Travel Seattle to Sarasota

Travel Seattle to Sarasota

Having travelled in great discomfort a journey in a Boeing 737-900 from Tampa to Seattle the previous year, we were not looking forward to a journey in another 737-900 this year. As the Wall Street Journal had stated two years ago . . . . . .

Skinnier Seats on More Crowded Planes

Slimmed-Down Seating Can Feel More Like a Park Bench, Especially on Longer Flights

This year we were determined to avoid being trapped in a 737-900 for a six hour journey so we had planned to travel to Sarasota airport instead of Tampa. This entailed stops in San José and Atlanta. It took longer but arriving in the local very pleasant Sarasota-Bradenton airport instead of the busy Tampa airport we thought would make the extra journey time worthwhile.

The early start entailed a hotel stay where the staff were not keen on serving breakfast a mere fifteen minutes before the official starting time. But we were able to partake of a very pleasant Wendy’s repast before boarding our flight.

The short flight to San José was fine even abroad the immovably thin seated 737-900. It was even pleasant taking off from a runway not far from the factory where our plane was born.

Arriving in San José, we had plenty of time to cover the distance to our gate for our flight to Atlanta. Here we boarded a rather ancient 737-800. This took us back to the days when a few tiny screens came down from the ceiling and we all strained our eyes upwards to see a faint image of the very latest film. Unfortunately we hadn’t the faintest idea which film they were showing.

But here came our first surprise. This ancient plane had the old seating with copious amounts of space between each seat. The seats were thick and comfortable unlike the latest thin seats specially designed for the 737-900. So the flight from San Jose to Atlanta was more comfortable than we expected save for some clear air turbulence then storm clouds during the last hour of the flight.

We only had a half hour to get to our next flight but we knew exactly what to do thanks to the very friendly cabin crew. Atlanta airport has the usual small train between different areas of the terminal so we were soon joining the line for the flight.

There are apparently six flights a day from Atlanta to Sarasota and they are very popular. They use the old MD88 aircraft which feels to me more like a rocket than a plane. We were seated almost on the back row of seats parallel with the engines and the wings so there was no doubt about the efficiency of this arrangement. But once again we had thick comfortable seat spaced apart for old fashioned comfort and a full plane of happy Sarasotian’s returning to civilisation and sensible weather.

By now it was dark and Atlanta was surrounded by black storm clouds but the only effects we felt was a sudden blast sideways as we ascended to cruising height. It sounded as though the captain was a Sarasota man as he announced that we were on our way to “Sarasot” flying over St Petes beach.

It didn’t take long before we were over the Gulf  – that warm sea – heading down beside route 41 to land in the little Sarasota airport.

Although it was dark when we landed, here is a daylight landing of an MD88.

As we left, I asked the captain how about the age of the plane. He disappeared into the cabin and returned saying, “It was built in 1992. That’s 24 years old.