Back in 2008, when my fiancée invited me to visit Catalonia, I was in the market for transatlantic airline tickets. And I'd never flown internationally before, and I applied and obtained a US Passport, and I figured out with my father how to get a Travelex prepaid debit card with Euros loaded, and my fiancée was prodding me anxiously about buying a ticket, and I eventually threw caution to the wind and flew on an airline called "ZOOM".

Now "ZOOM" was supposedly based in Canada and they were supposedly giving bargain-basement fares to Americans as well, from select origins to select destinations. All I needed to do was to get to Lindbergh Field (San Diego International) and ZOOM Airlines would fly me to London Gatwick. And their aircraft had cute friendly livery with big "ZOOOOOOOOM" lettering on the side. And the price was totally cheap.

Well they did their job fine; I landed in Gatwick, took a train to Heathrow, and flew on Iberia into and back out of Barcelona. Unfortunately, before I departed, my father phoned my fiancée to break the news that "ZOOM Airline" was bankrupt, and all their flights were grounded. They had run out of fuel in Scotland, and nobody would top up the tanks. My return ticket from London to San Diego was worthless.

So Dad puts me on a British Airways flight and I got home safe. But from August 2008, or before, I have harbored a visceral animosity towards any foreign actors named "ZOOM".