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    getting away at IAH

    Ken Hoffman unloads his biggest pet peeves about flying Southwest as the airline returns to IAH

    Ken Hoffman
    Apr 12, 2021 | 10:50 am
    Southwest Airlines airplane
    Southwest is back at IAH. Our columnist hopes for some changes.
    Southwest Airlines

    Monday, April 12 marks the return of Southwest Airlines to Bush-Intercontinental Airport, where it all started a half-century ago for the world’s largest low-fare airline.

    Although most travelers think of Hobby Airport on Houston’s south side as Southwest’s home turf, fun fact, the very first flight Southwest Airlines flight on June 18, 1971 left Dallas Love Airport and landed at Houston Intercontinental Airport, as our big airport up I-45 was known then.

    The airport wasn’t renamed George Bush Intercontinental Airport until 1997. (Or, just call it IAH to save time buying tickets online.)

    For now, Southwest will operate 15 total daily flights between Bush Intercontinental and five destinations: Dallas (five flights to Love Field), New Orleans (three flights), Chicago (two flights to Midway), Nashville (three flights), and Denver (two flights).

    More cities may be added in the future as Southwest spreads its wings across the U.S., Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.

    There will be hats and horns, speeches and a ribbon cutting April 12 to celebrate Southwest’s grand re-opening at Bush Intercontinental. The only thing missing will be free hot dogs, a local beauty pageant winner, and a bouncy house for the kids.

    “We’ve been following the growth of population and business north of I-10 in Houston,” says Dave Harvey, vice president of Southwest Business. “We always knew there’d be a time when we would bring service back to Bush Intercontinental. It was just a question of when. This gives us access to a new set of customers and a new set of revenue opportunities. We feel these 15 daily flights to five markets are a great base to build from.”

    “We have a great customer base at Hobby, and nothing is going to change there. We just want to extend our low fares and service to the north side.”

    Prior to COVID-19 practically grounding the airline industry last year, Southwest operated 170 daily flights out of Hobby, the seventh busiest airport for Southwest with 60 unique non-stop destinations. Harvey said business is picking up for Southwest but still has a long way to go to reach pre-pandemic levels.

    “We believe that Americans are getting their vaccinations and can’t wait to travel again. They’re making up for lost time by planning two, three and four trips already, and leisure travel is the biggest part of our business,” Harvey said.

    Southwest is going through a growth spurt, moving into larger airports like Bush Intercontinental in Houston and O’Hare in Chicago in existing major markets, adding 17 new destinations since November, and last month purchasing 100 Max 7 jets from Boeing.

    Southwest will have 60 fulltime employees stationed at Bush Intercontinental. The airline has 4,000 employees in Houston.

    While I had a Southwest boss on the phone, I hit him with my two main gripes about air travel.

    1. How come, no matter how many gates an airport has, more than 100 gates sometimes, my gate is at the very end of the terminal?

    It happens all the time. I practically have to walk a mile past all those reasonably priced restaurants and newsstands (I have a Big Mac on layaway at IAH – three more payments and it’s mine).


    Harvey said that Southwest will operate at Gate 3 in Terminal A at Bush Intercontinental. While it’s one gate, there will be three boarding doors leading to planes, so it will be like having three gates. Okay Southwest, you’re innocent this time.

    2. How come when a plane lands ahead of schedule, the pilot will come on the speaker and say, “We’re going to have to sit here a little while because there’s another plane at our gate?”

    I can look out the window and see plenty of empty gates. Can’t you be flexible and just use one of those empty gates?

    Harvey said that rarely happens with a Southwest flight because Southwest has rapid turnarounds. Southwest planes land, unload and load passengers quickly because open boarding takes less time than assigned seating. Plus Southwest has a team that keeps track of planes sitting on a tarmac more than a couple of minutes and will find an empty gate for it.

    “It’s just not a common complaint with our customers,” Harvey says. “Our planes make money for us when they’re in the air, not sitting on the ground.”

    Now a tip of the hat to Southwest: They don’t mess around following COVID safety protocols. Passengers must wear a face mask and wear it properly — over their mouth and nose, unless they’re actively eating and drinking. And no nursing a small bag of peanuts or pretending you’re sleeping with your mask pulled low.

    Wear the damn mask or we’ll see you on YouTube, buddy.

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    game, set, zina.

    Best of Ken Hoffman: Interviewing Houston's greatest tennis icon

    Ken Hoffman
    Aug 29, 2024 | 12:30 pm
    Zina Garrison, tennis player
    ITATennis
    Garrison, a tennis legend, is now the tennis director of Houston Parks and Recreation.

    Editor's note: After the sudden death of beloved columnist Ken Hoffman on July 14, CultureMap is republishing some of our favorite "Hoffman's Houston" columns. In honor of the U.S. Open, here's Ken's interview with Houston tennis legend Zina Garrison; it was originally published on June 27, 2022.

    As a child, Zina Garrison learned how to hit a tennis ball on the public courts at MacGregor Park during the 1970s and became, simply, the most accomplished player ever from Houston.

    She developed into a Grand Slam champion, a Top 5 ranking in the world, Wimbledon finalist in 1990 with 20 tournament titles, Federation Cup captain, and Olympic gold medal winner and later Olympic coach.

    Now Garrison is back where she started, only this time she’s devoted to making Houston a great place to learn and play tennis … again. Like she did.

    “I am now the tennis director of Houston Parks and Recreation,” Garrison tells me. “I’m over all the public tennis programs and facilities. The job came open recently and I applied for it.”

    Wait... she’s the greatest champion this city has ever produced — and she had to apply for that job?

    “To be honest, I was more interested in the benefits than the money. As you get older, you start thinking differently,” she shares.

    Unlike the major sports leagues in America, tennis doesn’t provide any healthcare insurance or assistance once a player, even a legend, retires.

    “They’re working on it,” Garrison, 58, notes. “But as of now, nothing.”

    Garrison said her first priority as Houston’s tennis director is to repair the public courts.

    “I want to bring the public tennis facilities up to where I’d be proud, where everybody would be proud, to bring people to use our courts. There are cracks in the courts. Nothing’s really been done in the last 20 or maybe 30 years,” she says.

    “I’ve traveled to Florida and some other places and they have really nice public courts. Tennis in Houston was really thriving for a while and we had nice courts and people could play in the parks. We had junior programs. We flourished. That’s my main goal.”

    While I had Garrison on the phone, I served up some questions:

    CultureMap: Wimbledon is on. You’re familiar with that tournament, right? Who are your picks to win the men’s side and women’s side?

    Zina Garrison: Yes, I’m familiar with Wimbledon. I have my alarm set for the early morning so I can watch. I have a weird pick, a more personal pick, for the men.

    I would love to see Rafael Nadal keep going on, but it’s going to be tough for him. The guy from Italy, Matteo Berrettini, I watched him play a couple of weeks ago and I think he’s going to surprise a lot of people. And I am absolutely in love with that little guy, Carlos Alcaraz, from Spain. He’s made me watch tennis again.

    On the women’s side, I don’t think it will be Iga Swiatek. I think it’s just too hard to keep a streak like hers (35 matches in a row including the French Open title) going in today’s game. It’s really wide open. I don’t really have a pick, it’s just who comes in and plays well at the right time.

    CM: What do you think about Natela Dzalamidze, the doubles player from Russian who switched her nationality to Georgia so she could play Wimbledon, which has banned players from Russian and Belarus this year?

    ZG: I don’t like that she was able to do that. I was just on the phone with (former pro turned broadcaster) Chanda Rubin talking about what’s going on in tennis these days.

    First of all, there is the human rights stuff that’s going on in Russia and Ukraine. We have to start forcing accountability for actions. A lot of people didn’t agree with what Wimbledon did, but I think they had to take a stand.

    CM: The women’s GOAT is easy — it’s Serena. But who do you think is the men’s GOAT?

    ZG: Wow, that’s a hard one. If you had asked me earlier this year, I would have said Roger Federer because of everything he’s accomplished. But right now I’m going to have to go with Nadal. Nadal has taken tennis to a whole ‘nother level, of getting people to watch, coming out of the pandemic, where he has matches and you think he can’t come back and he’s still grinding no matter what.

    For me, he is the epitome of what we need in this world right now: Never give up but not be selfish about helping others. I know it sounds clichéd, but that’s what I’m going through right now.

    CM: When I first met you, you were painfully shy. It was hard to get an answer out of you. Now you’re a TV commentator and a regular chatterbox. What happened?

    ZG: I was an introvert but I had always been intrigued by people of wisdom. A lot of it came as I developed confidence in myself. I had always been told at a very young age, if you really knew me, I spoke a lot. If you didn’t know me, I would be quiet. I would only speak about things that I was extremely passionate about.

    As I’ve gotten older, because of my experiences. I feel like I can help people so I’m not afraid to say what I want to say.

    CM: Starting the week after Wimbledon, coaches will be allowed to communicate with men players during matches. Up to now, that’s only been allowed in the women’s game. Every other sport allows coaching. Do you think tennis should allow coaching, too?

    ZG: I don’t think coaching should be allowed. That’s one of the great things about tennis. That’s a part of the sport, that you grow and figure things out. You learn to think for yourself.

    There’s always been little signals from coaches, but now you have these full blown conversations. Another bad thing about allowing coaching is it gives the players the opportunity to blame a loss their coach. That’s not good for the sport.

    CM: You were known for wiggling your butt when receiving serve. Did you know you were doing it? Did you do that on purpose?

    ZG: It started off as kind of a joke with my coaches. They said, we need you to move your feet. I said, you mean like this?

    So, it started as a joke but I realized that it helped get my feet moving: Okay, I’m going to keep doing this.

    I’ll never forget that year after I got to the Wimbledon finals, 1990, I went over to Japan and there were 1,200 people there … and all of them started wiggling!

    CM: What was the first extravagant thing you bought for yourself when the tennis prize money started rolling in?

    ZG: It was 1982, and I bought a candy apple red Volkswagen convertible with a white top.

    CM: You were on the Biggest Loser, the show where contestants compete against each other to lose weight. Let’s just say you didn’t win. Are you happy you went on that show, or do you regret it?

    ZG: I was one of the first who had to leave the competition. (No, you were THE first.) It was an experience, but I probably shouldn’t have done it. I think I regret going on there. It wasn’t what I thought it was.

    It was reality TV and at the time I didn’t know what reality TV was .I was more ready to get out of there than anything else.

    CM: Now here’s the big question, Zina. For years, I’ve had a running disagreement with ESPN 97.5 FM morning host John Granato about which is a more demanding, tougher sport – golf or tennis?

    Granato says it’s golf, because the tournament winner has to beat every other player that week, while in tennis the winner just has to beat seven players at most. And, each week, golfers have to contend with a different course.

    But, I say it’s tennis because players have to be in top physical condition, while nearly anyone in any shape can win a golf major.

    Plus, in golf, players have a caddy helping them make decisions. In tennis, players are on their own.

    In golf, you can have a bad day on Thursday and still win the tournament. In tennis, if you have a bad day in the opening round, you’re on a plane out of there.

    In golf, it’s the player against the course. There’s no defense in golf. In tennis, there’s a human opponent trying to beat you.

    In golf, the ball is lying still. In tennis the ball is coming at you at 140 mph.

    So which is the tougher sport, golf or tennis? I’m right ... right?

    ZG: Are you serious? Who is this guy who says golf is harder? The answer is tennis and it’s not even close.

    You’re playing against someone. You’re only controlling the ball when it’s on your side of the net. You can’t control what the other player is doing. It’s almost like a boxer coming at you.

    You have to have both the physical and mental capacity to win. In golf, if you have a bad day, it’s because you’re having that bad day. There’s no opponent competing with you. So, I’m saying it’s tennis.

    CM (note to John Granato): I win. Granted, it might have been the way I asked the question. Also, Garrison is a former tennis pro.

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