2 Days to Go!

This trip is also my birthday present.  I leave at 5 pm on Sunday which is also my birthday. I think my good friends Fred and Lisa Begtine whom I am staying with in Beijing will have a birthday cake for me when I arrive.  So I get to celebrate being 54 once on this side of the International Dateline and once on the other side.  How fun is that?

I have a very tight connection in Chicago with less than one hour to make it to my flight to Beijing.  So be in prayer that American out of Bloomington takes off on time!  I have had some bad experiences with American Airlines this year as they have "for no good reason" cancelled two of my flights on my return from Chicago to Bloomington.  I never thought I would see the day that I would be praising Delta Airlines over American, but here is the deal.  After my last two cancelled flights, I wrote a letter to Thomas Horton now CEO of American.  My letter was never even acknowledged by American.  That is NOT a Remarkable Customer Experience.  American needs to do something to improve their posture in the industry. They need to do something other than bankruptcy and proposed mergers with Jet Blue to do it.  I long for the return of Bob Crandall.  Bob ran a tight ship at AMR.  He also made them profitable and a pleasure to fly with.

Thomas Horton, CEO AMR

I'll let you know how this flight with American goes.  13 hours and 25 minutes of flight time on American in coach no less.  I was able to secure a power port and an aisle seat but only by paying an extra $100 for the two legs of the trip.  Maybe I will at least be in Group 2 for loading?