“There are a ton of us on these flights that are essentially commuting between Northern and Southern California,” she said.
State legislators from Southern California fly Southwest so often that an ecosystem has evolved around their schedules, with lobbyists booking flights at the beginning or end of the week in the hope of sitting next to a lawmaker. Southwest accounts for more than half of traffic at Sacramento International Airport.
“The Legislature is totally dependent on Southwest functioning,” said Tom Umberg, a Democratic state senator. He has commuted to the state capital for years from Orange County and says the airline is the only real option for his 450-mile commute, other than Interstate 5, a major north-south highway that runs through California.
Ms. Friedman said she would face a seven-hour drive if she could not catch her usual Southwest plane from Burbank, which she has come to regard as “a giant flying bus.”
“I enjoy it,” she said. “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 said she would usually sit with a Republican senator from another part of Los Angeles County, and use the flight to catch up on work, at least when the plane was not filled with school groups on field trips to Sacramento. This recent episode, however, has been sobering, she said.
“We don’t have a good statewide mass transit system in California, and we need to do more to support our rail network,” she said, planning for the Legislature’s return next week to Sacramento. She has a couple of bills in mind for that, she added — assuming that she makes it there.
David Montgomery contributed reporting from Austin, Texas.
