Due to my unforeseen “clerical error”, last month I realized that I would come up one leg short of the requirements for qualifying for Southwest’s A-List for the next year. This left just over one month (and a busy one) to try schedule a quick flight, and hopefully an inexpensive one.
Having A-List status is a real boon for our vacation trips, as it allows me to board earlier and store overhead bags as well as save a neighboring seat for Mo. Besides that bonus miles, it also avoids the hassle of logging in 24-hrs in advance to reserve a line position. Unfortunately, our vacation trips this year had been purchased using frequent flier points, which is why I came up short in the first place.
SWA had a brief sale going on, and the cheapest flight I was able to identify at the least inconvenient time was a roundtrip flight Saturday Dec. 2nd from here to Wichita, KS, returning by way of…Las Vegas?!
The morning of the flight, I pocketed a free parking coupon to use at the airport, a free drink coupon for on the plane, and filled with Christmas cards, Christmas newsletter, Christmas stamps, and return address stamps — I was resolved to use this forced exile as a time to get all my holiday cards written and mailed.
Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport in Wichita is a nice, quiet little airport — it made for a peaceful locale for lunch, and a counterpoint to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.
I enjoyed quite a few excellent vistas with the deserts of southern US passing by my window.
Utah/Arizona border near Tower Butte and Antelope Island
After the turnaround in Vegas, I returned home in the evening with all my Christmas cards completed, along the way probably picking up the cold that I’m only now getting rid of. 
An A-List cold, though.
"é rayhahn, rayhahn" 