The Road Warrior

A few years ago, I spent the winter in Atlanta (Alpharetta) doing a computer system conversion. It was an interesting experience career wise (lots of fun being out of the office), and it was hell on my writing, (didn't), family life (none to speak of), and waistline (gained back all the weight I lost on Dr. Atkins). I made 12 trips, and remember driving from Alpharetta to the airport at rush hour with six lanes of traffic whizzing along or not, and wondering if I would get to Hartsfield early or late. I became accomplished at standing by for an earlier flight, and getting into unfamiliar rental cars late at night and all the stuff that the road warrior learns.

In the process of these trips, with others, I accumulated a tidy number of frequent flier miles. When I tried to cash them in on a trip to Florida, this was the deal: fly to New York on the shuttle, then change airports (LaGuardia to Kennedy) and fly to Orlando, then fly on to Ft. Lauderdale (the destination). Now who is ever going to suck it up that much? Not me.

Recently, I offered to donate some of my miles to a relative. Bear in mind it costs to donate. He wanted to fly from San Francisco or Oakland to Atlanta. You're not going to believe this, but it's true. The airline wanted him to fly to Los Angeles, spend the night at the airport, and fly on to Atlanta the next day. This is how the airlines reward their frequent fliers. It really, really sucks. My loyalty is toast.

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