Southwest is California’s “unofficial airline”. The meltdown has residents anxious.

“There are a lot of us on these flights who are essentially commuters between Northern and Southern California,” he said.

Southern California state legislators 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 hopes of sitting next to a lawmaker. Southwest accounts for more than half of the traffic at Sacramento International Airport.

Southwest is California's “unofficial airline”. The meltdown has residents anxious.

“The Legislature is totally dependent on the Southwest working,” said Tom Umberg, Democratic state senator. He has commuted to the state capitol from Orange County for years and says the airline is the only real option for his 450-mile commute, plus Interstate 5, a major north-south highway that cuts through the California.

Ms. Friedman said she would face a seven-hour journey if she couldn't catch her usual Southwest plane from Burbank, which she has come to think of as “a giant flying bus.”

“I enjoy it,” she said. “I like that there's no first class, and everyone's there, eating the same Chex Mix or whatever it is for breakfast.”

One Democrat, Ms. Friedman, said she usually sat down with a Republican senator from another part of Los Angeles County and used the flight to catch up on work, at least when the plane wasn't full of field trip school groups. in Sacramento. This recent episode, however, has been reassuring, 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,” he said, planning for the lawmaker's return next week to Sacramento. He has a couple of bills in mind for this one, he added, assuming she can handle it.

David Montgomery contributed reporting from Austin, Texas.