on my computer and watched the rest of The Morning Show episodes that American had onboard. Once again, I used my free 20 minutes of wifi, but that was it. It was even more expensive for wifi on this flight at $18 for one hour. Give me a break. This is just such a hugely visible negative differentiator compared to other airlines.

We flew down over El Paso again and then started heading northwest toward LAX. It was a strange westbound flight in that it was shorter than our eastbound trip. So it wasn’t long before we were descending.

As we came in past Big Bear, I could see the Line Fire burning on the right side, blowing a plume of smoke into the sky.

We landed under a clearing sky on time and got to our gate a little early… but the ramp agents were just standing around and not ready to bring us in. They quickly started to scramble and we came in a couple minutes later.

The rebuilt southern end of Terminal 4 looks to be nearly finished, but it’s still walled off inside so I can’t see what it looks like. I just kept on walking and enjoyed the morning air as I headed back to my car on foot.