Flying - always an adventure on American Airlines

Flight - 100% packed from Austin to Dallas. The flight left Austin on time, however.
Dallas to Anchorage, a whole nuther story.

A flight attendant was late to the airport for the flight (can't even begin to load a plane until all crew members are on board). That made us 1/2 hour late to board. Steve and I took our seats that we had confirmed the night before 20D and 20E. Flight was not only 100% booked, it was overbooked. Not a good thing for another couple to come up to the seats we are in and tell us that we are in THEIR seats! But, possession being 9/10 of the law (or so Steve says), we kept our seats while the other couple had to bring it up with the flight attendant.Flight itself was over 8 hours long. Sat next to a soldier who was home for leave from Iraq. Chatted with him just a bit, then fell asleep. Woke up to the offer of a $10 sandwich (hey - it included chips, woohoo!). Considering I got several military discounts on the way, I bought the soldier a sandwich for when he woke up. Only to find out that if he had been in uniform, the flight attendant would have given him one for free. But she gave me my money back.

Landed at 8:15 local time (supposed to be 7:30, but we didn't make the time up). Got to the hotel (Holiday Inn Express - Anchorage). Was decorated very nicely - they had a brown bear, a wolverine on display, and the furnishings were of the hand-carved variety. Very Alaskan!