My personal battle with American Airlines

As you may have read in the previous blog entry, my flights this trip did not go smoothly.

After the first flight delay and cancellation, I immediately went home and sent an email off to American Airline customer service department. When all the other ones started happening, I just waited until I return home after my twelve days away to inform the airline of the misery which took place.

About two days after I sent the first email, I received a nice and friendly apology and 10,000 airline miles. It does not equal the lost finances I occurred for a hotel room and wrestling ticket being unable to use, and definitely does not make for the wasted vacation day, but I was content with the settlement.

This was the second email I sent.

Last week I had the worst experience flying of my life and I am extremely angry. I’ve been flying on a regular basis for nearly twenty years and never I have I endured so many delays and cancellations. Of the eleven flights I was scheduled for over a twelve day period, nine of them were canceled and/or delayed. This cost me hotel fees that could be canceled, event tickets I could not use, vacation days wasted, and extra vacation days used at work to deal with these issues. Not to mention the airline broke a the wheel and handle off a piece of three month old, hardly used luggage to the point where I could no longer use it and had to go purchase a new one.

My route was as follows:

1. Fort Wayne-Dallas-New Orleans

2. New Orleans-Dallas-Tokyo-Manila

3. Manila-Tokyo-Chicago-Fort Wayne

Below is a detailed archive of what happened on this trip.

April 3, 2014

Flight: AA 2962, Fort Wayne to Dallas

-          Flight delayed, and then canceled due to mechanical failure. Cause missed connection flight Dallas to New Orleans

-          Rebooked for next day

-          Personal Damages: A nonrefundable hotel reservation ($100) and ticket to a show unable to use ($50) both lost plus a wasted vacation day from work (equivalent $150) and parking ($15)

-          Total Personal Lose:  $315

-          Compensation: 10,000 Airline Miles as I contacted the airline the day it happened. However, the miles are not enough to justify what I lost.

April 4, 2014

Flight: AA 2962, Fort Wayne to Dallas

-          Flight delayed due to late crew. Caused missed connection flight Dallas to New Orleans

-          Rebooked for late 10pm flight to New Orleans

-          Personal Damages: ticket to show unable to us ($100) and basically another wasted vacation day from work ($150).

-          Upon receiving luggage, which was delivered to my hotel because it did not arrive when I did, the wheel and handle was broke. This piece of luggage was only 4 months old and the third time used. It was was broke and useless ($65). I had to go out and purchase a new luggage for the rest of my trip ($85)

-          Total Personal Lose: $400 and half of a four day vacation

-          Compensation: NONE YET

April 7, 2014

Flight: AA 1284, New Orleans to Dallas

-          Flight delayed. Caused missed flight AA 61 Dallas to Tokyo and Jap Air 745 Tokyo to Manila

-          Rebooked for flight Cathay Pacific for 12 hours later

-          Personal Damages: A non-refundable hotel reservation lost for the night ($175) and one day vacation ($150)

-          Total Personal Lose $325

-          Compensation: NONE YET

April 14, 2014

Flight AA 3680, Chicago to Fort Wayne

-          Flight canceled

-          Rebooked for next morning

-          Personal Damages: Had to pay for extra hotel room ($90) and had to take another day off work ($150), which I could not afford to do, and parking $15 for the extra day.

-          Total Personal Lose:  $265

-          Compensation: Voucher for ½ off hotel which is a decent gesture but not close to what it cost me for the extra day which I could not return home.

The way I see it, all of these delays and cancellations and luggage damages cost me $1305 in extra spending, which was about as much as the original tickets costs. This is absurd and ridiculous! The 10,000 miles and hotel voucher are a good start but either a lot more miles or flying vouchers are needed to even come close to making this right. In my twenty years of flying, I have never had a trip like this and quite frankly, there is no excuse for it. While I understand mechanical breakdowns occur, American Airlines needs to make it up to the passengers. Other airlines were not being delayed and even other planes under your fleet where taking off. And a smile, rebooking on the next available flight, and “sorry for any inconvenience” only goes so far when plane after plane is delayed, and then canceled.

Based on airline miles being the equivalent of 2 cents a mile, I have only been compensated $200 for my troubles and extra spending due to the damages caused by the airline and the delays and cancellations. I would like to be compensated an extra 66,500 airline miles or $1300 in travel vouchers. I think it’s the least the airline could do and it’s a fair trade out for the burden occurred in my travels.

Please contact me on how this issue will be resolved.

Sean Kimmel

About a week after the second email, I received a response which stated the following:

We have received your additional email. Again, we are sorry to hear about the difficulty that you encountered. We are also sorry that you were not satisfied with the AAdvantage® bonus miles that we provided. However, the mileage is intended to convey goodwill and to make amends in some way for the inadequate service you reported. It represents a level we believe to be fair and reasonable. As such, we must respectfully decline any additional goodwill.

Mr. Kimmel, we appreciate you and look forward to welcoming you onboard again soon.

So I got 10,000 for first cancellation and nothing for the other three or broken luggage. Doesn't seem fair and reasonable to me. In all honesty another 10,000 miles for each of the other three cancellations and maybe 3000-5000 miles for the luggage and I would have let it all go and been content. But nope. DENIED.

So I hit up social media. Tagging them on Facebook, which was useless, and on Twitter, which got response. After a few exchanges I received this message:

Sean, we've forward this on to a specialist in Customer Relations for review. You should hear back soon. Thanks for your patience.

Then about thirteen days later the following email was received.

I'm sorry your flights didn't operate as scheduled when you traveled with us. I know you were inconvenienced. Too, we regret your disappointment with the compensation that was previously provided to you.

We wish we could guarantee that planes would always depart and arrive on time. Regrettably, we can't -- but what we can and should do is make every attempt to minimize the inconvenience for our customers whenever our flights are delayed or cancelled. I am sorry that we didn't do a better job of overcoming the challenges we faced that day in order to make your experience a little less trying.

While it is certainly our goal to operate each and every flight as planned, we have the responsibility to make changes to our schedules to resolve problems caused by weather, flight conditions, mechanical difficulties or other operational challenges. Accordingly, it is not an airline industry practice to assume financial responsibility for our customers' personal time lost or for out-of-pocket expenses when extenuating circumstances prevent us from operating as planned. I am sorry.

However, for the additionally issues you experienced, I have credited your AAdvantage® account with an additional 15,000 Customer Service bonus miles.
Mr. Kimmel, we are not unmindful of the inconvenience to you. As hard as we are trying to deliver on respecting your time by operating our flights as scheduled, it just wasn't possible this time. Again, we apologize for the disruption of your travel plans. Please fly with us again soon -- we'll do our best to get you to your destination as planned.

While another 15,000 is another step in the right direction, I think it still falls short. If you are counting that's 25,000 miles total or about $500 equivalent and still no acknowledgement of the damaged luggage. Back on the warpath I went as this was a battle not to give up easy on. I know my demands where high and at the beginning if half was granted this would have been a done deal. But American Airlines just couldn't make things right. And the similar emails with the catchphrases were getting annoying.

I sent another email to customer service.
 

Once again, a total of 25,000 miles is a decent offer. But not anywhere close to what I loss financially due to airline delays & cancellations. I simply dont understand why American wont just out just compensation and own up to responsibilities. Especially when I stand in an airport and constantly hear the airline give out vouchers of varying prices for overbooked flights. I feel like you have compensated justly for 2 of the 4 cancellations & delays, but it seems as you trying to solve this with minimal effort. And still there is zero acceptance about the broken luggage, which IS the airline's responsibility. Once I had off my bags at check in, they should come back to me in the same condition. What is being done about this? Do you I need to send you the pictures and video of the damage? 

I am getting a tired of all these exchanges. It's been a month and half since this happened. I am a reasonable person who just wants treated with the respect and care a customer deserves. Yet it is not happening. Do something to make the luggage situation right.

And course I rampaged on Facebook and Twitter about the situation. I get immediate replies saying please send damage bag info to Customer Service. They respond to all emails. Blah Blah. The next day an email comes stating the following:


Thank you for contacting us. We have received your additional email. Again, we are sorry to hear about the difficulty that you encountered. We are also sorry that you were not satisfied with the AAdvantage® bonus miles that we provided. However, the mileage is intended to convey goodwill and to make amends in some way for the inadequate service you reported. It represents a level we believe to be fair and reasonable.

In reference to your baggage, when this kind of difficulty happens, every effort is made to make amends in a reasonable manner. It is our policy that a report is made with our personnel prior to leaving the airport or within 24 hours of receipt of your baggage. Nevertheless, our staff at each airport and our Security Department have been informed of this reported incident.

Mr. Kimmel, it is never easy to decline a customer's request, and our position in no way suggests that we are insensitive to what happened. Again, we are genuinely sorry for the reported loss of your belongings. Please be assured that we will work harder than ever to restore your confidence in our ability to provide good service.

Once again denied compensation and American does not take responsibility for breaking my brand new luggage. And again, the same generic responses. Now I am very angry. And emailed the again. Unfortunately I forgot to copy it before I sent it off, but it was basically the same as things I just stated.

A friend sent me a link which I will now try, Air Help. It supposedly help you get money back. What do I have lose...nothing. I am sure that my account has already been flagged in some way as hostile. I tried it but nothing as it only works for when you get bumped from a flight for overbooking.

I responded back one more time with my displeasure.

We have reviewed the correspondence exchanged between you and our colleague, and we recognize that you are still unhappy about the damage to your luggage. We work hard to find common ground and to resolve problems to our customers' satisfaction, and we are disappointed that we have been unsuccessful. However, our conditions of liability exclude any damage claim not initially reported in person within 24 hours after the arrival of your checked items.

Ultimately, our position in this matter remains unchanged. We are sorry, Mr. Kimmel. Still, our position in no way suggests that we are insensitive to what happened. Please be assured that we will work harder than ever to restore your confidence in our ability to provide good service.


Denied again. This is a losing battle. At this point, I am basically screwed. The fucking airlines win. Sean loses.

But for next over sea trip in August I booked United. Simply out of principal.




Observation of An Illogical mind by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://www.seankimmel.com.
Please feel free to share the link but contact me for any other uses or publication. Thanks.

Off the land of thousands islands again...

My flight was delayed which was going to cause me to miss my connecting flight to Tokyo. It also cost me a day of vacation and hotel room for the day. After being rerouted on a flight 14 hours later in LA then to Hong Kong, I finally arrived in Manila. It was around noon by the time I got my luggage and made it through entry and customs. I grabbed a white and head to my hotel.

I should probably confess at this point that the reason for this trip was to meet up with my girlfriend Pam and get introduced to her family. We had kind of kept things under wraps but it was time for us to announce it to all of our family members and friends. We are planning on making this a permanent relationship.

Anyways, Pam was coming down from Angeles City to join me. I arrived at Best Western La Corona expecting her to already be there since she left for the bus as I was boarding the plane in Hong Kong. She wasn't there yet, so I got checked in and went up to the room. As I opened the door the phone rang. Pam had arrived. Excellent timing.

There was a J. Co Donuts just down the street so we decided on a little treat for the afternoon. A six pack of mixed donuts and ice coffee. I must tell you the hype of this place is for real. One of the best donuts I have ever tasted.

J. Co Donuts

 As the evening came it was time for dinner. We ended up at a rather unique resto/bart called The Hobbit House. I actually planned this out because of the outstanding beer selection they have from around the world, mainly Europe. But Pam doesn't shy away from a drink now and then either. The entire establishment is themed in the style of JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. And the place is ran by litttle people. The beer selection was great for the Philippines and the food was plentiful. We got stuffed. It was also open talent night so we were entertained by several musicians.

Hobbit House

After a couple of hours we left and went back the hotel for the night. I was rather exhausted from my crazy travel schedule and had not hardly slept in several days.

The next morning we had the buffet with many choices, packed, and left for the bus stop. La Corona was a nice hotel for the right price and in a good area of town. If I ever need to spend time at the US Embassy or want to check out this part of Manila in more detail , which is what I wanted to do originally before my delay because of all the parks and museums in the area, then I would stay here again.

We had a two hour bus ride to Angeles City then jumped on a jeepney from terminals in Malacabat to Walking Street, where we grabbed a trike to take us to Elyseah Condotel. We decided on this place because of the price and it's an apartment style hotel with a small kitchen/dining area. Since this whole trip was sort of not planned in my budget, we were trying to save money. Figured cooking a few of our own meals would help. Plus a studio style apartment is better than a congested hotel room. The pool is also kick ass! We ended up really enjoying this place. We will try to stay here again. It's a hotel with limited rooms and it always seemed to be full.

Elyseah Condotel

After getting checked in and chatting with the owner for awhile we decided to walk to SM Clark Mall for supplies. Another bonus of the hotel is the mall being a five minute walk away. Pam and myself grabbed some lunch, walked around in the AC as it is super hot and humid this time of year in the PI, and went shopping. We cooked a nice dinner then watched a little television before falling to sleep early like an old couple.

Truth be told, I was a tad nervous as the next day I would meet her immediate family. Her mother, her two older brothers with wives and kids, and her older sister with husband and kids. Pam thought going to a water park would be a great idea and something the whole family would enjoy. They all rearranged their work schedules to come spend the day.

We went to Villa Alfredo's for the day. Pam's brother Asper and wife Rochelle (and son) picked us up at the hotel. We waited for her brother Spencer and Irene's family, her sister Lany and husband Marvin's family, and her mother Mel to arrive (I wont attempt the nieces and nephews names... though I believe that I name them all with ease). I paid for the gazebo and the family brought a feast of food. We spent some time getting to know each other and eating. Then the kids excitedly went out to the one of several different pools.  Pam and me walked around for awhile to check out the animals, fish, the banzai trees, look at all the different pools, and have ice cream.

The Big Wave Pool

Did I mention how hot it is during the Philippine summer. I was a sweat box. So eventually we got into The Big Wave pool near our gazebo. Most of her family was already enjoying it. The Big Wave pool simulated ocean waves once every 90 minutes. It's a fun time and I stuck out as a mismatch. Bright white skin from being covered all winter long in a seas of colorful brown Filipino skin. One old guy was poking friendly jabs at me.

After battling the waves most of us went back to rest and eat some food. The kids wanted one more go at the water before leaving. I sat and talked to Mama Mel for a bit as myself and the ladies started cleaning up the gazebo. Around five, it was time to leave. The family said goodbye and thanked me for the great day. To which I thanked them all back. Asper took us back to the condotel. And battled tremendous traffic on the way there and even worse on his way home.


Pam has a close family who spends much time together. I was honored to be a part and accepted into the fold as I will be seeing much more of them all in the years to come.


The next morning we decided to go to Magalang, which is where Pam lives along with Spencer's family. She wanted to show me her house, Asper's business OneTrueSolutions, and go the local tiangge or bizarre/market since it is right down the street from One True Solutions. Off on a jeepney we went.

The market has lots of seasfood, fruits, and vegetables as well as many clothes and supplies. It is table after table and stall after stall for blocks. It happens every Saturday and is a cool thing to witness and walk through. And you can find great deals. Dont forgot to haggle!

Afterwards we spent some time with Asper and Rochelle. Then decided to head to her home. We jumped another jeepney to get close. Irene and the kids were home. Her and Pam made lunch and we spent some time there before heading back to the city. We decided to stop at Marquee Mall to waste some time and get out of the heat for a couple of hours. We got back to the condotel and relaxed in the pool for awhile. We decided to have a lazy night watching movies and eat the remaining food we had left in the fridge.

The next day we were heading back to Manila. It was my last day of a short trip. Pam asked me if her best friend Jen could come and join us for the day. I didn't care so we met her at the bus terminal and caught a bus to Manila. This time I wanted to stay in the Makati area. A lot of this area seemed to be much nicer and cleaner. Maybe because it's in the middle of the business district. It's known as a party district too with lots of bars. We got to the Makati Palace Hotel and luckily a room was ready for us. We decided to go to the Greenbelt Mall to walk around and eat lunch. Part of it is an upscale mall with several different buildings. The other part of it is a normal mall.

view from Makati Palace Hotel

 After a few hours we went back to the hotel and hung out for a bit before Jen had to leave and get back to Angeles. Jen gave me a gift. Two pairs of hand knitted socks. They are very comfortable.

At some point during the afternoon I started to feel not so good. I went to the 7-11 across the street in hopes of finding meds. Success! To my dismay though, it did not help. I laid on the bed sweating and not able to cool down. I must have been running a fever. On both of my trips to Philippines these same symptoms have happened. As much as I wanted to go out and explore the area and treat Pam to a nice resto meal, we laid bed all night while I was ill. And ordered room service which was decent.

The next morning I still did not feel great but it was time to go. We grabbed a cab and headed to the airport. I waited and delayed as long as could as me and Pam stood outside the entry both not wanting to leave each or say goodbye. She watched as I walked inside the airport and she left in a cab for the bus terminal. After I got through the long lines of ticketing and existing, we were able to chat via facbook as we normally do while I waited to board.

It was another long flight back to the US and I could not shake this cold and was out of medicine. I landed in Chicago and got through customs in decent time. While I walked around O'Hare like a zombie it started snowing. Hard. My immediate thought, due to all the other troubles I had the week before, was my flight better not be canceled. I found the arrival/departure board. My flight was canceled.

I was steamed. Both flights back to Fort Wayne that night were canceled. I found a booth and asked the attendant what was happening. I was rebooked for 9am flight the next day. It was 6pm. My choices were to battle Chicago traffic and snow and drive back, if I could get a rental car, which would out me home maybe around midnight or get a hotel and 1/2 off voucher from the airline. As angry as I was, the hotel won out. Only because I was exhausted and the cold was kicking my ass. And I could not get my luggage because it was in being stored until the next day.

I managed to get one to the hotels listed on the voucher and catch their shuttle. Roads were getting back. I would have rather been home but staying over was the correct call. I grabbed meds and food then headed to my room. I called work to inform my manager of the situation. A long, hot shower later and I was off to sleep in a comfy bed.

The next morning, I got up early and put on my dirty clothes. Off to the airport I went for the usual process. Much to my surprise the flight landed and took off on time. I arrived back in Fort Wayne around noon and headed home. Finally.

Now I get to battle with American Airlines about all the delays and cancellations and broke luggage which occurred on my travel. But that's a different post...






Observation of An Illogical mind by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://www.seankimmel.com.
Please feel free to share the link but contact me for any other uses or publication. Thanks.

Wrestling Time In The Big Easy

My yearly excursion to hang out with friends and watch some wrestling landed all of us New Orleans. The place where I spent nearly three weeks working around Mardi Gras. The excitement for the city had rubbed off for me but not the joy of hanging out with a group of people I see on limited basis throughout the year.

The trip started out as the worst flying experience of my life. The benefits of a small, regional airport are quick check in and security. You can arrive about 45 minutes before you plan boards and be golden. The downfall of a small, regional airport with limited flights is when things start getting bad and canceled, then you are stuck.

I arrived about an hour before my flight to Dallas was suppose to take off and it was immediately delayed. As we waited, there was an emergency landing for a plane going from Columbus, OH to Chicago that landed and got canceled due to mechanical trouble. A flight to Atlanta was canceled due to mechanical failure. My plane finally arrived and was delayed longer due to mechanical issues. Another flight to Chicago was canceled because of the storms. Finally my plane was canceled. The fourth flight in under an hour. I go to stand in line. And I know that I am not leaving Fort Wayne this night. And I am correct. I get rebooked on the next flight to Dallas, 24 hours from now. I lose tickets to a wrestling show and my share of a hotel room for the night. Not to mention a wasted vacation day. I get home and email American Airlines Customer Service department.

The next day, I head out to the airport once again. Upon arrival my flight is already delayed and will cause me to miss my connecting flight in Dallas. The earliest flight I can get on to New Orleans will arrive at 11pm. I will miss another wrestling show. I think about canceling the trip all together. I make some calls and it's simple not feasible. Mainly because I am flying to the Philippines directly after New Orleans. So I wait and get to Dallas and wait more. In all about 8 hours sitting around the airport. However I am able to get on a flight which arrives at 9:30pm. However, my luggage will not arrive until my original flight. When I finally land in NOLA, I make arrangements for my luggage to be delivered. The airline says it will arrive by 6am. Great, I have no change of clothes in my backpack or essentials until then. I head out to the hotel. Maybe a hot shower and a cold beer will help.

I am miserable. I am tired. I am angry. And all my friends are at the wrestling show. I get to the hotel and get my room key, a room which I am sharing with four other people. I open the door and an immediate funk hits my nostrils. Then the light reveals a whole different disaster. This room has been trashed and smells like cat. I am confused. I open the bathroom door to urinate and see the serving tray with kitty litter spread all over it (complete with cat turds) and cat hair surrounding the shower drain. Baffled, I walk out and see open cans of cat food surrounding the TV and dry cat food sprinkled in a trail along the edge of the floor. And there are clothes thrown all over.

I am raging. I throw my backpack in the closet and head out of the hotel to go find drink and food in an attempt to calm down. I text my friend Jeff and ask what hell is going on. The room is a wreck and I cannot sleep in there because of allergies. He says one of the other guys, Paul, let an independent wrestler stay in the room since I could not make it. I really want to reveal his name as he is a veteran and from a fairly famous wrestling family. But I wont... (unless you ask me then I will say it's Teddy). Apparently the guys knew nothing of this wreckage as they left at noon and the wrestler was going to leave shortly after. However Paul, who let the wrestler and his girlfriend stay, should have turned him away once a cat showed up in the mix. The wrestler took advantage of the situation and Paul should have said sorry other guys paid for this room. But none of that happened.

They get back from the show and started cleaning up the room while I sat at bar across the street with some other friends who showed. Paul came in and said things are cleaned up the best we can and house keeping can tidy up in the morning. It's as good as it's gonna get tonight. So we all drink. Around 1:30am, Paul gets a call and goes to meet the wrestler so he can pick up his things. He asks if I want to go and to which I laugh. Currently I am feeling better, but I might punch the guy if he crossed my path. They get back and we drink more. People start fading out. About 3:30am, it's time to try for some sleep. Jeff and myself head back to room and we find Paul asleep. The fourth guy who is sharing the room is nowhere to be found. My luggage still hasn't arrived so I decide to wait for it. I open the closet to get my backpack and it's gone. My calming mood goes into instant anger. I yell at Paul and say did the wrestler take my backpack. He's drunk and doesn't know and says I will get it tomorrow. I say no, we will get it now. My money, my electronics, my camera, and my passport is in the bag. He grumbles and makes a call to get the hotel address. Jeff says we are taking your rental car Paul. And we head out to retrieve my items at a hotel on the north side of NOLA. We get my backpack and all its belongings and get back to our hotel about 4:45am. My luggage has arrived. Only I find out a wheel has been snapped and I cant wheel it around and the handle is bent and wont extend. This is the second time the suitcase has been used.

I'm tired and just want this day to end. I get to the stinking room, take a hot shower, and crawl into bed about 5:30am.

I wake up around 9:30am and cant take the smell any longer. I change and go the lobby and wait around. I met up with friends for breakfast at the NOLA institution The Ruby Slipper Cafe. There are some decadent meals here but I went basic and simple. Decided to spend the day walking around with people and checking out the area. We took a ferry across the river to see a historic part of town. Then came back and walked through the French Quarter, complete with a stop at Cafe Beignet. We went up to St. Louis Cemetery, unfortunately it was closed, and back down for a stroll down Bourbon Street for a beer before deciding it was enough.

Some people in the group decided to go the wrestling shows. I did not as none of the shows for the night, neither Ring of Honor or Dragon Gate USA, really interested me. Instead I went to Barcadia for a buger and beers. Some people joined me shortly afterwards.

After a couple hours, our friend Greg was hosting a gathering so that's where I went. There was still a few people I had not seen yet due to my late arrival and wandering around all day. Spent a couple of hours sipping drinks and hanging out with group of good people and catching up. Eventually it was time for bed.

I got back to the room and it had not been cleaned. One of the guys forgot to hit the "please make room" button. So I try to sleep for a few hours. One again I wake up early and walk out the room.

Sunday was going to be a lazy, wasted day. I had planned on watching Wrestlemania in room. I walked around and had brunch with friends. As people left for the show, I got a call from Larry. He said to get over to Greg's room ASAP. He has a ticket for you. Now I really did not want to go but I hate turning down nice gestures from friends. So I got to the room and Greg asked if I wanted to sit in the skybox with him, Larry, and Jon. It was his treat. Again, how could I say no. And we headed out to Wrestlemania XXX.

 

Deciding to take Greg up on his offer turned out to be a great decision. Not only was Mania one of the best of all time and had many, many great moments but how often will I ever set in a skybox with free food and booze. Plus it's always great watching shows with Greg, Larry, and Jon.

We walked back towards the hotel and I started the usual goodbyes with everyone and making the round as I was heading the to the Philippines in the morning. After a few hours of sleep, I headed out early in the morning to catch my flight.

And naturally, as every flight on this trip, it was delayed...
(to be continued)

Observation of An Illogical mind by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://www.seankimmel.com.
Please feel free to share the link but contact me for any other uses or publication. Thanks.