Featured in this trip report are a gratuitous amount of pictures of planes, palm trees, fountains, monorails, a couple short videos, and a good reason to think twice next time you lower your tray table.

After discovering a very nice $49 o/w fare to Tampa on southwest.com, I couldn’t resist taking a day trip.

I get to Hopkins Airport at about 5:15, two hours before my first departure. There’s already a long line at the WN ticket counter, which had not opened yet, it appears to be the only counter that hasn’t opened yet this morning. But it’s no matter to me, since I already printed my BP’s online, and with no baggage to check, I’m off to the security checkpoint, where there’s no wait whatsoever.

I now have plenty of time to wander around the terminal before my flight, so I visit all 4 concourses. The most active is concourse C, where the redeye bank is arriving, a lone 757-300 today (LAX, I believe) and the rest 737NG’s (SEA, LAS, SFO).

The 753 is headed to IAH.

Ship 502 (which I’ve flown on twice) is going to FLL.


Ship 508 just got in from SFO, headed to MCO.


Soon enough it’s time to go to the gate. Southwest operates 4 gates out of the end of the B concourse.

Southwest Airlines Flight 2065
Cleveland-Baltimore
June 10, 2008
N323SW (delivered 5/87)
Boeing 737-3H4
Departs: 7:15 AM
Arrives: 8:20 AM
Load Factor: 100%
Seat: 6A



We begin boarding at gate B11 a few minutes before 7:00. I have ticket A31, so I board rather early on. I grab the first available window seat which happens to be 6A. Every passenger seat on board will be occupied on this very full flight, the agent warns us.


A batch of thunderstorms had come through the area very early this morning, so the ramp is still wet. It’s the same system we’re about to fly through/around on our way down to BWI.

We push on time, and a short taxi takes us to 24R for immediate takeoff. We turn north and head out over Lake Erie for a couple miles, then turn southeast. We find some rough air through the cloudcover, but it is still a relatively smooth flight. Flight attendants come through with coffee and orange juice for this short flight. I choose the orange juice. Many clouds sit outside my window for the first half of the flight, but nothing that interesting or threatening. As the flight goes on, the clouds become sparser and gradually become just a cloud of haze.





After 60 minutes of flying we find our way into an approach for 33L where we land smoothly. I’m amazed when we turn off the runway, because we taxi straight into gate A9, and it took less than a minute, definitely the quickest taxi from runway to gate I’ve ever experienced.


There she is, proud ship 323 arriving a few minutes late, now off to SAT. Ship 323 would pop up later today, I haven’t seen the last of her yet.


I have about an hour and a half until my next flight, so I have plenty of time to walk around the building, inside and out of the sterile area.
At the observation deck, a JT9D up close:


707 landing gear:


International terminal:


I think this is cool, the flight status boards have real time maps of the location of inbound and outbound aircraft:


As the time draws closer to my next departure, I head back to the WN gates. What I find at the checkpoint draws my attention. It’s been jazzed up a lot. For starters, the TSA agents wore royal blue shirts rather than the usual issue white. On the stanchions in the line were brief stories about individual agents, so you can “get to know” the people who are checking you. There are a lot of new fancy signs detailing the 3-1-1 policy. There are also several signs that explain the new controversial backscatter machines you can opt to go through if you win the lottery with an SSSS ticket, or if you set the normal metal detector off. Anyway, there was a very short line, so I’m though security quickly and I head to my gate, B9. The inbound a/c is still offloading pax from BUF, and the gate area is packed, with a lot of families, for another full flight.

Southwest Airlines Flight 1790
Baltimore-Tampa
N637SW (Delivered 10/96)
Boeing 737-3H4
Departs: 10:15 AM
Arrives: 12:30 PM
Load: 100%
Seat: 9F


I have BP A20-something, so again I board early and take window seat 9F.

Once the bags are all loaded, we push about 10 minutes late, but the captain then informs us we are going to have to wait a while to get airborne with only 1 active runway, 33L, at the moment. We even let one company ship pass us in line before our number is called and we rocket down the runway at 10:45.
It’s a very smooth flight, and not many clouds to speak of, just a little haze.


Once we hit our cruising altitude of 34,000 feet, the flight attendants appear to take our beverage selections. Shortly thereafter, they reappear with snack offerings, a small bag of cheese crisps and the obligatory peanuts. Then they bring the drinks out.
My snack, drink, and IFE:

The rest of the flight is rather uneventful. Unexciting on the weather front, with smooth air all the way. After we’ve had a while to consume our in flight meals, the FA’s return to collect garbage and inquire if anyone desires a second round of beverages. I have a Diet Coke.
As we get closer to Florida, low level clouds (I don’t know the name of them) slowly appear, and they increase in size as we draw closer.


Our entire descent was over land. I hadn’t flown into TPA in 8 years so I was unfamiliar with the approach patterns. I have flown into FLL several times though and that is one of my favorite, most scenic approaches. Then again, I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised, since TPA has a north-south configuration, unlike FLL’s east-west, and we come straight in and land smoothly on 18L. Our taxi takes us into gate C37.

Two gates down I see a line of passengers exiting out the stairs down to the ramp. A closer look reveals it to be military personnel. A charter perhaps?

I over hear a bit of a conversation between an agent and a group of 5 UM’s in the front rows as I disembark. A young boy proudly told the agent who was supervising him, “I have $36 in my pocket!” to which the agent truthfully replied, “That’s more than I have,” in a tone that made me hard-pressed not to laugh but put a smile on my face.
My plane is serviced:


After missing the video function absent from my DSLR, I picked up another small P&S camera just to fill that void. This is my first dabble in posting video in a TR.
This is the monorail (well, train really) ride from the gates back to the main terminal:



I now have about 4.5 hours at TPA until my next flight, so I have plenty of time for spotting/wandering around the airport. It’s about 92* outside, and extremely humid, so I’m constantly going in and out of the terminal garage back to the ticketing and gate levels to cool down and rehydrate. I also have to contend with the sun, which seemed to duck under a cloud for most of the aircraft movements, but then coming back out when the airfield was silent. So, please pardon the pooly lit shots.

Yay, a US/East 734! A pleasant find after a steady diet of US/West 733’s back in PHX.

CO ship 255 headed back to CLE:


I hated it at first, but I admit the new DL colors looked good in the Florida sun:

More new colors that looked better in person IMO:




Only 33 years young:


The old colors are far and few in between now:


And lastly, the icing on the cake, Speedbird 2167:


Now, a few terminal shots.
A model of TPA on level 3:

Fountains just outside baggage claim:



A glimpse of the beautiful landscaping around the airport:

While I was riding the elevators up to the garage top, I notice a notation on level 5 for “Train to Long-Term parking.” Of course, I go to investigate, and as you’d guess by my screen name, I’m not disappointed. A mini-monorail! (well, not technically a one-railed train, but close enough)

The status map:

And the view inside the cabin:

There’s only one car per train, definitely the smallest “monorail” I’ve ever been on. Then again, its capacity needs aren’t that great, so it’s not a problem.

Ok, off to my next flight. While the flight status board predicts an on-time departure, the inbound a/c from PVD is due in at 5:08, and our scheduled departure time is 5:15. The view out the window from the gate area:

Finally, our plane touches down, ship 246.

Southwest Airlines Flight 2541
Tampa-Nashville
N246LV (Delivered 7/2006)
Boeing 737-7H4
Departs: 5:15 PM
Arrives: 6:10 PM
Load: 100%
Seat: 17F

I board late in the A group, so I get a window seat toward the back.

We push about 15 minutes after I board. The winds have shifted, now the 36’s are active. We rotate off 36R and we’re on our way to the Music City. The captain warns us we will be headed through some rough air, as we have to pass through/around a relatively tame set of the usual Florida afternoon thunderstorms. In particular, he tells us the worst batch will be over the panhandle, about an 80 mile stretch. True to his word, it does get a little rough. The FA’s had begun taking drink orders, but are called back as we hit the front end of this batch. The turbulence lasts for about 12 minutes, with a few good jolts and dips, but nothing too serious, not that worse than average. Soon enough we’re out and it’s mostly smooth sailing to Nashville from here. The FA’s return, and the snacks and drinks are served. It’s an identical snack to the last flight, with the cheese crisps and peanuts.

There’s a small child traveling with her family in the middle seat next to me who had a difficult time sitting still. During the flight, beside using her tray to lay her head on and try to sleep, she also wiped her bare feet against the surface of the tray several times as she attempted some simple in-flight gymnastics. So, a word of warning to you fellow travelers next time you use your tray during service, you don’t know whose feet have been on that tray before.
Flying time is a brief 91 minutes. Our decent into BNA:

We land on 2C (How many 2C’s are there around the world? Can’t be too many out there I’d guess), and use practically the entire runway.

As the FA makes the arrival announcement during taxi to gate C19, he adds at the end to remember “Fees don’t fly with us” when we fly in the future. A nice touch, very true, in light of the events of the past weeks, in particular AA’s new baggage charges. (Then UA/US too a few days after this flight).



The flight status boards say my connecting flight is on time. The inbound a/c is coming from SAT, and is running 10 minutes late. I just take a leisurely stroll around the concourse to kill time. Not too much to photograph, just a lot of WN. Down at the AA gates, I’m surprised to see the LAX flight, scheduled at 5:55, is now delayed until at least 9:30. Three and a half hour delay, ouch! The agent announces that the a/c is delayed from LGA, and had just left the ground there. About half the WN flights going out are delayed by 45 minutes or more.
The BNA terminal, well at least concourse C, looks nice. There is still evidence of construction, but it is still refreshed in appearance. I flew through BNA more than 3 years ago, and while that memory has grown vague, it looks better now than I remembered. I think the floor was still tile then, I don’t recall.

I go to my gate area to watch my a/c pull in. I see a blue 733 pull in, and as I look at the tail number, I see it’s ship 323 again! Later I discovered she was routed CLE-BWI-SAT-DEN-SAT-BNA-CLE today, and apparently headed to BWI on flight 2065 again the next day unless the ground crew pulled a switcheroo the next morning.

Southwest Airlines Flight 2033
Nashville-Cleveland
N323SW (Delivered 5/87)
Boeing 737-3H4
Departs: 7:30 PM
Arrives: 9:55 PM
Load: ~50%
Seat: 22A


Finally, a flight today that isn’t filled completely! As I board, I head straight to the back in the hopes of at least a little isolation. I had sat next to one too many acrobats today. I choose 22A, the penultimate row. Other passengers occupy 23A, 23F, and 22F, but otherwise the back is empty. A row to myself, finally!

We push 20 minutes late, and head down to 2L for an unusually powerful takeoff roll.

I have a good view of the sunset. My 350D card is full, so I take a short video instead:


The FA comes through for drink orders. I barter a Heineken with one of my free drink coupons, which is accompanied by a small parcel of peanuts.

We land on old familiar 24L, and taxi down to B8 before parking for the night beside a DL Mad Dog.

Southwest Airlines continues to earn high marks in my book. Their corporate culture of “LUV” is evident in dealings with any of their employees. They have some of the friendliest and professional flight crews in the industry. There’s never any doubt that safety is their number one priority, as it should be. It’s a pleasant experience from start to finish when I fly them. While they may not boast exciting new IFE as the other airlines do, they more than make up for that in reliability, not to mention their “snack” service which puts to shame the free offerings of every other domestic airline save Continental.

Thanks for reading, I appreciate your feedback!