If you hang around me in real life, you should know that I am vehemently anti-smartphone. But today, I will give credit where credit is due and give smartphones (and Bert) some props.

Today, while dnjoying the wonderfulness that is Oahu, I got a voicemail message from US Airways that my flight from Kailua-Kona to Phoenix was canceled (original flight back was Honolulu -> Kailua-Kona -> Phoenix -> San Diego at 9am tomorrow morning).

I dutifully called the US Airways customer line, but found it clogged (30 minutes until they could answer my call was the message I got; I'm assuming this has to do with the nasty wintry weather back east). I decided it'd be better for me to head over to Honolulu Airport and deal with it. So off I drove.

I went over to the Hawaiian Airlines counter (my check-in was there), but they directed me to the other terminal towards US Airways. On my walk over, I called US Airways again. After the first ring, a guy picked it up immediately (when's the last time that's happened?).

The guy started looking for flights to rebook me on, but wasn't getting much luck. That's when Bert (with his shiny Googlephone) pointed me to a codeshare flight on United Airlines that'd get me back even faster and with less connections than my previous flight! Bert, on his smartphone, beat this guy in finding me the best flight back.

Success - got the flight rebooked - I leave five hours earlier than my original flight, but I get back the same night in San Diego, so red-eye avoided!

Thanks, US Airways! I'm sure if this was Delta they would have found out some way to piss me off...