Southwest Airlines - pissing me off!

Now I love Southwest Airlines. I have flown Southwest exclusively since moving to Philly. I used to be able to get flights from PHI to PVD for $29 each way. I can still get them for $49 each way. I use their credit card and fly so often that I rack up free flights way faster than I can use them. You can even give the free flights to other people for free! Which I have done. All flights are done in one-way portions so I can fly Philly to Providence but then Manchester to Philly without paying extra for one-ways. They fly into PVD so I can visit my parents, MHT to see my family/go skiing, PIT to see alma mater and FLL to see my godson. They are courteous, fun and haven't lost one of my bags yet. And honestly we have had a hard time even paying for a drink on a plane because they keep giving them to us for free (if only they had another vodka since I am not a huge Finlandia fan). You can check 2 bags for FREE! I really really like them. I really do. But then . . .

My first issue with them (that I knew about) started last week when I ordered a gift card from them to give to my parents this weekend. I ordered it on Wednesday around noon. And everything was fine. I got the little confirmation screen telling me to print it out for my records etc etc. I didnt. I never do. My bad. But I always get confirmation emails with the same information! So by the end of the day I hadnt gotten either the confirmation email (supposed to be immediate) or the actual gift card email (can be delayed up to 12 hours) but I wasn't worried. I was worried Thursday evening when I hadn't gotten either the confirmation email or the actual gift card. Yes I checked my spam folder. No charge had gone through on my credit card so I wasn't panicking. But I was planning on giving it to my parents on Friday so I wanted to print it out at work before going to the airport (to fly with them no less). So I called them up and told them the problem. Just asking for general information since I didnt have the confirmation number (I know, my bad) but they were really nice about it. They canceled the previous order, put in a new order, gave me my confirmation number, told me the confirmation email would arrive shortly and the gift card email within 12 hours. Plenty of time before I had to leave. Well it is now Wednesday. It has been a week since my original order. I have gotten no confirmation emails. I have gotten no gift card emails. And my credit card has been charged. Luckily it wasn't super important that I actually give my parents the card, I could just tell them about it. But some sort of information would be nice here. Apparently, according to someone's post on Southwest's Facebook page, I am not the only one with an issue. Which is fine, I understand that there is some sort of problem, but send me an email or give me a phone call and tell me about it and apologize or something. I just don't expect this sort of lack of attention and consideration from this company. Or I didn't. Which brings me to my next problem with Southwest Airlines that was brought to my attention this week . . .

EarlyBird Check-in. So in case you have never flown with Southwest, let me explain how the boarding process works. And has worked. They do not have assigned seating. It is open seating. Which means you get on a plane and as long as you are over 15 you can pick any seat that is open. If you are 15 or under you can pick any seat other than the emergency exit rows. So in order to get that perfect seat it all depends on when you get on the plane. When I started flying Southwest in 2004 the way it worked was this. Starting at midnight the day that you are flying you can check in for your flight (one of the first online check-ins and so great not to have to go to the counter or even a kiosk if you arent checking bags). And depending on when you checked in you got an A, B or C boarding pass. You printed this out and went to the airport. When you got there you went to the gate and there were 3 lines (A, B, C) set up. You got in line and sat there and waited. So depending on when you checked in determined your line. And when you got to the airport determined your place in that line. This worked fine for me because 1) I dont mind checking in at midnight. 2) I dont mind sitting on the floor. 3) I dont mind getting to the airport early, in fact I prefer it. But I could see how it was annoying. And there were fights about saving places in line and if putting your bag in line counted, etc etc. And it meant you had to be at a computer at midnight the morning before flying. So it made sense when they changed it. First they changed the midnight thing. Instead of midnight the day you were flying, they changed it to 24 hours before your flight. Which was nice. No more sitting at the copmuter waiting to go to bed. But you still had to camp out in line. So next they changed it to the current system. Starting 24 hours before your flight you can check in online and get a boarding number. So you get A 1-60, B 1-60 or C 1-60 depending on when you check in. So as long as you have access to a computer (or mobile device) 24 hours before your flight you have a good chance of getting your A boarding pass and then you could show up to the airport whenever and sit in the chairs or the bar until your number group was called. Now this is all important because, especially now (even though it is free to check bags) NO ONE seems to check bags. And so if you are boarding as a late B or C, most likely 1) you are going to get a dreaded middle seat and 2) you might have to check your carry-on because the overhead bins will be full. But at least you know it will get on the plane since you are gate checking it. But it is annoying. So that was fine with me. It is crazy how many people check in at 24 hours before on the dot. If you are a minute late, you are getting a high A or a B even. But as long as you have an A, you will get a window seat if you want it. So that is all well and good. Cheap flights without all the extra fees and fair seating (assuming you have ready internet access; which is obviously not true for everyone). But it is what it is. Then they instituted the Business Select seating. So now you pay more (like $80 more) but you are guaranteed an A, no matter when you check in. So now you can pay for an A 1-16. Which seemed a little against Southwest's whole thing. You also get a free drink and more credits towards free flights. But there are only 16 Business Select seats per flight. So it isnt like everyone can buy an A etc. Then they instituted the A-list. If you fly 32 one-way flights in a 12 month period you automatically got an A boarding pass whenever you flew within a 12 month period after that. That is a whole lot of flights and that didnt bother me. There aren't that many A-listers. But then, this started within the last week or so, they instituted the EarlyBird Check-In. The way (I think) this works is this. You buy your ticket (not Business Select). And then between that time and 36 hours before your flight you can buy into the EarlyBird program for $10 each way on your flight. And then 36 hours before your flight, the Business Select passengers are automatically assigned their numbers. Then the A-listers are automatically assigned their numbers. And then the EarlyBird-ers are automatically assigned their numbers (I assume in order of purchase? but I am not sure). Between 36 hours and 25 hours prior to your flight you can also buy in. At 25 hours before the flight all of those people (who bought in between 36 and 25 hours prior) are automatically assigned their numbers. And then at 24 hours prior to the flight everyone else can manually check in. Which means that if most people on your flight use EarlyBird, then 1) they arent even guaranteed an A because now everyone is in the same pot and 2) you are stuck with whatever is left. So they are forcing you to pay an extra $10 just for the CHANCE to get an A. And (I think) it is all dependent on when you buy into the EarlyBird pot. So if I buy my ticket for Christmas now I can probably get an A. But if say I have to fly tomorrow or this weekend, for an emergency, I am screwed out of an A. Maybe. This seems antithetical to previous Southwest policy. If they need to make more money, raise the fares. If they want to streamline the way the seating works, then assign seats. But this just seems wrong to me. And the general tone of commenters on the Southwest blog (Nuts About Southwest) and on their Facebook page looks like I am not alone.

I am disappointed in Southwest right now. And I hope that it changes soon. Because in general as a company I really do like them. I think they make excellent use of Twitter, Facebook and the internet at large. They have the nicest, friendliest (and it seems happiest) airline employees I have dealt with. And I feel like I fly pretty often considering I am not rich and I dont fly for work. I have flown with them 18 times in the last 12 months. I hope they fix their gift card glitches soon and more importantly I hope they look again at who they are trying to serve and dont start becoming a big fee airline.

Swish swish swish

We went skiing this weekend! Yay! We had a really good time. Friday after work, Matty went to the airport to pick up a rental car (a lovely Chevy Malibu) and I stopped at Wawa and picked up dinner. Then off to the Great White North . . . well, north anyway. We drove up to Scranton to the Days Inn Scranton (actually in Dickson City). It was a Days Inn. No better or no worse than any other Days Inn, especially for less than $60 a night.

Saturday we got up early and drove about 20 miles to Elk Mountain. An adorable PA ski resort in Union Dale, PA. 1000' vertical drop, 27 trails, 6 lifts. Cheap rentals ($52 for 2 days) and decent weekend tickets (all day and night both days for $95). Oh and really cheap food! We skied the entire thing by early afternoon. I would say it is a solid Intermediate mountain. Nice wide trails, great snowmaking. There were a few true blacks due to moguls and maybe steepness. But nothing terribly difficult. I mean this was Matty's 4th day skiing. Ever. And he had no problem with anything at all. It got pretty warm by late afternoon but the conditions actually held up pretty well overall, I was surprised. More snow than I am used to actually. And they have night skiing (6 trails, 3 lifts) til 10! Who needs to be able to ski from 8:30 am til 10 pm? Who can ski that long? We made it til 7ish and then called it a night. Luckily for us, they had overnight ski locks. For .50 apiece! Nice! So we didnt have to put out the skis in the Malibu. A wonderful thing about these new (to me) shaped skis. They are so short! I was skiing on 150s! Had some trouble finding dinner but ended up at an Uno's. Because honestly, I love me an Uno's every once in awhile.

Sunday we got up a bit less early though feeling remarkably good conisdering our overall out-of-shapeness. We were a bit concerned that it was already 45! At 8:30! And then it started to rain on the way to the Mountain. We stopped at a Krispy Kreme to console ourselves (the light way on!) But it was MUCH colder on the mountain, thanks in large part to a considerable wind. But again, the conditions held up fantastically. I brought my camera to take some pics since I wasnt as worried about falling since the trails simply werent that difficult. But it was too cold to take many pictures. I got a few nice ones. The views were really awesome. I dont think they look as good in the pics but it really was pretty. (More pics here) There were many fewer people on Sunday, probably because of the forecast. But it seems like most people there were locals. And rich. They all had their own equipment, and really nice equipment at that. And mostly all newer stuff, only saw a half dozen to a dozen people with straight skis. They all had really nice gear. And all the kids were on race teams it seemed. Must be nice. We skied until 5ish and then called it a day and headed back to Philly.

Overall a delightful (though not cheap) weekend.

Happy Pumpkin Cheesecake Day!

Hello and welcome to this edition of "What have Matty and Sara been up to?"

Movies:
I feel like I have no reviewed many movies recently. But I cant really remember, so if some of these are repeats, sorry.
The Simpsons Movie: Everyone who I have heard talk about this movie has said that same thing. It seems like a long episode from one of there good but not great seasons. We had to see it, we did, there ya go. Do you like the Simpsons? Go see it. If you dont, dont.
Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone: The first of the Harry Potters. It is pretty good, it had a lot to do and it did it. But again, if you like or think you might like Harry Potter, see it, otherwise, dont.
A History of Violence: I liked it. There were scenes I didnt watch but over all, not too gratuitously gory. I would say it is gratuitously violent though. Including a very violent sex scene not for the faint of heart. Viggo Mortensen is pretty hot. I would recommend it to fans of violent dramas or David Cronenberg.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Better than the first. Still though, if you dont like Harry Potter, why see it?
Harry Potter and the Prsioner of Azkaban: Better than the first, starting to diverge a bit from the books (by necessity due to length).
Maxed Out: A pretty good documentary about predatory lending and our obsession with credit. Worth seeing, interesting to note things they warn about vs what is happening.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Favorite so far. Does what it absolutely needs to do in a decent amount of time, but things were left out that I am curious about how they will be addressed in future movies. If Matty would just finish the next one!
Charlie Wilson's War: Really really good. Highly recommend! Great look at a very interesting and often overlooked peice of history. Speaks volumes about our current foreign policy and military issues. Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts are fantastic.
Rocky Balboa: It is a Rocky movie. Dont really expect more than that. Not as bad as some, not as god as the first.
Cloverfield: Was talked into this for our biweekly Blu-Ray movie night at Dan's. I dont like scary movies so I was against seeing it. But it isnt really a scary movie. It is a monster movie. It was ok. Not outstanding. Better than a lot of monster movies (I am looking at you Godzilla). Worth seeing if you are interested in monster movies. Saw a lot more of the monster than I thought. I refuse to start looking stuff up about it on the internet. So not going there.
Iron Man: Was totally impressed. Seeing it on a big-ass TV on Blu-Ray didnt hurt. Disclaimer: it is a comic book movie. If you thought that Spiderman and Xmen are too hokey and comic booky, you should probably stay away. But it is actually good. Good actors (Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow), pretty good effects (though there were some scenes where the cgi didnt quite match). And Jon Favreau! Who knew? My one problem: Jeff Bridges should stick to good guys. The Dude should not be a bad guy. I was totally humming Iron Man all last night (Matty wasnt happy).

TV:
Heroes, current season: I have missed the last 3 episodes. Which makes Matty happy. But makes me sad, because I thought this season was going pretty good.
The Wire, Season 1: Recently finished this. I am pretty interested to see what happens in later episodes. A bit on the scary side I have to say though. Makes me happy I didnt go to Hopkins.
The Office, current season: Funniest show on TV. Hands down. Enough said.
Rome, Season 2: Wow. I thought the first one was overly expensive, lavish, violent and had a bit too much violent Roman sex. But no, I was wrong. That is season 2. I cant belive all that happened in one season. Worth seeing. I totally see why HBO cant afford another season though.
House, current season: So happy about the end of last episode!

Food:
Cant even really remember. But last night we made "Barbecue chicken salad" from my Southern Heritage cookbook. First whisk together 2 Tbsp cider vinegar, 1 Tbsp sugar, 4 tsp worcestershire (or soy if you are out like us) sauce, 1/2 tsp dry mustard, 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, 1 tsp hot sauce. In a skillet, cook 2 slices bacon until crispy. Remove bacon and all but 1 Tbsp fat from skillet. In bacon fat, saute 1 small onion, chopped and 2 cloves garlic, minced until softened. Add 1 lb chicken breast cut into 1/2 inch x 1 inch strips. Cook until cooked through. Add sauce to pan and 1 cup frozen corn. Cook for 2 minutes. Make salad of lettuce, 1 red bell pepper cut into strips, 1 green bell pepper cut into strips, 2 green onions, chopped and bacon, chopped. Serve chicken mixture over salad.

Other things:
2 weeks ago was me and Matty's 10 year anniversary. We went to Annapolis for the weekend with my parents, godparents and family friends for the International Boat Show. It was a gorgeous weekend and we had a good time at the show, especially with the free Pusser's painkillers in the mugs after hours.

Last week was my Genetics department talk which went really well. Trying to schedule the big thesis committee meeting now.

Sunday Matty and I did the Philly AIDS Walk 15000 people raised $450,000 for the 12K walk or 10K run. We walked :-). It was really chilly though! But a beautiful walk up from the Art Museum to East Falls and back.

Ok, you are kinda up to date. Maybe. Well, that is all I have time for.

Awesome

No visibility on jersey turnpike

Happy Johnny Appleseed Day!

Right, so I am still sick. Or rather, I am sick and have been all week. A fantastic combination of stomach issues, head and back pain, sore throat and stuffy nose. Fabulous, oh and we are driving to RI tonight. Which I was kinda excited about cuz it is something different. A roadtrip. It is actually cheaper for us to get a car for the weekend and pay for gas than to fly this time. So driving it is. Which would be fun. Except that now I am sick and cranky.

But more importantly, on October 17th Matty and I are doing the AIDS Walk here in Philly as part of the UBH team (read: as the UBH team). So if you are in a giving mood and want to support me: http://www.aidsfundphilly.org/walk/participant.php?id=130754

So that is my little spiel. Thanks for reading.

A few things

Ok let me see.

Miami was great. Hot and humid and gross, but otherwise great. Especially since we spent most of our time inside. We got in very late Friday night/early Saturday morning. Saturday we helped prepare for the birthday party. Saturday afternoon/evening was the party. Almost everyone except us and Nicole speaks Spanish so Matty got to practice a little and I got to feel like I was in another country. Nicole was sick for most of the day unfortunately. But EJ enjoyed himself it seemed. He got a lot of toys and a few books and some clothes from me. Sunday we got a bit of a tour of Miami. Neither of us had been there before so Nicole and E droe us around and showed us Miami Beach, South Beach, downtown Miami and Coral Gables. It was nice to get a feel for the city a little bit. It is ENORMOUS! I much more enjoy cities like Philly that a more condensed and where people live, work and play in the same place. Monday we took a drive through the Everglades to hunt for gators. We saw a few but the recent rain from Hannah and Gustav flooded a bunch of the road and the swamp and we were there pretty late in the day so most of them were hiding and the drive took several hours longer than expected. That was the only time EJ got cranky at all and really cried. But honestly I think we were all pretty cranky by that point. He is so cute. He looks a lot more like Nicole now. He used to look like a little version of E. He is walking all by himself and can get up from the floor by himself. He still falls when making turns but otherwise is totally on the go. He talks to himself but no one else can understand him. I think he will be talking soon. It will be interesting to see what combination of English and Spanish he speaks first. He also learned "clap" while we were there. So you can tell him to clap and he does. I hope we get down there to see him more often now and at some point maybe see the beach.

Work is a bit on the ridiculous side. One major reasons being that Nina thinks I should graduate in May. Of 2009. Which is a full year earlier than I was hoping for. And she thinks I can have 3 papers done by then. Plus my thesis. I currently have 0. So things are ridiculous and I dont want to talk about it.

I installed 32-bit Vista on my laptop so now I can sync my phone with my computer. Yay!

We have watched recently . . . 4th season of The Office which is fantastic, just finished episode 7. The Namesake which was very good and I was totally able to not think about Harold and Kumar the whole time. Knocked Up which I liked except that she is totally a whiny bitch for most of the movie and not at all happy about having a kid. I still think 40-year Old Virgin is funnier. Son of Rambow, VERY good, highly recommend. Zodiac, also enjoyed but found a bit on the confusing side sometimes. Like they cut scenes to make it shorter but there was necessary information in those scenes that was lost or something. But Jake Gyllenhaal is SO hot it doesnt really matter.

Random things - tried Loie Saturday. Good burgers, totally empty for lunch at 1 on a Saturday. Went to Greenfest yesterday. Was very surprised how extensive it was. Bought a bunch of ChicoBags as presents because I LOVE mine and carry it EVERYWHERE. Thanks Beth! For brunch tried Cantina Dos Segundos in Northern Liberties. Very good, pretty much exactly like the first one. For dinner made the bestest sandwiches on earth. Paninis on Le Bec Fin foccacia with rustico red pepper (a young semi-firm pecorino), black forest smoked turkey, carmelized onions and fresh tomato from the garden. Oh my god! With pepper shooters and garlic stuffed green olives on the side.

My parents are in Greece. They left at 6:30 last night from Boston -> Madrid -> Athens. Then they are leaving in an hour for Kerkyra Island, Corfu. They are going to sail around the Greek Isles for a week with the people whose boat my dad sailed across the Atlantic. Then they have 2 weeks to travel around Greece themselves and they will be back on the 27th. So fucking jealous.

Right, will post more later. I promise!

Awwww

In Miami for EJs (my godson) birthday. Here he is, a bit wiped out.

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Sailing pics

Our pictures are posted on flickr. So you can check them all out.

Day ? - gloucester

spent the day in town. Had some run ins with the harbormaster. Not well organized or friendly. Had a lovely 13 person dinner on board for my parents anniversary. Today to the beach house.

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Day 6 - gloucester

After a rough ride here, arrived safely though wet. Joined by green wave, godparents. Extended cocktail hour featuring pomegranate margaritas and homemade sausage. Today is cloudy and sad looking but I slept in til 8.

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Days 4 and 5 - ptown

spent monday at beach saw huge seal, dinner on shore at cafe heaven to belatedly celebrate mattys birthday. Absolutely fabulous meal and matty made a friend of the waiter, pablo. Got him a free drink, free dessert and an invitation for later in the evening.

tuesday slept in til 730. Had breakfast on shore at edwiges. Another fantastic meal. Spent the day wandering the stores, streets and galleries of ptown. Also climbed the pilgrim memorial tower. Only 225 feet. Lunch at spiritus, my fave pizza place. Dinner aboard after cocktail hour and then a trip ashore for showers and ice cream. And a bit of people watching, including drag karaoke.

This morning up at 5 to depart by 6 heading to gloucester. Whales! At least a dozen, feeding playing jumping breaching. Amazing. All around the boat. We think humpbacks. Also a big school of tuna. Then weather got real bad, rain, huge following seas but good winds to sail in. Finished reading The Golden Compass. On mooring in gloucester awaiting next storm.

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Day three - Provincetown, a rainbow, go figure

Left onset at 8 and headed into the canal, very fast trip, sailed for a few hours on other side, finally! no whales or blues or mermaids, arrived in p-town, went ashore, thunderstorm, rainbow, lovely dinner on between the sheets. This morning up at 6 for fresh portuguese baked goods and restaurant search. Off to beach soon.

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Day two - Onset

Yesterday left after breakfast, no good wind, saw a shark, lots of asshole powerboaters in canal entrance. Crazy thunderstorm, vegan pate and pesto big hits at cocktail hour, stuffies and chowder for dinner. This morning up at sunrise for another day of travel. Cape Cod canal and provincetown.

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Day one - cuttyhunk, perfection

we arrived yesterday, spent the afternoon on the beach, had a lovely dinner, got up at sunrise for a row around the harbor before breakfast, preparing to depart now. Finally starting to relax.

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