I was just standing outside having a sneaky smoke and I started talking to this random guy that had been hanging out in the lobby of the hotel 'cause he couldn't afford a ticket for the conference.
Anyway, it turns out that he worked for a company that did the American Airlines website, and they were based right here in Portland. Some of those that know me may also know that I worked at ebookers.
At one point at ebookers we started evaluating a product that talked to the Airline GDS systems in an abstract way, so that (in theory) you could plug any of the big five in and it would just work. The problem with the particular product was that it didn't actually do what it said on the tin, and we felt quite a great deal of vitriol for the other company after the process.
Anyway, it turned out that this guys company got bought by the above mentioned one, and they basically got so fed up with them that they bought themselves back. It was cool to remember all the crazy shit that this particular company did - we knew lots of the same guys, and had worked with lots of the same people, and faced many of the same problems. Like I said, its a very small world...
