Another weekend trip is done as today I fly Southwest Airlines for the 1st time from here in San Juan, Puerto Rico 🇵🇷 all the way back to Fort Lauderdale 🏝️🛥️ on their Boeing 737-800 im really excited since I’ve never flown SWA and from reviews I’ve heard they are great some say the best in the US 🇺🇸 not sure about that US part but it was a great experience so let’s make our way to San Juan’s airport to get this trip started!
Flight Info
Origin: Luis Munoz Marin Intl 🇵🇷 ( TJSJ )
Destination: Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Intl 🇺🇸 ( KFLL )
Flight Time: 2:10
Boeing 737-800 ( Southwest-Heart )
Server: Expert
Unlike JetBlue, Southwest does NOT have its own terminal here at SJU, instead they operate out of terminal B which also is served by the good old banana bus 🚌🍌 now SWA boards and operates MUCH more different than every other US carrier if you know how they work just skip this part but if you don’t listen.
You are assigned a number when you check in, the number is your place in line for boarding the earlier you check in, the better your position so you board earlier than others and once on the plane, you choose ANY seat yeah that’s right, no assigned seats on SWA. And instead of normal airlines which normally operate one flight with the same number ( ex AA 919 is MIA → CLO ) SWA uses the number as the planes trip for the day which is cool so this plane went from SJU → FLL than FLL → ATL than continues to MDW and finally ends it’s trip in STL and this airline is also extremely popular across families as every passenger is allowed 2 FREE checked bags so for large families and if you are moving, SWA is a good choice!
Now that I explained how they work, let’s board this blue bird!
I was number 38 so I was the 38th person to board and I could have chosen a better view along with a view of the engine but I wanted to make this fair as possible so I picked another behind the wing seat like I did for my JetBlue flight and that winglet is giving me vibes of the Colombian flag 🇨🇴 even though the blue and red on the flag are the other way around than on the winglet, I though this flight would be peaceful but it wasn’t really, before boarding ended, a Karen came up to me and told me I was in her seat, I told her nobody had assigned seats, she didn’t believe me and got a crew member and then she was told the truth so she sat in the back for the rest of the flight and looked at me like a HAWK, similar to that TUI crew from my flight from London Gatwick to Skiathos.
Take off is without a doubt, the best part of the flight especially in a new airline but here’s us blasting out of SJUs RWY 08 off we go back to the sunshine state!
Close up of San Juan down below, hope to come back to SJ or just Puerto Rico in general.
Climbed up to FL360 along the same route back to the states above the Turks and Caicos islands 🇹🇨 and The Bahamas 🇧🇸 crew handed our pretzels and a drink of choice similar to what American Airlines offers on their service from SJU to Miami 🏝️😎 this time around, Wi-Fi is accessible for a fee which is alright but that’s points down compared to JetBlues free WiFi so overall 3 star service for SWA today ⭐️⭐️⭐️
We started our descent into FLL above the Bahamian island of New Providence, home to the nation capital of Nassau and it’s to compare JetBlue to Southwest, in terms of popularity I saw southwest wins because of their “pick your on seat” boarding process and the 2 free checked bags perk. For crew and service, JetBlue gets the point for the basket they had where you can get up and get more snacks, I didn’t see one on this flight and in my opinion, both crews were similar. For entertainment, JetBlue wins once again like SWAs entertainment wasn’t bad but JetBlue offers PTVs and fast and free WiFi. So the overall winner is JetBlue 💙👑 don’t worry I will still fly SWA occasionally if the price is right. But let me know, who do you think is better?
- Southwest
- JetBlue
Crossing back into the USA, with Downtown Miami off in the distance along with Fort Lauderdale’s airport down below!
Turning base for RWY 10L while we catch a view of Sunrise and Pembroke Pines along with the major junction between I-595, I-75 and the Sawgrass Expressway ( FL 869 )
TOUCHDOWN!! Welcome back to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and also the end of the summer in terms of trips between May 26th ( the day summer started) to August 6th ( today ) I went on a total of 6 trips now that’s an accomplishment for me, Hope to break my record next summer!
Out of all the trips which one was your favorite?
- Broadway to Hollywood
- To Colombia in Luxury
- The European Sint Maarten
- Banana vs Animals
- Colombia’s southern neighbor
- Weekend in the plains out of NYC
- Blu vs Luv
Disembarked into gate B9, coincidentally the other side of FLL where I started this trip as SWA uses terminal 1 while almost all international flights depart from terminal 4 but anyways, off I go to eat something and back home I go, got an EPIC trip planned for October who knows before then but as always between now and the next time, see you in the sky! 😉👋