Recently I took a trip to visit a friend who lives just outside of Fort Myers, Florida. Below is a quick trip report/picture thread regarding my two flights down to the sunshine state. I hope you enjoy and feel free to ask any questions below. Please note that I am no photographer and that these pictures were taken on an iPhone, lol.
My first flight was Southwest Airlines flight 181 to Baltimore; a 6:30am flight with a duration of about 50mins. The plane in use was a B737-800. Getting to the airport was smooth considering the fact that it was 4:45am and traffic was light. I also live not too far from Bradley (about 20mins) so it made it an easy trip over.
After I arrived at the airport, I headed over to security and flew right through with no problems. They weren’t even checking boarding passes so that was one less thing I didn’t need to show them! Since I had expected security to take a little longer, I had a bunch of extra time and decided to grab some breakfast and do my daily read on the IFC.
Finally the hour of extra time I had before boarding ended and it was time for me to hop on the plane. I was boarding group A so I was one of the first people on the plane.
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It was a great morning for flying with a great sunrise that I was able to experience, which is shown above. After everyone boarded, it was time to get the heck out of Connecticut.
I did try uploading a takeoff/landing video to YouTube but it’s not being very user friendly, so I am sorry I do not have one linked for you to see.
For most of the flight, it got really cloudy and it was hard to see everything below. It was only when we began descent into BWI that I was able to grab a few pictures… but even then, there were multiple cloud layers which made it hard to get good pictures.
We arrived on schedule and let me tell you, I felt like I was flying in IF. We were barreling towards the airport pretty fast and then slowed down real quick at the last minute- which in my opinion is an efficient way to fly… maybe not for the passengers ;) When I got into BWI, the airport was a madhouse. I was shocked to see the number of people that were in the airport especially in COVID times. Luckily I had a nice short walk from my arrival gate to my next departure gate and it made for an easy layover. Southwest Airlines does an amazing job at running that airport like clockwork. I witnessed multiple flights arrive, unload, reload and depart during my 2hr connection there. Hats off to them for their great work.
After I had boarded, it was time for my 2.5 hour flight to Fort Myers; Southwest flight 488 in another B737-800.
Live Fire Training Pre Departure
Pushback At A Busy BWI
Blasting Out Of Baltimore
Crossing the Georgia/Florida Border
This flight although 2.5 hours went by super quick. It was extremely smooth and despite it being cloudy, it was still cool to be flying above the clouds. The descent into Fort Myers was smooth, quick and flawless. The pilots and crew did a great job making the flight enjoyable!
Overall my experience with Southwest was awesome. For a $100 ticket, you really get a bang for your buck. If you’re considering going cheaper to fly Southwest, I highly recommend it!
Flying with COVID in many ways is similar to flying previrus. The main differences that I noticed were:
- Masks required on the plane unless you’re eating
- The middle seat on Southwest is left open
- Airports seemed more spread out due to social distancing
- Many food and beverage restaurants were closed
Other than those notes, what I experienced was not much different than the flights I’ve taken before the virus came into play.
I hope you enjoyed this informal trip report and iPhone quality pictures. I am going to create a topic and will post it in the coming days regarding my trip back from Fort Lauderdale to Connecticut on Spirit Airlines. You will have to see if I was able to debunk the theory that Spirit Airlines is the worst. Until then, feel free to post comments and/or questions below and I’ll see y’all on the next one!