Note: This Flight Occurred in May of 2021
To kick off this adventure we first needed to position up to New York to take advantage of a cheap First Class fare I found on United. While connecting in NYC is definitely out of the way to get from Texas to STT, the only way to get any sort of decent fare was to book a connection. The daily AA nonstop was absurdly priced for our travel dates and wanted over $1000 for a RT economy ticket.
Booking
We booked our flight directly with the airline on Southwest.com. I did take a look at other options using Google Flights but I had a Southwest promotional Companion Pass so there wasn’t anything cheaper when taking the free ticket into account.
Pre-Flight
One of the perks of living close to the airport is the fact that we don’t have to take potential traffic into account when deciding to leave for the airport. We were curbside at Dallas Love Field a few minutes after leaving the house. I dropped Mrs. ATX Jetsetter off with the bags and went to park the car in the garage.
There was absolutely no line for TSA PreCheck and I was airside less than 10 minutes after parking the car and headed off to find Mrs. ATX Jetsetter.
We only had 20 minutes before boarding was scheduled to begin and needed to grab dinner. While there are many food options at Dallas Love Field, the only one that didn’t have a crazy line was Campisi’s, so we grabbed a couple of pizzas.
Food in hand, we headed over to the gate area and found a seat. Our waiting Southwest 737-700 in the old Canyon Blue livery was waiting for us at Gate 20.
Boarding
Boarding was slightly delayed and started about 5 minutes behind schedule. Southwest has a weird boarding process where you take a number and line up based on zones. We didn’t check in fast enough and ended up in the B boarding group, meaning about 60-70ish passengers boarded before it was our turn.
Southwest Airlines
WN 2234
DAL-LGA (Dallas Love Field – New York-LaGuardia)
Seat: 11B (Economy)
B737-700 (N494WN)
Scheduled: 7:00p-11:25p
Actual: 7:14p-11:33p
It must have been my lucky day because, even with a later boarding group, we still managed to snag the two seat pair in row 11, the exit row. This is the only good seating option for couples on this plane as it guarantees that no strangers will be sitting beside you during the flight.
Seat
For the most part, on Southwest all seats are created equal. With an all economy configuration the pitch and legroom are the same and you won’t find any seatback entertainment on any of their Boeing 737’s. Legroom was slightly cramped for my 6’ 2” frame but my knees weren’t hitting the seatback so I was happy.
Departure
Due to the late boarding start, as well as it being a full flight and people taking a while to get situated, we ended up pushing back from the gate about 15 minutes late next to another Southwest 737-700 in the ‘Louisiana One’ paint scheme.
During this trip, Love Field was resurfacing one of their two runways, so all traffic was pushed over to 13L/31R. This caused a small delay as we had to wait for some inbound traffic to clear, but soon we were airborne and on our way to New York!
In Flight
Once we hit cruising altitude the flight attendants started the service which, for the first time since Covid began, didn’t just consist of a cup of water. They had 4 beverage options you could choose from, Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, and water and were actively offering all of them. I had a Coke which was served with a bag of Southwest’s signature, extremely salty, snack mix.
I passed the time watching The 15:17 to Paris. Once that was over, we had under an hour remaining to our destination so I passed the time watching the moving map as we approached LaGuardia.
Arrival
We had a smooth, quick approach into LaGuardia and, since it was almost midnight, we didn’t have to sit around waiting for a gate. We arrived into Gate 56 in the new Terminal B and parked next to another Southwest 737-700.
Stepping off the plane I got my first glimpse of the new LaGuardia and all I can say is wow! The old dumpy terminal has been replaced with something light and airy and the extremely tall ceilings are a welcome departure from the old LGA. There was also plenty of room for shops and restaurants making it someplace you wouldn’t absolutely hate while waiting on a flight.
We headed up over the bridge that connected the island terminal to the headhouse and down into the completely redone baggage claim area where we waited for our luggage.
Our bags hit the belt 25 minutes after arrival and we headed outside to the taxi stand to grab a cab over to Newark and our hotel for the night, the Marriott Newark Airport.
Summary
Southwest delivered exactly what people have come to expect from them. A somewhat on-time flight, free bags, and not a whole lot in terms of inflight service. The staff was friendly and professional but, if it wasn’t for my promotional Companion Pass, we would have flown one of the Big 3 from Dallas to New York.
