Reluctant flier Miles

0 Comments | USA TODAY, May, 2008 | by Bob Minzesheimer

NEW YORK -- When Jonathan Miles read that the airline industry is predicting another summer of delays, his first thought was: "That's good for the book."

Miles' debut novel, Dear American Airlines (Houghton Mifflin, $22), is written in the form of an exasperated 180-page letter of complaint from a passenger stranded at Chicago's O'Hare Airport.

Miles' second thought had to do with his book tour -- 15 cities in 24 days, cross-country, mostly by plane -- beginning Monday in Jackson, Miss.

As he put it on a recent visit to JFK International Airport, "What's good for the book may not be so good for me. I'm very torn."

The novel was inspired by the author's own overnight stay on the floor at O'Hare.

Eight years ago, Miles, 37, a...