I just waited for 10 minutes to speak with an American Airlines representative. You see, I'm scheduled to fly to Las Vegas via Dallas on Saturday. If you've looked at recent pictures of Hurricane Rita, you'll see that the category four storm is making a beeline for the Texas coast, after which, we presume, it will continue inland, unless it has an unknown agenda of its own.

I called American Airlines to see about switching my flight through Chicago instead.

The rep: Dallas is 450 miles inland, you know!

Me: No, really, I thought it was up north of Maine somewhere!

The rep: [Silence]

Me: Hurricanes go inland, too, you know. They seldom just stop at the beach.

The rep: To change flights, it would be a change fee, plus the difference in air fare at face value. That would be $700.

Me: Sorry, I had thought that American Airlines would welcome passengers taking steps to lessen the potential nightmare impact of cancelled flights. Silly me.

TES