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+--- Thread: A Trip Report I Guess? (/showthread.php?tid=667)
A Trip Report I Guess? - WhiteFright - 06-07-2018
Read Unk's trip report from last year and got inspired. Anyway, time to get into the thread
Having been a huge fan of the professional CS:GO scene for a while, and having my birthday fall a week before the ELeague Major in Boston in January, it was foretold that I should attend. However, I was living in Arizona at that time going to university, so flying was really the only way to reasonably get basically from coast-to-coast. I booked on Southwest since they have some of the better frequencies out of PHX. Unfortunately, Southwest doesn't fly from PHX to BOS non-stop, so I booked a flight that was PHX-MDW-BOS. Now, on the day of the flight, my alarm didn't go off and so I got to PHX about 20 minutes too late after being stuck in traffic in Phoenix (not something I'm used to as I usually fly early in the morning). The first thing I did after getting to the airport was going to the ticket desk and explaining want happened to the agent. She put me on a flight that was taking off about 2 later, but the routing was PHX-LAS-CMH-BOS with a change of planes at LAS with an hour and a half in the airport, during which I paid $20 for a sandwich, chips, and a drink for lunch (ouch).
Both planes on the outbound flight were 737-800's, which are my favorite planes in Southwest's fleet as for whatever reason their 737-700s feel far too cramped for me. Not a whole lot to report on these flights as they were fairly routine for me (other than being one of the last to board due to the check-in process they use to decide boarding priority since I missed my original flight I was checked in for) since I fly Southwest a lot (I flew them around 8 times in the past year). I did capture a photo of a Delta A350 at CMH though, albeit blurry because of the poor lighting.
![[Image: 72Bf7P9.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/72Bf7P9.jpg)
Now as for the Eleague Major itself, it was so much fun. Way more fun than any other live sporting event I've attended. I was going to the event by myself, although I hung out with the same crowd of people both days I attended because the CS:GO subreddit had a discord server for those attending, and we all hung out. Even had SirScoots, a bit of a legend in the CS community, chill and watch the games with us for a couple of hours. The energy in the arena was insane and I highly recommend attending an esports event if you get the chance. Here's a clip from Cloud9, an American team making the playoffs of a CSGO Major for the first time with this roster, defeating SK Gaming, considered one of the best teams in the world, to get to the Grand Final match of the tournament.
(EDIT: The video is having trouble playing back on my browser so here's a direct link if you have the same issue: https://youtu.be/u_Av_6UUSgA)
Anyway, after all the fun it was time to head back to PHX via MDW. I was pleasantly surprised when one of WN's few 737 MAX 8's taxied to the gate at BOS. I had fully expected a 737-700 or -800.
![[Image: byWyToQ.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/byWyToQ.jpg)
The flight from BOS to MDW was amazing and by far the best Southwest flight I've been on, not only due to the excitement of riding on a practically brand new airplane, but the staff took it a step above Southwest's usual friendliness and it was a really enjoyable experience all around. I got an amazing picture of the MAX's wing with the sunset somewhere over New York state.
![[Image: WgKuVY2.png]](https://i.imgur.com/WgKuVY2.png)
Unfortunately, it seemed my luck ended there since I only had about a half hour at Midway, where I bought dinner and hurried to the gate to board the plane back to PHX, a boring old cramped 737-700. I could tell the particular -700 was an older one since it had the Canyon Blue livery still, and the interior wasn't that great, but still the flight wasn't particularly terrible despite this and we landed about 3 hours later with no issues in PHX.
This is my first attempt at making one of these, so constructive criticism is welcome
RE: A Trip Report I Guess? - Zortan - 06-07-2018
Don't worry about criticism - it's pretty great!
I think you could work on getting it in a good order though - here's one I wrote, maybe use that sort of format? Also - for us people who haven't flown Southwest, maybe explain it a bit more - I personally have never flown them for one.
http://aeronauticsonline.com/review-air-canada-777-economy-class-vancouver-toronto/
Yes, I did write that. Some photos are not my own
- credit is given where it's due.
RE: A Trip Report I Guess? - sameel - 06-08-2018
Was a good read, thanks for this!
RE: A Trip Report I Guess? - Unknown98 - 06-08-2018
Cool! I like the USA! USA! chanting in the video lol. very murican. I approve.
I feel like I've asked this before but I assume you can tell the -MAX from the other 737s by the spiky bits on the engine? How is the -MAX interior compared to the non -MAX planes, the same?
RE: A Trip Report I Guess? - Zortan - 06-09-2018
(06-08-2018, 10:26 PM)Unknown98 Wrote: Cool! I like the USA! USA! chanting in the video lol. very murican. I approve.
I feel like I've asked this before but I assume you can tell the -MAX from the other 737s by the spiky bits on the engine? How is the -MAX interior compared to the non -MAX planes, the same?
The spiky things, as you call them (Boeing calls them Chevrons or something) are a distinguishing feature of the MAX. The MAX also has bigger scimitar winglets I believe. From the interior, I think Southwest's MAXs are quite similar if not the same to their -800s. On some airlines it's different, for example Air Canada is replacing their really old A320s with it - very noticeable difference there - the MAX has Boeing Sky Interior (standard on newer NGs), and new seats, etc. But generally, interior is up to the airline - Boeing doesn't do much about the interior (other than the lighting and bins maybe)