From Dallas

So, a mere 36 hours after arriving in Chile, I’m now back over it heading north on American Airlines back to Dallas / Fort Worth.

I will at this point mention that after careful deliberation and thought (and vast amounts of experience – well 1 flight anyway) that American Airlines are THE worst airline I’ve been on.
The planes look old, the interiors are scrappy, and there is not even a personal video system in Business Class. One redeeming feature is you do get a personal DVD system with a selection of discs, but it’s all a bit naff really.

I know I’m being picky (and God forbid, Ameicanised?) but I’d be annoyed if it was MY money I was spending on this ticket.

They’re so cheap that they taxi around the airports with only one engine, turning the other one just before takeoff (and immediately after landing). This does save fuel, but I always like knowing that both engines have had a reasonable 10 minutes of running before propelling a speeding hunk of Aluminium down the runway. I’m sure it’s all perfectly safe, but I am not entirely convinced. An engine failing at takeoff is exceedingly rare, once started, jets tend to keep running. However, if you start the engine at the beginning of your takeoff roll, well… Put it this way – it’s the worst time to have an engine failure!

If other airlines (like Southwest here in the USA, or British Airways back home) can turn a profit (and a good one) whilst having far superior service at the airport, in flight and using all the engines that have been strapped on all of the time, then I don’t see why American is different.

Anyway. Got that out of my system.

The food was good on the way back though – even if I snapped my plastic fork (why can all the other airlines have metal forks?), and they confiscated my glass of wine without refilling it.

Anyway.

Hmmm.

Santiago was great. I didn’t get to see that much of it, but the approach to landing was spectacular with the great view of the snow-capped Andes off one wing. Santiago sits up against the Andes, with the coast some 90 minutes drive away. The city looks like many others do when you literally fly in and fly out, but there was a nice mix of old and new buildings with a major European influence.

I was collected at the airport by a guy with my name on a board, and whisked off to the Hotel Atton where I showered and had a couple of hours sleep before hooking in to work.

The morning session I was presenting the day after went pretty well – I don’t think I’m giving too much away by saying I was covering the basics of the Petroleum business, and a bit of the history and economics.

You might like to try the Oil Exploration game at www.omv.com. Go to the site map, and in the first column under communication you’ll see a link to online games. It’s the top game in the list. Was useful to explain how the industry works.

A large proportion of the Graduates were Spanish speaking, mainly from the minerals side of the business, and therefore everything I said was translated on the fly by two interpreters sat in a booth at the back of the room. The translation was then transmitted only a few seconds behind me via an earpiece. It was impressive how fast the translation happened, and very strange to hear your words in Spanish mere seconds after you said them! Also, when I was asked questions in Spanish, I heard the English translation in my earpiece. It’s like the united nations!

All in all the session went very well with some excellent questions and feedback, so I was off the hook and en-route back to the airport by 7:30pm. I get to Houston sometime around 9am tomorrow, just in time for a day of meetings! But then a week’s holiday! Excellent!

I’m going to be back in the UK for Chrimbo, and in London once again from the 3rd – 12th of January. Maybe see some of you there…

posted by Sam @ 8:16 AM