It had to happen sometime. Eventually, I would fly on the new Southwest and have my assigned seat all ready to go. That time came when I did a trip to Las Vegas for an Embraer event. And you know what? I got the new experience on the way out and it was pretty, pretty good all around. The return, however, could have used an upgrade.

[Dislosure: Embraer paid for my flights and hotel for the event]

It was a strange sensation not having to check in 24 hours in advance. But sure enough, I didn’t bother until later on when getting my boarding pass was a non-event. I had already reserved seat 18A (a freebie when you’re on a standard Choice fare), so I threw it into my Google Wallet and forgot about it.

At the airport, I realized I hadn’t flown from Long Beach in awhile. The rental car counters have now fully moved into the historic terminal, so that’s a big upgrade.

But I just sailed through security, thanking the TSA workers for coming to work as I went. (You know, not a lot of people want to work when they aren’t actually getting paid.)

I was at gate 1 on this flight, so I walked down to the south end of the terminal to wait to board. Southwest has set this up with a sign for pre-boarding right in front of the counter. Then to the side, there are two lines, one for odd-numbered boarding groups and another for even.

They announced that group 1 should line up on the odd side with group 2 on the even side. I didn’t hear another announcement about later groups, but people all figured it out. Once the line emptied, the next group filled in.

There was some confusion from people who showed up too late for their boarding group, however. They got into the pre-board line and then just cut in front of whatever group was boarding. It was somewhat awkward.

Somehow I was in group 3. I don’t know why, because I have no status or credit card, but honestly I didn’t even care. I could squeeze my bag under my seat for the short flight if no bins were available, but it’s not like I was going to wait around.

While the line at the ramp at the front of the aircraft got full, I walked to the back where I walked up the empty stairs and swam forward to get to my seat.

Southwest 4039
March 18, 2026

I stepped onboard the nearly-new B737-8 MAX and marveled at those big ole’ bins.

There would be no problem of bin space on this flight, even though it was nearly full. This was also my first flight on the airplane with the seats that have USB power built in. I found them comfortable.

Once boarded up, the flight attendants put the airplane into Christmas mode as we pushed back a few minutes early.

We got down to the runway, and then we took off into the sweltering summer-like day. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky as we soared over the port before circling back toward Las Vegas.

Once in the air, mood-lighting switched again to a cool blue, clearly reflecting the fact that the air conditioning was finally catching up and cooling us down.

I didn’t need to charge my phone, but I mean, why not? So I plugged it in, and I ended up with more charge than I had before I started despite constant usage.

I also logged into wifi which was humming along quite nicely. This is not the Southwest I know, but I think I can get used to it. It’ll be even better with Starlink onboard.

The flight attendants ran through with a quick water service, but they didn’t have time for anything else. Las Vegas was landing on the 1s which means we had a straight shot in. That’s always good for shaving a few minutes off the already-short flight, but it’s also a very pretty (and usually bumpy) approach.

After landing, our gate was ready, so we parked nice and early. Every time I fly Southwest out of a B gate, my mind immediately races back to the old America West hub. It is a wonderful and nostalgic feeling.

The flight on Southwest, however? It was anything but nostalgic. It was pretty damn good. Was there anything bad? Well, I mentioned some of the boarding kinks that could be worked out, but other than that, I just wish I had a different seatmate who wasn’t stinking up the entire cabin constantly. Not cool, bro. But hey, Southwest can’t control everything.

Now, on the return, things were different. Instead of a flashy new MAX, we had an ancient B737-700 as our chariot. And that has a much worse feel.

Again I had checked in on my phone, but I decided to go a little early to the airport. With all the noise about TSA wait times being a problem and no way that I could find to get real-time details at LAS, I decided to get to the airport about 1h30m before departure.

That was completely unnecessary. There were no lines at all. I thanked the ID checker for coming to work and said something like “I don’t know how you do it.” His response? “I’m also a male stripper.” Well done, sir.

On the other side, I slowly ambled along the C concourse. It really is amazing what you see in Vegas. You wouldn’t see anything like this in any other airport:

I made it over to C7 and had time to kill despite the long walk. I sat down and worked. After a lengthy deboarding process, the gate agents were ready to board us quickly. Unlike in Long Beach, Vegas has screens that flash your boarding group so it was much more intuitive. Again I had group 3, and after a clearing a long line in a hot jet bridge, I trudged back to my seat in row 19.

Southwest 1211
March 20, 2026

This airplane looked like… well, it looked more like what you’d expect from the old Southwest. There were extra legroom seats, but they were all the same color. They didn’t stand out the way they do on the new aircraft.

I sat down in my window, and waited as the airplane filled up. We pushed back only a couple minutes late, but after a short taxi we were airborne quickly. Like the MAX, this airplane also had mood lighting.

Or not. But hey, this lighting did scream a yellowed “meh,” which absolutely matched my mood after two days in Vegas. That fast internet I had on the way out was non-functioning on this aircraft. (Thanks, Anuvu.) Technically I could connect, and I did have one text come in. I also was able to load a speed test page on Google, but then it errored. I gave up after a few tries to get anything useful.

Instead, I pulled up live TV to try to watch some March Madness basketball, but even that was buffering. They can’t get rid of this crap legacy system soon enough.

We cruised at a lofty 30,000 feet for our short trip. The flight attendants came through with water and coffee, but that was it. It wasn’t long before we were descending into a warm/smoggy/hazy LA Basin.

After an early landing, I got off into the blazing sun and quickly headed inside. This was certainly a real contrast to the new Southwest. Those -700s need to go before the airline can truly feel like something modern, but when you get a new ride, it is a very nice way to fly.