Tuesday, April 25, 2006

The Joys of Air Travel Part 3

This morning I was scheduled to be on a plane to Florida for a one day meeting on Wednesday which would have been followed up with a meeting in Merida with a friend who is a rector in a university in Merida. I got to the plane early and was ready to fly but as we boarded the plane about 8 AM I had the uneasy feeling that there might be a delay. Indeed there was - for about three hours we sat waiting for a go or no go decision on a plane which eventually cancelled. I came into the office and found the free time to be really wonderful - I got a couple of projects done that I had wanted to finish this week. And then got a call from the second part of my trip - to Merida where I had the opportunity to meet with the rector and some governmental officials. The university (Universidad del Mayab) is a great place and they are begining to talk about some new projects where I have been asked to be a part of the effort. After about six or seven hours of working through issues with United and Mexicana and Continental we (actually my ace administrative assistant) found a way to get me there for the meeting. I was sorry I was unable to get to the meeting in Florida but the chance to figure this one out so I could get to Merida for the second meeting was wonderful.

These kinds of things happen. There was the inevitable talk among some passengers about "never flying United again." What balderdash. Yesterday, I flew Southwest and was a total of more than 2 hours late on two flights. I would prefer that my airlines think of safety first. Sometimes these things happen. My answer for that is OK, so deal with it.

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