All frequent senior travelers have experienced cancelled flights, as well as those delayed long enough to make us miss our next connection. Unfortunately, we’ve often taken out out our alley cat frustration on the wrong people.

So, if anger isn’t the answer, what is? First, don’t get spitting angry at airline employees at the check-in desks. They have no control of weather and schedule glitches, nor whatever else happens to strand you in the airport. Always understand that in almost every case, even if you’re unpleasant, they’ll do everything possible to help you. But sometimes they become overwhelmed.

It happend to a furiously frustrated travel4seniors editor recently, and all he succeeded in doing was make a fool of himself. He and his spouse missed a connecting leg because the first flight was delayed, so they ran over to the airline desk. Ignoring the long line there of others who had also missed their flights, he began ranting, and when the agent told him to go to the back of the line, he griped even more.

Meanwhile, his spouse calmly called the airline troubleshooting number, and politely explained their problem. By phone, she was told to go directly to another gate, where they could immediately board another airline’s soon-to-depart flight to their destination.

One possible solution of missing flights or being stranded is to always have with you the phone number of the airline troubleshooter service. When you have problems with your flight, rather than spit and snarl at airline employees like an angry cat, call it immediately.

The moral of the story may be found in the Bible: A kind answer turneth away wrath. In other words, the editor’s wrathful rant got him "turnethed" away. Meanwhile the spouse’s calm kindness got them seats on another flight.

Whenever we visit Las Vegas, we always make time for a special activity. It’s usually around midnight, and we stroll the sidewalk along the beautiful dancing fountains in front of the Bellagio Resort on the Strip.

As we admire the beautiful designs and colors of the enormous display, hidden speakers along the way play familiar music. Our favorite is Frank Sinatra singing, “Luck Be A Lady” from Broadway’s “Guys And Dolls”. The acoustics are so lifelike, we often stop and imagine Frank is right there singing just for us.

Travel website TripAdvisor apparently agrees with us about the Bellagio fountains. It recently named them the No. 1 landmark in the US. Scholars and historians could argue with the choice, because below the fountains on the list were such historic landmarks as Gettysburg National Military Park, the USS Arizona Memorial in Honolulu and New York City’s Top of the Rock Observation Deck.

Next time you’re in Sin City, add a stroll along the fountains to your itinerary, preferably when Sinatra’s voice fills the night air. Unlike just about everything else in the expensive town, the experience is absolutely free.

SORRY! THIS WAS POSTED SEVERAL DAYS BEFORE THE TERRIBLE CRASH AT SFO. OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS GO OUT TO THE VICTIMS AND THEIR FAMILIES.

No, it isn’t a sequel to “Snakes On A Plane”, but a real life assignment for the weed-eating goats to keep the busy SFO greens neatly clipped. When you’re flying in or out of San Francisco and you look down at the attractive lawns surrounding the runways, you can thank the 400 hungry goats for their creative work.

In addition to the cosmetic appearances of goat lawn clipping, the practice has many environmental benefits. It reduces heavy weed concentrations that dry to become fire hazards, and it doesn’t add to the air pollution that mechanical lawn mowers spew out.

It’s also a self-reprocessing system, with fertilizer provided by the goats as they graze. Another benefit is that small snakes and amphibians in the same area can live in natural harmony with the goats without fear of being chopped up by machine mowers.

Animals naturally mowing public lawns  isn’t a new idea. Through President Woodrow Wilson’s term 100 yrs ago and earlier, the White House lawn was regularly visited by a herd of grass-munching sheep.

The India-based airline calls it a money-saving necessity. It claims their lower weight will save fuel costs. With the ever escalating oil prices, there is some kind of logic in the decision.

According to the report from the Times of India, the female attendants are 33 to 44 pounds lighter than the typical males on the same job. Based on current fuel prices, the savings can be calculated to save up to a half-million dollars a year. Wonder if the airline requires the attendants to refrain from eating until their flights land.