State Farm Is Awesome

Usually people complain about their insurance companies.  I love mine.

I have had State Farm auto insurance since at least 1988.  Possibly longer.  When we bought our home, I insured our home through State Farm as well.

Yes, I am a lawyer, and I have read the "bad faith" insurance cases with State Farm as the defendant.  But either they have learned their lesson, or they reserve their alleged "bad faith" for people other than me.  State Farm has always treated me well. They have never denied a claim, and I have had my fair share of claims -- windshields that needed replacing, fender benders, vandalism, theft, lost a part of our roof in a storm once...  State Farm always just pays the claim, quickly and generally without any hassle.

Recently I was in a fender-bender in my 1998 Lincoln Town Car, which I basically inherited when my grandmother died.  It is a beautiful car, silver gray, with only about 45,000 miles on it (35,000 when I got it last year).  It is truly a luxury vehicle, with all the "bells & whistles" including heated front seats and a sun roof; it is soooo comfortable with its smooth, cool, thick and soft leather seats; it is in near mint condition; and it handles very well, too.  I love it.

(I got rid of my beloved Chrysler - my first new car ever! - last year when I got the (practically antique) Lincoln, because even though I loved the Chrysler, it seemed foolish to keep making car payments when I could drive the even-more-luxurious-if-somewhat-older Lincoln for free).

The fender-bender caused an estimated $3500 worth of damage to my beautiful car (estimates at three shops that I went to ranged from $2700 to $4000, with an average of $3500).  It doesn't take much damage to total $3500.... a broken headlamp, dented hood, dented bumper, and dented front grille did the job....

The bluebook value on the car is somewhere around $4000.  State Farm initially said they intended to "total out" the car because the cost to repair it was higher than the book value would justify.  They explained that this meant they would give me the money for it and I could still keep the car (and repair it or not, my choice), but that I would then have a "salvage" title.  So I could continue to drive the car, but likely would have trouble selling it if I ever wanted to, and they would provide liability insurance if I wanted them to, but no more collision or comprehensive coverage.  Ick.  I did not want a "salvage" title.  I was starting to fear my first ever hassle and/or denied claim with State Farm.  (I looked it up later, though, and this is pretty standard operating procedure for insurance companies, so they weren't doing anything unusual.)

I explained the car's sentimental value and the fact that it had only 45,000 miles on it -- years of usability!  -- and the fact that it is a beautiful car with all the luxuries and I love it.

They said, "OK, take it to the repair shop of your choice, and let's see how much it actually takes to repair it.  If it goes over about $2800 (70% of the value), the presumption is that we are supposed to total it out, but before we make that decision, we'll look at it more closely to determine value, and if the cost to repair is only a few hundred over the value we determine, we will consider your desires and the sentimental value of the car, instead of just setting an arbitrary "kill" number."

Well, the $3500 estimate was pretty accurate.  It was $3600 to repair.  But State Farm paid it and did not "total out" my car.

But wait!  There's more!

While the car was being repaired, I was scheduled to go on vacation, so I took advantage of the rental car coverage I maintain on my policy, and took the rental car on vacation.

The car was ready on Monday.

I was not scheduled to return from vacation until late last night (Tuesday) / early this morning (Wednesday).  In fact, I arrived home around 2 a.m.

State Farm initially had covered the rental car through Monday, which meant I would have had to pay for yesterday and today.

I called and asked if they would cover the extra two days for the rental car since I had been in California and unable to pick it up on Monday, and they said yes.  Just like that. Not even a moment's hesitation.

I love State Farm.  If you do not have State Farm insurance, you should!

And The "Best Customer Service" Award Goes To....

...Wells Fargo Bank!


Friday afternoon, I was on my way to the bank.  I stopped at the intersection in the double-left-turn lane behind several other cars, waiting to turn left.

The light changed and the cars in the other left-turn lane got to go, but my lane did not move.  Ugh.  A broken down car was two cars ahead of me.  The turn arrow changed to red again.  Ugh.

Some people were waiting to cross the street.  They crossed to the middle of the intersection by the broken down car and began getting ready to push the broken down car through the intersection when the light changed.

And then I noticed who the people were: An elderly woman, who was getting into the car to steer it, and two younger gentlemen, probably mid-20's, wearing long-sleeve dress shirts, ties, and Wells Fargo name tags.

The Wells Fargo bank tellers had volunteered to help their customer move her car out of the busy intersection and into their parking lot.

I swear, this bank is soooo much nicer than Chase Bank!

Best. Gift. Ever!

A couple of years ago, I received from my very best friend what I thought (at the time) was sort of an odd Christmas gift: Two stainless steel travel mugs.  One blue, one green.  Here are photos of them:

 (As an aside, I have few technical skills and cannot, for the life of me, figure out how to get blogger to let me put these photos next to each other instead of way across the page or one on top of the other.  Ugh.)

They are nice-looking mugs - elegant, even - but I didn't understand why my best friend in the whole world would send travel mugs across the country for a Christmas gift.  It was nice of her to send them (and it's always nice to get a gift), but sort of an odd thing to bother mailing.  After all, travel mugs are a dime a dozen, right?

Then I used them and discovered how very wrong I was...

These mugs are A M A Z I N G!!!

They do NOT leak.  At all.  Ever.  You can hold them upside down, and not a drop escapes! 

You have to push the little button that you can see there, on the "front" of the mug in the photos, to get the valve to open so you can drink your beverage.  It's not difficult to push, but is firm enough that it doesn't accidentally open.

I can put these mugs sideways in my purse, filled with coffee, and not even worry that they will leak, so long as I put the button on the "up" side and don't put anything on top of it!!  Even then, it would have to be something hard and heavy to make the button move and open the valve.  Really, I hardly even worry about it.  I just toss them in and carry them around, filled with coffee.

They keep your beverage hot, or cold, as the case may be, for HOURS.

Once, in the summer (here in Arizona, it is often 110 to 118 degrees on a July or August summer day, and gets way hotter than that inside a locked car), I forgot my mug filled with iced coffee (with a bit of cream) in the car while I went inside a store and shopped for two hours.

If I had used any other mug that day, I would have returned to the car to find hot coffee with curdled cream, disgusting and undrinkable.  Not with these mugs!  I returned and, although the ice had mostly (not completely!!) melted, the coffee was still very cold and very drinkable.  Refreshing, even, on such a hot day.

When I put hot coffee in them, it stays hot for HOURS.  I have to make sure it is a drinkable temperature before sealing it up because otherwise it will be too hot to drink for a very long time.

I LOVE these mugs.

Now you can see why she is my bestest friend in the whole world.  She knows me better than I know myself!  She knew EXACTLY what I wanted for Christmas, even when I did not know I wanted it!

If you like to carry beverages with you in the car, you should go directly to the Contigo web site (click here) and buy one (or more) of these mugs.

Sadly, my green Contigo mug met an untimely death a couple of days ago.  It was destroyed by a softball while the pitcher and catcher were warming up before my daughter's softball game the other day.  The ball smashed right into the mug and broke the lid apart.  The stainless steel portion was unharmed, but the lid was FUBAR (as we used to say in the bus business...  F--d Up Beyond All Repair).  So I will have to buy a new one.  Just trying to decide whether to stick with the lovely green I had before, or try a new color, like red or silver.

Please note:  This is absolutely not a paid promotion.  Contigo probably doesn't even know I exist.  I just totally love these mugs and I know you will, too.  My motive?  I want to keep the Contigo company in business and producing these exact mugs so that when I need new ones I will be able to buy them.  They seem to last pretty much forever, absent tragic accidents like the one my green one encountered, so I am a little afraid that they will go out of business because they won't get enough repeat customers.

PBC - Awesome!

My daughter and I went to see the Phoenix Boys' Choir last night. (Click on the link for photos and music snippets).  She had two free tickets from her teacher (who is on the board for the Choir) and a promise of extra credit in her class if she would go.  So, we went.

They were amazingly good!

They had basically three groups, identified by the different ties and suit jackets (or, for the second half, the choir robes) they wore.  The oldest group (late teens up to one fellow who looked to be about 40) wore tuxes. The middle group (pre-teens and teens, it looked like) wore red and yellow striped ties.  The youngest group (ages 6 - 10, I believe they said) wore blue striped ties.

I was amazed by the following:

*  All of the youngest and middle groups stood on the choir stands and sang from memory, for approximately two hours worth of music.  They did not have music in front of them.  I cannot imagine my kids at age 6 -10 standing still for two hours, much less remembering all of the words and notes for two hours worth of music.  Heck, I can still barely get my 9 year old son to remember the words to "Frosty the Snowman" for his cub scouts' annual Christmas Caroling on Sesame Street venture.

* I didn't quite understand why the oldest ones got to hold the music in front of them.  Seems like if those younger kids could memorize everything, so could they!  On the other hand, they had to hold those heavy choir books out in front of them for such a long time. I can see why the younger kids wouldn't want to have to hold them the whole time.

*  They seemed to hit every note perfectly, and held them for such long periods of time.

*  They had such genuine enthusiasm for the music, and their personalities really stood out.  One small child in particular really caught my eye.  He was adorable.  He was the smallest one, and stood in the front row.  He had brown hair in a bowl shaped cut, short, and such expressive eyes, and his ears stuck out a bit which made him look soooo adorable.  He sang with such expression and passion.  And he was soooo adorable!  If I were his mom, that kid would be so spoiled because I could never say no to that cute face! The taller kid, next to him, had a voice like an angel.  You could really hear each note he projected, not that it was louder or different than the others, but he just had such power to his voice.  Amazing and beautiful.  Another, slightly older kid in the third row, right side, also had an obvious passion for the music... so earnest!  A fourth kid, a teenager, in the second row, far left (for me), looked like a young Beatle -- a cross between Paul McCartney and George Harrison, with that Beatle haircut and dark brown eyes.  Even had some of the same mannerisms as Paul. Very cool!  It was neat that their individual personalities showed through, even as they all wore the same suits and ties and looked so "uniform."


All in all, it was a great show.  I am glad we went, even though it came at the end of what seemed like an impossibly long and stressful week (which shouldn't have seemed so long and stressful because it was only a four day week after the holiday on Monday, but it did).  We didn't want to leave the house to go, but both of us ended up being glad we went.

So, if you ever have a chance to see the Phoenix Boys' Choir, you should definitely take that opportunity!

******

A little comic relief:

As the chamber orchestra was getting ready to play before the second act, they did the usual orchestra note coordination where, after they've all tuned up they all play the same note and each instrument joins in to make sure everyone is tuned up properly (at least that's what I've always assumed they are doing; I've never been in an orchestra so I could be totally wrong...)

Legal Mist's Daughter:  Oh!  I know this song!

Me (thinking she is kidding, and thus playing along):  Me, too.  I've heard it a few times before! (Big smile).

Legal Mist's Daughter, a minute or so later, realizing they are just tuning their instruments and not actually playing anything...:   Oh, no.... that's not actually a song, is it?  (covers face with hands)

Me:  You mean you weren't just kidding?!?

And then we both had to stifle our laughter because by then the program was actually starting...

Some Friday Photos

Here are some photos my daughter and I took at Phoenix's Desert Botanical Garden. They are currently hosting a glass sculpture exhibit, by artist Dale Chihuly. Apparently he makes glass sculptures and exhibits them in botanical gardens all across the U.S. (and probably other places, too), so maybe you can see some near you sometime. Or you can just check out the photos below.

We went to see the sculptures twice, once during the day, and once at night. They are quite interesting and beautiful. I was surprised that my kids were actually interested in seeing them a second time, but they both agreed the glass was "way cool" and they wanted to see it at night. I thought it was worth a second look, too. Since most of you live too far away to visit these yourselves, and anyway the exhibit ends May 31, I thought I'd give you a quick tour of the "highlights."

First up, a giant blue "orb" hiding behind the prickly pear cactus - very cool:





Here is a photo of a boat full of glass balls....




... and one of some tall-ish blue glass sculptures that almost seem to wave in the wind like an odd bulbous prairie grass (get it, "blue glass / blue grass"?) ...




Next, a photo of some strange white bulbous sculptures among the organ pipe and prickly pear cacti:




Here we have the giant neon yellow ... what - saguaro cactus? phallic symbol? ... you decide. This one is visible as you drive up the road to the garden's entrance, and acts as a beacon, luring the multitudes in to see the exhibit:




And here is an "arty" photo my daughter took of her brother in front of the giant neon yellow phallic sym- ... er, saguaro cactus:




Here are some interesting tall blue skinny ones with tops remiscent of the "crested saguaro" cactus:



Here is a giant round-ish sculpture, reminiscent of a sea anemone, or perhaps medusa, with all the snake-like tentacles sticking out all around:



And here is a close-up of the same sculpture:


Beautiful, odd, awesome, different, pretty, cool, neat, elegant, strange ... these are all words I heard used to describe the glass sculptures during our visits. How would you describe them?

My Car Company Is Bankrupt

In the news this morning: Chrysler is in bankruptcy.

I'm so glad I bought a new Chrysler last year.... obviously a brilliant decision!

I hope the bankruptcy reorganization is successful. Apparently Fiat is working on a deal to take over a partial ownership and inject some of its expertise in making more fuel-efficient cars. This could be a good thing. There is even talk of resurrecting the Alfa Romeo in the American market. I loved those cars when I was a kid; would love to see them rolling off the production lines here.

There will be tough choices to be made, and everyone involved is likely to lose out on something, from retirees to current factory workers, dealers, and salespersons, to equity holders and secured and unsecured creditors. I just hope they can work a deal that is acceptable to enough of the stakeholders to get through the Court system. I will be pretty distressed if my car company (along with my 10 year bumper to bumper warranty) vanishes.

I really like the Chrysler cars. They are distinctive, not just your same old boring sedans that are indistinguishable from each other until you see the logo. Can you tell a Honda from a Toyota at a distance? I thought not. But you know what a PT Cruiser looks like from across the parking lot, right?

And I do like my 300. It is fun to drive, comfortable to ride in, and pretty to look at. Gas mileage isn't the best, though. I sometimes miss my Toyota when I fill the tank. And it's not just Chrysler's large cars that were fuel-inefficient. The Sebring and PT Cruiser did not get substantially higher EPA mileage ratings than the 300, despite being substantially smaller. I'd love to see a Fiat / Chrysler merger - Fiat makes some nice-looking cars, too. Perhaps some smaller and more fuel efficient, but still stylish cars will be forthcoming.

Let's all hope for the best, both (selfishly) for my desires to keep my warranty and to continue seeing distinctive cars on the road and (more altruistically) because I hope that all the employees of Chrysler and its suppliers will not end up losing their jobs and pensions.

And if you get a chance to buy a new Chrysler at a good price, go for it, please. They're going to need the votes of confidence - and the dollars to finance their post-bankruptcy payment plan. Even if the reorganization plan is successful on paper and gets through the bankruptcy court, it won't work if people don't buy the cars.

For the record, my Chrysler runs well and seems (so far at least) to be well put-together. There are no rattles or loose panels or random noises. Just a smooth purring engine when I drive. I'd buy another Chrysler, down the road, if it's an option... I hope it will be an option...

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Movie-Star Look-alike Blogger, LegalMist, Deems Southwest the "Best Airline Ever"

I almost forgot, in all the exictement and busy-ness of returning to work, getting a cast put on my little guy's arm, remembering awkward moments, and reminiscing about wonderful books I've read, that I owe you an update on my opinion of Southwest Airlines after my return trip across the country. So, here's the recap:

The return flight boarded promptly and departed on time, despite rainy weather at BWI.

As we boarded the plane, the pilots invited my kids to take a peek into the cockpit, and cheerfully responded to my little guy's questions about how they could know "which one of all those buttons to push?!?"

The flight attendants were cheerful and kind. They joked around a little, showing that they are human and have a sense of humor.

They listened sympathetically while my little guy told them how he fell off the rope swing and fractured his arm.

They brought us ample snacks (cookies, cheesy crackers, and honey-roasted peanuts -- the usual Southwest fare) and drinks soon after departure, and then offered more several times throughout the flight. (I have to say, though, it's a good thing I brought along some real food, or that might have seemed pretty lame for a 5 hour flight.)

They collected "service items" frequently, but never demanded the return of anything.

And -- here's the best part! -- one of the flight attendants told me I look like Sandra Bullock.

(((Smile)))

It's not the first time I've heard it, but it's the first time in about two years, so I was starting to think I was getting too old to look like her any longer. But apparently either Sandra is looking older, too, or I don't look as old as I was thinking I might. Either way, it's good for the ego to be told that one looks like a movie star.

So it's official. (Flattery works!) Southwest is now LegalMist's favorite airline EVER!

You should all fly Southwest from now on.

Trust me, it's worth the discount price. :)

* * *

The airport security folks, however, don't get such high marks. Check back tomorrow for my rant about that.
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Southwest Airlines Redeems Itself, Becomes LegalMist's New Favorite Airline

Let's start the week's entertainment with a big shout-out for Southwest Airlines. This is a rather long post, so go get yourself a fresh cuppa coffee and a good snack, and settle in a comfy chair.

Ok, are you ready?


Great. Because first, I have to give you a rather long back story about how awful Southwest was 6 years ago. I had a terrible experience with them -- it was so bad I swore I'd never fly them again.

My daughter and I were flying and I wanted to use frequent flyer miles. At the time, Southwest used only a voucher system for the free tickets -- you had to go to the airport with your paper voucher and get your boarding card. They could not send an e-ticket. So they said they would mail the tickets.

A few days before the flight, the tickets had not arrived. So I called the reservations line and they transferred me to customer service, and customer service said, essentially, "oops, we forgot to mail them." To their credit, they agreed to FedEx them overnight at that point. But they wouldn't send the vouchers to my home address because they required a signature for the FedEx and no one would be home to sign for them. They said they would send to my office address so that I could sign for them. But the tickets didn't arrive in Thursday's 3 p.m. FedEx delivery.

The flight was Saturday morning. If the tickets did not arrive by Friday afternoon in the FedEx delivery, I would not get them in time for my flight. I wanted to be sure they had been sent.

So I called the customer service department to ask what happened. At about 3:30 on a Thursday afternoon, Phoenix time. And I got a recording that said, essentially, "We are closed. Please call back during business hours, which are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time."

For my overseas readers, Eastern Standard Time is either 2 hours or 3 hours ahead of Arizona time. (It varies depending on the time of year because Arizona doesn't participate in the ridiculous twice-yearly clock-changing ritual due to daylight savings time -- we have enough daylight in Arizona, thank you very much...). Either way, by 3:30 p.m. in Phoenix, they were definitely closed for the day.

Uh, what was the name of that airline again?

Oh, yeah. SOUTHWEST. As in, "Southwestern United States," presumably.

The last time I checked, the Southwestern United States does not use Eastern Standard Time. They use Pacific Standard Time. Or perhaps Mountain Standard Time. Depending on which state and what time of year it is.

Shouldn't the customer service department at an Airline named "Southwest" be open until 5 p.m. Pacific time?!? At least? (Or maybe they should have named the airline "SouthEAST"?) I was peeved.

I tried calling the corporate office. It was closed, too.

I called the reservations system. They said they didn't know anything and couldn't help with the original tickets, but they could sell me some new tickets -- e-tickets -- at $500-plus per ticket and then I could ask for a refund when my other tickets came. I asked, will they definitely give me a refund? They said they didn't know. Great, thanks, very helpful.

So the next day, Friday, I called the customer service department.

Let me tell you, it is a good thing I have a sense of humor because I was able to laugh at the fact that I was on hold for twenty-five minutes waiting to talk to someone, while listening to their muzak and announcement loop.

What made me laugh about that, you ask?

Their recorded announcement at the time consisted of a soft woman's voice interrupting the muzak occasionally to say things in a "soothing" tone -- things like "Are you stressed out? Annoyed? Angry? Did you know that deep breathing exercises have been scientifically shown to reduce stress and anger? Please... try it with me now.... Breeeathe in ...... thaaat's right, now, hoooold for five seconds..... goooood.... now, breeeathe out sloooowly." I swear I am not making this up.

(Tip O' the Day for you, corporate America: A better method of reducing your customers' stress levels would be to have plenty of good customer service representatives who answer the telephone quickly, during reasonable business hours, and actually help the customers, rather than trying to teach us "deep breathing exercises" with muzak playing in the background.)

I did not do the deep breathing exercises. I was too busy laughing. So I guess, in its own way, the technique worked to calm me down.

But then they answered the phone, and I quickly lost my sense of humor again. I asked what happened to the tickets they promised to send me. They said, "Oh, well we sent the the tickets to [my home address (which was the billing address I had given them for the credit card, not the shipping address)], but they couldn't deliver them because no one was there to sign for them."

I said, "I know no one was home. That is why you promised to send them to my office address!"

They checked their computer notes and said, essentially, "oops."

But, not to worry, they said, surely FedEx will deliver the tickets today, right?

I said, well perhaps, but no one is home today either. And I don't know what time they deliver things at my home address. So, suppose I go home right now and wait around until 5 p.m., and then it turns out they already tried to deliver the package today, or that they don't re-deliver until Saturday? By then, your office will be closed, and then how will I fix the problem of having no tickets?

They said, essentially, "Well, we can't help you."

I asked, can't you email me something, or call your representatives in Phoenix, or fax something to your Phoenix office or to the Phoenix airport and have them issue some tickets, or something?

They said, "No, because those free tickets might still be delivered, and then you would have two free sets of tickets. You can buy new tickets, and then when your free tickets arrive, you can send those in to [corporate address] along with your receipt for the tickets you bought and request a refund." I asked, "If I request a refund, will they give me one?" They said, "I dunno. I think so."

"You 'think' they will? So I'm supposed to spend $1100 and then hope you'll give me a refund?!? When it was your mistake? What if they don't give me a refund? Am I just "out" the $1100?"

They promised to make sure I would get a refund. They would not, however, tell me their name so I could say, later, "but so-and-so promised a refund." I was suspicious, but didn't have much choice, so I bought new tickets at the expensive last-minute price.

Big mistake. The flight was awful.

I was traveling with my daughter who was four at the time.

The flight was delayed, and they did the typical late-flight-routine at the airport, telling us the flight would be delayed "fifteen minutes," and then fifteen minutes later telling us it would be delayed another "fifteen minutes," and then another "fifteen minutes" and then another... If they had said "one hour delay" the first time, we could have gone to the restaurant and had breakfast and come back. Instead, we had to hang around the gate with my daughter getting bored and hungry and thirsty and whiny.

Just when I was starting to think it would have been faster to drive to our destination, they let us board the plane.

The flight attendants were apparently feeling tired and/or they were just mean. My request for a blanket was met with a cold stare and a "We're out of them." (Not even a perfunctory "sorry.")

On our relatively short, one and a half hour flight, they waited until an hour into the flight to take drink orders. To be fair to them, the flight was rather bumpy, so perhaps they were waiting until we got past the turbulence so we wouldn't all spill our drinks in our lap. But meanwhile we were mighty thirsty, having already sat around at the airport gate, far from the water fountains and restaurants, unable to go get a drink of water for an hour past the scheduled boarding time. And they refused to provide more than one "Dixie Cup" sized drink. Usually airlines will let you have the whole can or bottle of whatever they are serving. Not on this flight. One Dixie Cup per person. No more.

And by the time they handed out the drinks, they were starting the descent. So they came around collecting cups less than five minutes after they handed them out. My daughter had barely had any of her water, and I wanted her to keep it so she would have something to sip on during the descent, to help with the air-pressure / inner-ear pressure problem that she always has on airplanes. So the flight attendant said, "May I take your cup?" And I said, "No, thank you."

One would think that would have been the end of the exchange, but not on this flight from H***.

The flight bi... I mean, attendant, said, "Ma'am, I need you to give that to me now."

I asked, nicely, "Can't I keep it so my daughter will have something to sip on, to help her ears during the landing?"

She said, "No, you CAN'T keep it. I HAVE TO collect it NOW!"

I said (trying to address all the possible objections I could think of), "It's just water. It's not going to be sticky if it spills. I promise to throw away the cup after the flight. It's a tiny plastic cup and it won't hurt anyone if the landing is bumpy and it goes flying."

She said, "Ma'am, that doesn't matter. It is a SERVICE ITEM and I HAVE TO COLLECT IT!"

I am not proud of the fact that I took out all my frustration of the past two days on that flight attendant. Nor am I proud that I set such a bad example for my daughter, arguing over something so trivial with a person who was just trying to do her job as she apparently understood it. It would probably have been the right thing to do, to just hand over the cup and say, "fine" after the first time she said, essentially, "no you can't keep it." But something about the flight attendant's snotty tone, combined with the ridiculousness of what she was demanding and the complete lack of customer service over the past couple of days just rubbed me the wrong way. I tried one more time to be nice, but I had already decided that she would get that cup of water back only if she pried it from my cold, dead hands.

So, I said, as nicely as I could muster, "Um, I'd really like to keep it."

She said (face turning red, very angrily), "You HAVE TO give it to me now! It is FEDERAL LAW! YOU CAN BE ARRESTED FOR DISOBEYING A FLIGHT ATTENDANT'S INSTRUCTIONS."

I got angry back and asked, loudly enough to be sure other passengers heard this one, but softly enough so I couldn't be accused of yelling at a flight attendant "Are you really saying you're going to have me arrested for keeping a small cup of water so my kid has something to drink so her ears won't hurt during the landing?!? Please, tell me you're joking."

She said, "Ma'am, I am NOT joking. I need you to GIVE ME THE CUP NOW or I WILL HAVE TO REPORT YOU TO THE AUTHORITIES."

I smiled condescendingly and shook my head and sighed and said, "Knock yourself out, lady. Call the FBI and have me arrested when we land if you like -- I'm sure the press will have a field day with that one! -- but you are NOT getting this cup of water!!" And I turned my back to her and simply ignored her as she repeated, "Ma'am, excuse me, Ma'am, you HAVE TO give me the cup...." (I know, I know. Petty and childish. As I said, I'm not proud of all this.)

Instead of responding further to the flight attendant, I talked to my daughter in a soft tone (so the flight attendant couldn't hear what I was saying) and I told her that I knew I was being silly and obnoxious and that she (my daughter) should *not* act this way, that she should be a better person than her mom was being, currently, but that I felt strongly that the flight attendant was being unreasonable and I was just fed up with this airline after the past couple of days of frustration, and that, truly, I was quite sure they would not actually arrest me for this (she was pretty worried about that), and that I was sorry that she had to see the whole exchange.... (Gosh I set a pretty bad example sometimes. I wonder if she remembers it?)

I half expected an "Airplane" type incident, in which the flight attendants would line up and slap/hit me repeatedly until I complied and/or until they could pry the cup from my cold, dead hands, but thankfully *that* didn't happen!

Instead, the pilot announced that the flight attendants should be seated for landing. The snotty flight attendant left.

As we walked off the plane, the flight attendants ignored us and talked to each other, chatting about their weekend plans. I tried to place the cup in the trash can, but they all ignored me and stood blocking the trash can, so I carried it off the plane and tossed it in a wastebasket in the airport.

The highlight of that flight was that I did not get arrested when we landed.

The return flight was delayed, too, and also had surly flight attendants. I swore I would never fly on that airline again.

But a couple of years later I was looking for flights and the tickets on Southwest were half the cost of the closest competitor, so I broke down and bought tickets and prepared for the worst. But that flight was fine, and the flight attendants were reasonably nice, and so I've continued to fly with them on occasion, and I've had no other major problems -- a couple of late flights, maybe, but nothing major.

And I have to say, Saturday's flight was fantastic (well, as good as a coach-class flight can be, anyway).

They do everything, even free tickets, on the internet and by email these days, so there were no problems getting the tickets.

You can log in online 24 hours ahead of time and get your boarding passes so you don't have to wait in the super-long line at the airport to get your boarding passes.

They have streamlined their "festival seating" process so you don't have to stand in the line for an hour to try to be near the front of your boarding group in order to get a seat in the same row with your kids/husband.

The flight started boarding exactly on time. The staff was friendly.

The plane was full, as airplanes always seem to be these days (remember the "good old days" when you had a hope of having the entire row to yourself, or at least an empty middle seat? Those days are long gone...). But the flight attendants were cheerful and brought everyone drinks quickly, and let you keep the entire can / bottle of whatever you ordered -- and then they came around later and offered more!

They have never offered full meals on Southwest, but these days, for longer flights, you do get crackers and/or cookies in addition to the pack of peanuts, and they cheerfully let you bring aboard whatever other food you want to bring.

They gave me a deck of cards so I could play with the kids on the flight. It's been years since any airline has given me a deck of cards!

The flight attendants had a sense of humor and were friendly, even talking and joking around with me and my son as we waited in line so he could use the bathroom on board.

They didn't demand a return of all "service items" on the descent, so I was cheerfully allowed to keep my little cup of water in case my son needed it.

And they seem to have fixed that air pressure issue anyway, so we didn't even need the water; my ears barely even "popped" on the way down, and my kids had no problems either.

The plane arrived half an hour early at our destination, and they were organized enough to have found an open gate so we didn't waste that "extra" time we had gained in the air by waiting on the tarmac for a gate to open.

They smiled and said "goodbye" and "thanks for flying with us" as we departed. The one flight attendant we had talked to while waiting in line for the bathroom even remembered the conversation and said, "Have a great time at grandpa's house!" to my little guy.

They unloaded the luggage quickly so that we were driving away from the airport less than twenty minutes after landing.

I didn't need to call their customer service department, so I don't know whether they still try to teach their customers deep breathing exercises while they wait on hold... but that was so funny I almost hope they kept that feature!

All I can say is, wow, what a change from 6 years ago. I'm even looking forward to the return flight.

So, kudos to Southwest for solving many of their customer service problems. If the return flight is as nice as Saturday's flight was, it truly will be my new favorite airline. In fact, I'm so confident that it will be a great flight that I'm telling you all right now, you should definitely fly Southwest any chance you get. They are practically always the least expensive airline, and now they actually have friendly flight attendants and good service!

On the other hand, if the return flight is as bad as the one 6 years ago, I'll be sure to let all 21 of you know about it so you can avoid them in the future.

(That'll teach 'em!!)