“There are a ton of us on these flights that are essentially commuting between Northern and Southern California,” she stated.
State legislators from Southern California fly Southwest so usually that an ecosystem has advanced round their schedules, with lobbyists reserving flights initially or finish of the week within the hope of sitting subsequent to a lawmaker. Southwest accounts for greater than half of site visitors at Sacramento International Airport.
“The Legislature is totally dependent on Southwest functioning,” stated Tom Umberg, a Democratic state senator. He has commuted to the state capital for years from Orange County and says the airline is the one actual possibility for his 450-mile commute, aside from Interstate 5, a significant north-south freeway that runs via California.
Ms. Friedman stated she would face a seven-hour drive if she couldn’t catch her normal Southwest airplane from Burbank, which she has come to treat as “a giant flying bus.”
“I enjoy it,” she stated. “I like there’s no first class, and everyone is there, eating the same Chex Mix or whatever it is for breakfast.”
A Democrat, Ms. Friedman stated she would normally sit with a Republican senator from one other a part of Los Angeles County, and use the flight to compensate for work, a minimum of when the airplane was not full of faculty teams on area journeys to Sacramento. This current episode, nevertheless, has been sobering, she stated.
“We don’t have a good statewide mass transit system in California, and we need to do more to support our rail network,” she stated, planning for the Legislature’s return subsequent week to Sacramento. She has a few payments in thoughts for that, she added — assuming that she makes it there.
David Montgomery contributed reporting from Austin, Texas.