Travel Day

I am on the road again today. I woke up this morning to catch an early flight to the Bay Area and will be on a flight back home later this evening. I prefer to do a one-day trip as opposed to spending the night in a hotel. There is something very comforting about sleeping in your own bed.

I bought my ticket on Tuesday and so the cheapest airline was Southwest. Those that fly a lot know that Southwest doesn't have assigned seating. You are basically assigned an order that they use to load the plane. The sooner you check into your flight, the sooner you get to board the plane. This makes Internet check-in a very useful tool. The only rule is that you can't check into your flight earlier than 24-hours before it departs. That means if you flight is at 7am MST on Thursday, you can't check in until 7am MST on Wednesday.

I had a conference call yesterday morning when I could have been checking into my flight and so I had to wait until I was done before I could get on the Internet. I was still in the early boarding group and so I was happy with my plane boarding order. Last night when it came time to check in, I was at a Snowbird Ski Team Board meeting. I thought about using my iPhone to check in during the meeting. The only problem was that I needed my confirmation number and I didn't have it with me. I had to wait until I got home. When I finally did check in, I was stuck in the second boarding group.

This morning's flight out was not very full as there were only 60 people on the whole plane. My hope is that the flight home is equally empty. Unfortunately, I don't think that will be the case. Thursday afternoons are huge travel times. In any case, the secret to getting a good Southwest flight is to be on the Internet 24 hours before your flight leaves. And don't forgot to have your flight confirmation number with you.