Ok, more of the rest of the story…

This story is primarily an airline horror story, and it contains some logistical information and recommendations that will be of help to those of you traveling to San Jose, Panama and/or Cartegena. So if you don’t want to read a long story about a travel nightmare, then stop here because this is a long one.

I had spent the night with my girl from Josephines, and was under the mistaken impression that my flight was to leave San Jose for Panama City, Panama, at 9:30am, and that I was then going to catch a connecting flight from Panama City to CTG.

I should have checked the itinerary, and actually, I did look at my itinerary breifly, but I must have looked at the arrival time for Panama City and not the departure time from San Jose.

I don’t know why it is, but whenever a beautiful women is involved, it clouds my judgement. There is always a tendency to wish you had more time than you actually have, and I had imagined that the flight was leaving San Jose at 9:30am. Normally, I would have been more accurate in determining when I was supposed to be departing, etc…but, I think that subconsciously, I must have wished I had more time.

Imagine that a beautiful woman is coming over to see you. It is 3:00am, and if your flight is scheduled to leave San Jose at 7:30am, then that means you must leave the hotel in plenty of time to get to the airport, pay the departure tax, stand in long lines to check your baggage, etc…

So, that means you must leave that beautiful women, and head to the airport at 5:00am, or maybe even earlier if you believe all the hype about arriving at the airport early, especially for international flights. That only leaves 1-1/2 hours, at best, to enjoy her company.

But, if you believe your flight leaves at 9:30am, then that gives you plenty of time to enjoy her company, and still have plenty of time to get to the airport. My feeble minded monger brain just took over when I was looking at the itinerary, and my senses were clouded sufficiently to blissfully imagine that the flight was going to be leaving at 9:30am instead of 7:30am, thereby giving me sufficient time with my sweetheart.

I arrived at the airport with my girlfriend and trusted taxi driver around 7:30am, they dropped me off in front of the airport, we said our good-byes, and I made my way over to pay the departure tax counter, where I was processed relatively quickly.

Generally, I like to pay the departure tax when I arrive in San Jose because it eliminates the prospect of being significantly delayed getting into line at the ticket counters. But, on this trip, everything had been so messed up with the airlines, that I had forgotten to pay the departure tax when I arrived in San Jose. It was just another thing I was going to have to do before getting into the ticket counter lines to check baggage.

Fortunately, I remember thinking…Oh, I have plenty of time…The lines were not long at the departure tax line, but, I noticed that the lines at almost all the major carriers were very long. It promised to be a long wait getting processed to check baggage.

I eventually noticed what I initially thought was a good thing. There did not seem to be anyone in line at the COPA counter, which was the airline I was scheduled to take to Panama City/CTG. Then, I noticed that there were not even any counter agents there. So, with my feeble mongering mind still in gear, I waited at the front of the COPA line and concluded that I must be too early, and that counter agents would be arriving soon to start receiving customers.

So, I waited there for about 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, I asked one of the baggage handlers behind the counter what time the counter agents would be showing up to begin processing passengers. It was becoming conspicuous that no other passengers were there to be processed, so I thought I better ask the question.

The baggage handlers advised that the counter agents would be returning to the counter in a half-hour. All of the inconsistencies of his statement began to finally penetrate the mush, and I started to wonder if perhaps I had somehow made a TERRIBLE mistake.

I left the COPA line, where I was the only passenger waiting, and I decided to check my itinerary to determine where I might have gone wrong. The reality of what I had done fell upon me like a ton of wet bricks. So, my mind started racing and trying to decide what my best course of action was going to be.

There are so many considerations that run through your mind when this kind of thing happens to you. I was concerned that Alex, Mery’s Taxi Driver, would be waiting for me in CTG, and that I would need to get in touch with her as soon as possible.

So, my immediate thoughts were how to get in touch with Mery to inform her of my delay, and to make sure Alex would not be waiting for me unnecessarily at the airport in Cartegena later that afternoon.

Making telephone calls, especially internationally, is not an easy task from the San Jose airport. First of all, the telephones in the airport all require a Costa Rica telephone company telephone card to make a telephone call. I don’t know of any telephones there in the airport that can just use a major credit card or calling card (MCI, AT&T, etc…).

If there are phones in that airport that will utilize calling methods that we in the US are familiar with, I am not aware of them. So, be warned, when you are in the San Jose airport, you must have a Costa Rica telephone company issued telephone card to utilize a telephone. If anyone knows otherwise, please correct me if I am wrong.

I inquired as to where I could purchase a telephone card, and there was apparently only one telephone card vendor in the entire airport. The booth was unmanned, and located in from of the Bank kiosk next to the departure tax counters. US cell phones WILL NOT function in Costa Rica, so the two cell phones I had with me were virtually useless.

To my knowledge, there is no way to communicate with anyone outside of that airport without first having a card that will work in conjunction with the pay telephone equipment they have located there in front of the ticket counter area.

My brief and panicky investigation into the matter caused me great distress at the time all of this was occurring because there did not seem to be any way of contacting Mery in CTG, my girlfriend in San Jose, my taxi driver in San Jose, contacting the airline ticket agents by telephone, contacting an alternate airline by telephone, booking a reservation at the Hotel Presidente for one more night, etc… I was indeed in the “Twilight Zone.”

So, by this time, I was really in a funk. I just started to slowly wander the airport to contemplate my dilemma. So, I wandered down to the end of the airport where the departures board was located. I gazed up at the board and noticed that there were no other flights scheduled to leave for CTG from San Jose.

Then, “EUREKA,” I noticed a schedule on the board indicating that a small airline was scheduled to leave San Jose for Panama City in about an hour. WOW, what a God send that would be. I might actually be able to connect with my Copa flight in Panama City as planned. The name of the airline is West Carribean Airways, and their ticket counter is located on the far side of the airport in front of the Bank kiosk.

The West Carribean Airways flights was scheduled to arrive in Panama City 1-1/2 hours before my COPA flight was scheduled to depart Panama City for CTG…PERFECT!

Unfortunately, this little mistake was going to cost me $174.00 for a one-way ticket to Panama City. But, I was so happy I was actually going to make my COPA flight from Panama City to CTG, that I was delighted by my “luck” and I gladly paid the ransom.

So, I checked my bag with West Caribbean, and all the West Caribbean passengers soon boarded a small bus bound for the aircraft sitting on the tarmac in San Jose.

The aircraft was a small propjet with about 30 seats. The seats on the plane were worn, but the plane was clean, the staff was courteous, the flight was calm and smooth, and they even served a beverage while in flight. All in all, a relatively pleasant experience really.

I arrived in the airport in Panama City right on schedule, processed through customs, retrieved by baggage, and proceeded to the COPA ticket counter to begin my negotiations with COPA.

COPA advised that the flight to CTG was now overbooked, and that I would have to go on standby if I wanted to try to catch the same flight. The ticket agent informed me that I would have to pay a $40 fee for missing my initial flight, which is apparently viewed as a change in your ticket, and she also informed me that there would be a $20 airport tax fee that would also have to be paid. Fortunately, the ticket agent was nice to me, and she waived the $40 fee, but the $20 fee was out of her hands.

So, I checked my baggage with COPA wondering if I was going to be able to get on the plane as a standby passenger or whether I would be stranded for the night in Panama City. The thought also occurred to me that my bags, which were now checked on a flight that I was a standby passenger on, might arrive in CTG without me, and whether I would be stranded in Panama City without a change of clothes, etc. Oh, the joys of air travel…

So, I waited with anticipation at the gate to see if I was going to make in on board. There didn’t seem to be that many passengers, and they took my ticket at the gate an allowed me on board without even calling standby names. So, things looked pretty good.

I made it on board the aircraft, and held my breath until they closed the hatch door, and the aircraft pushed back from the gate. I made it. I was on my way to the promised land and only about $194 poorer. Not bad really, but a really stupid mistake on my part. Live and learn.

I will continue with the “rest of the story,” which will be centered in Cartegena, and those stories will involve more details about my mongering activities. Thank you for reading about my nightmarish airline travel…it has been very cathartic for me. Gracious.

Unspongebob -

I wonder, does a ton of wet bricks feel heavier than a ton of dry bricks?

I read your story with a grin....I thought shit like this only happens to me. I'm glad you were able to improvise and overcome. And you took a little risk and it paid off...kudos to you. But had you been bumped in Panama City I'm sure you could have gotten your toes curled if you wanted to.

Because you paid $174 with a different airline to get to Panama City to catch your connecting Copa flight to Colombia, I wonder why they still charged you $20 for the Panamanian departure tax? Had you flown into Panama from Costa Rica on Copa then caught your connecting Copa flight to Colombia would you have paid the Panama tax? Or, when you arrived in Panama via a different airline, did you depart the secure zone and re-enter again and they perceived you had been staying in Panama? It doesn't make sense that Panama would charge you $20 just for passing through to get to a connecting flight...then again...things don't always make sense in Latin and South America.

I hope next trip you have better luck.

AlecJamer

Well, I don't have direct experience, but yes, a ton of wet bricks is heavier...much heavier actually.

I think that the airport tax must be somehow included in the COPA fare or something. Apparently, when I missed the flight in San Jose, that wiped out my payment of the tax? Who knows...

At that point in time, I didn't question anything they were doing to me because I was afraid I was going to have to spend the night in Panama.

If that had occurred, I probably would have found a nice Panamanian jungle princess to snuggle up with, but I had my heart set on sampling Colombia.

You know how it is when you do all your research for an specific destination, but you fail to realize that you may end up somewhere else. Well, I had done no research on Panama what-so-ever, and if I had been stranded in Panama, I would have had to find an internet cafe real fast so I could consult with the other mongers of the world to figure out what to do for the night, not to mention hotel accomodations, restaurants, etc... So, I was so happy when I finally pushed back from the gate bound for CTG.

I think they could have charged me almost any additional fee within reason and I would have jumped at it.

I'm not usually as scatter brained about travel as my post suggests, but chicas have a way of screwing me up in more ways than one :-)

I doubt seriously you are the first person on this board who has mis-red your itinerary (me included) and felt that sinking "funk" feeling. (damn, I've even been a day late...same flight, just the wrong day) The good news is that there are usually alternatives available if you keep your wits about you (which it sounds like you did).

The reason you had to pay the departure tax was that you went through customs/immigration to re-confirm your Panama/CTG leg with Copa (and get your luggage on board). Otherwise, you would have been a transit passenger on COPA and never cleared or paid.

Small price to pay for catching up with your original flight....he he!