Why I’m Done with United Airlines

My brother, Joe, and my nephew, JamesIt was a year ago last month that my nephew suffered the first of many headaches, which, after much persistence from my brother, landed James in St. Louis Children’s Hospital after the discovery of a large tumor in his cervical spine, later determined to be an aggressive anaplastic astrocytoma, which subsequently spread to his brain.

Over the past year I’ve made multiple trips back to the Midwest, always flying in and out of St. Louis, a short train ride to the hospital, so last month, when I made travel plans, there was no indication I shouldn’t do the same. Continue reading

The importance of being different.

A screen with the word Portland repeatedly enteredEven at 5:57 a.m. there’s an obscenely long line weaving towards security at for Gate D at Portland’s International Airport. Judging by their demeanor, few of then passengers have consumed their morning cuppa and they trudged like zombies through the maze on their approach to the TSA’s once over.

As a TSA agent approached the shuffling line, she loudly asked if anyone was in possession of chocolate. We all largely ignored the uniform’s announcements, assuming we’d memorized the TSA drill, so this question caught everyone’s attention.

Seriously?! Now they’re not letting people carry on chocolate? Oh, this can not end well. Continue reading