Review of Southwest Airlines flight from Cincinnati to Orlando in Economy

Returning to Orlando was actually a coincidence: it just happened to be the best Southwest flight from Cincinnati to New York (where I needed to go), after considering times and prices and dates. Flying into Long Island was also the best for me. I did look at changing it later on to get to New York a bit earlier, but this had been booked before they got rid of free bags and any changes to the booking after May 28 would get rid of the free bags. Plus they couldn't be paid for with credit, which paid for the rest of the $108 flight. It was more than the big 3 but since it was free it made sense.

On the day of this flight I woke up to the news of the crash of the 787-8 VT-ANB operating Air India flight AI171 from Ahmedabad to London-Gatwick. It was a devastating incident and I offer my condolences to the friends and family of everyone on board.

This was a special flight because it was my 100th flight post-pandemic. Due to Western Australia's hard border closure with the rest of the world I only took two flights for two years of the pandemic. The post-COVID travels began with a rather unexciting Virgin Australia Perth-Melbourne flight and continued across five continents, close to 50 countries, 43 airlines, and around 240,000 kilometers of flying (or roughly 43 New York-London runs). This 100th flight was again, not the most exciting of airlines or routes!

Lots of cargo planes in Cincinnati and this one I saw from even before the terminal.

There were a bunch of delays and I only got to check-in just over an hour before departure. The benefit of that was there was no line at all.

As I discovered later, it happened to be the 53rd anniversary of Southwest's launch of operations! 

The check-in agent was quite friendly and relaxed, even though it was pretty late.
The main international carrier in CVG had its check-in right next to Southwest.

The boarding passes for both flights were printed in Cincinnati and stapled together on the side, which I've never seen before on other airlines.
The departures for today, almost exclusively domestic with three international flights: Air Canada to Toronto and Montreal, and Delta to Paris-Charles de Gaulle.

Somehow the security line in CVG tends to look longer than it is. It didn't take very long to get to the front, though scanning was a little slow.
Passing the same display I'd seen on the way in:

Gates were probably within walking distance but I took the train.

And here's our plane, a 19.4 year old 737-700 registered N229WN.

Some AAs in the distance.

There was plenty of seating because one of the two gates in that area was empty. It would be extremely crowded if both gates had flights, though.

People started lining up while the incoming passengers were still coming off, I guess because they'd made some announcements about how the boarding system works and people may have misunderstood that as calling boarding. It took a little while longer for boarding to actually start. More people were confused about the group boarding system than on the last flight, and they seemed to be enforcing it since a few people got sent back for coming too early.
Welcome onboard!

Seating was a free-for-all, which I really dislike. It also doesn't make sense for Southwest since they could get so much revenue from seating. I ended up in a middle seat near the back. Quite a few people, especially families, were struggling to find seats.
I took very few pictures since the flight was pretty much the same as the last one.

The cabin was the same as on the last flight, including no charging or adjustable headrests.

The seatback pocket had a safety card, sickness bag, and a card with a drinks menu and entertainment information.

Personal lights and vents.

I could barely hear the safety announcements since everyone was talking super loudly, literally dozens of people in conversations and then the flight attendents almost shouting about what to do with the oxygen masks so that they could be heard. It genuinely may have been the loudest flight I've ever been on.
We took off a bit late and after take-off people got a bit quieter. Entertainment content was the same as the last flight (there are more pictures in that flight report). That one had said it was a 9-something hour flight, this one was at least a bit closer to being accurate.

There isn't huge selection, but I found something to watch that was a bit more interesting than what I'd watched on the last flight so it didn't feel as small.
Service, as on the last flight, started with the crew taking drink orders from everyone, then handing out the snacks and drinks. I asked for apple juice.

The bathroom was incredibly tiny, smaller than regional jet bathrooms.
Pretty small cabin.

I asked for some more water while I was in the back and they were very happy to give it to me. The crew were generally friendly on this flight, welcoming everyone and asking how they were during boarding, and hospitable during the service as well. Nothing exceptional, but generally friendly.

Before landing everyone started talking again. It was a little annoying but also a little cute since I do understand it, there were lots of families going to Disney World, probably for the first time, and they were all very, very excited. Shortly before touchdown one of the flight attendents welcomed everyone who was going to Disney World and started singing a song about Mickey Mouse. Lots of people were clapping and singing along. There was also a lot of cheering and clapping when we landed which is pretty rare in the US.

We passed an American livery I've never seen before.

And Virgin Atlantic.

The layover was around three hours, so enough time to go out for the afternoon. There was a train back to the main terminal.

We passed some Southwest planes on the way.

There was a nice little spot of nature next to the runway.

No bags to pick up so I went straight out of the airport. I'll end this one here and start the Orlando to Islip flight report from the return to Orlando airport. Thanks for reading.