Some Post-Vacation Thoughts

We had an amazing family vacation. Amazing. Every odd-numbered year, we take the entire family on a vacation and each seems better than the last. The above photo was taken at one of my all-time favorite restaurants, Blue Moon Fish Company in Ft. Lauderdale. In the past, we went there for the incredible food and atmosphere. This year, I also thought the girls would enjoy the boats (people dock their boats at the restaurant and dine) and drawbridge. That turned out to be an accurate forecast.

We loved the Westin Ft. Lauderdale beach hotel. While I have a couple of tiny quibbles (I believe this is one of the hotels where the thermostats are "rigged"and I wish there was more variety to the restaurant menus), I would give it an enthusiastic 4.8/5 stars. In addition to being a well-maintained facility, the people are incredible. They want to please their guests. I haven't been that happy with hotel service in years.

Then, the airlines...

After being an incredibly frequent flier during my WeatherData/AccuWeather business career, I got to where I couldn't stand the airlines. After my retirement, I went a full year and a half without flying. We even drove to San Antonio: a distance that would have been a no-brainer flight even five years ago.

So, it was with some trepidation that we flew to Ft. Lauderdale (FLL). Unfortunately, things haven't changed, at least with American Airlines.

Our flight from Dallas (DFW) -FLL was an hour late because, evidently (and I was checking as we flew along), the pilots and/or air traffic control had apparently never dealt with ordinary Florida thunderstorms. We left the gate early, sat on the ground for nearly a half-hour, and kept re-routing while in flight. The food was pretty bad and service indifferent.

From FLL-DFW, the flight itself was great. Best airline food I've had in years with great flight attendants. Unfortunately, it was a total wreck in every other way. Why? American Airlines is still handing weather the same way they did a quarter-century ago...and, it wasn't that great in 1994.

Four of the 15 (!) change notices
for yesterday evening's flights

Because it was due to weather, I'm going to do a separate posting about how the airlines could handle these situations better using modern meteorology and business techniques.

So, it was a much-needed time away and great break with the family. Thanks for stopping by the blog while I was gone. Normal postings resume this week.