UIO | Jason Around the World

Quito to Washington DC on COPA and US Airways (via Panama, Cancun, and Philadelphia)

Airports, Bolivia and Ecuador plus Medellin, Ecuador, Flights, Mexico, Panama No Responses »

Jun 102014

I’d ordered a car from the hotel the night before, and it was maybe $10 more than the going taxi rate if I remember right, but could be charged to the room and would be ready…so was more than worth it. Checkout was nice and easy, and soon we were on the way to the airport. Contrary to the trip to the hotel, the roads were absolutely empty, and my driver decided he was auditioning for a formula one race. Ran one right light and FLASH…he started cursing up a storm. Who knew that Quito had red light cameras?! Did this stop him though…no, about 15 minutes later, he decided to run another red light…and FLASH…another red light camera ticket. Some people just don’t learn their lesson.

Got to the airport in plenty of time, but unfortunately the agent was only able to print out my boarding passes as far as Cancun. Since US Airways had left Star Alliance, they said they were unable to check me in for their flights, and with only 1:42 to connect, change terminals, clear immigration and security, and check-in in Cancun, I knew my chances weren’t very good of making the connection.

Immigration and security in Quito were a breeze, and I had about 30 minutes to kill in the business lounge. Nothing special, but had a decent coffee machine and lots of bottled beverages as well as adequate outlets, so it more than met my needs. Soon, it was time to head to the gate to board.

This is where I saw my very first…what I can only assume was local, complete with headdress and military surplus jacket complaining about his seat assignment. Note in the background of the (sorry blurry) pic a few African guys also waiting for the flight. They were from DR Congo, didn’t speak a word of Spanish or English, and were a group of 9 who were “in Ecuador looking for houses to buy” based on the translation I tried to help the gate agent with. She was holding their passports as well so I’m not sure of the full story, but by the looks of them when they boarded they’d never been on a plane before. They couldn’t understand, for example, that 22F meant 22 rows back…no matter how many times it was explained to them. The concept of numbered places was completely foreign. How they got to Ecuador in the first place was beyond me….

Boarding was pretty quick, and we pulled back from the gate right on time.

COPA Airlines flight 210
Quito, Ecuador (UIO) to Panama City, Panama (PTY)
Depart 6:08, Arrive 8:04, Flight Time 1:56
Boeing 737-800, Registration HP-1539CMP, Manufactured 2010, Seat 2B

Although the flight was only booked to 8 of 16 in business class when I checked in, we ended up leaving completely full. The breakfast choices were “eggs” or french toast, so decided to go with the eggs, which came scrambled in some sort of a pastry shell that was completely unnecessary. Definitely one of the less amusing and tasty meals I’d had on COPA.

Not too much else to say about this short flight, as I slept most of the rest of it. We arrived in Panama right on time, and I had a little time to spend in the absolutely packed COPA club. I tried again to check in for my US Airways flights here, but there was once again nothing the agent could do. I also Skyped US Airways Chairmans Preferred line, but try as they might, the best they could do was note my record that I was on a tight connection. Something to do with the COPA flight not leaving yet was preventing them from checking me in either. I would just be trying my luck once I got to Cancun.

The lounge was packed, so I used the rest of my short connection to walk around the airport a bit and just people watch, until it was time to board. At least we boarded on time, and pushed back from the gate 10 minutes early.

COPA Airlines flight 324
Panama City, Panama (PTY) to Cancun, Mexico (CUN)
Depart 9:45, Arrive 12:28, Flight Time 2:43
Boeing 737-800, Registration HP-1536CMP, Manufactured 2009, Seat 4A

Luckily, there were only 8 of 16 seats taken on this flight, so I was able to move back to row 4 and have the entire row to myself. Made for a nice, quiet flight up to Cancun. So, why Cancun, Panama, etc? When I booked with miles, this was the only routing available. After booking it, I actually sort of was amused at the strange, but not all-that-out-of-the-way routing that would take me back. Then, US Airways upgraded Cancun-Philly to an A330 and I was actually excited for it. That is, until I saw that changing planes in Cancun is not straightforward. Oh well, at least it would be an adventure.

View on takeoff from Panama:

Medellin, Colombia to Quito, Ecuador on Aero Republica and COPA (via Panama)

Airports, Bolivia and Ecuador plus Medellin, Colombia, Ecuador, Flights, Panama 3 Responses »

Jun 032014

After Judd and his wife dropped me at the airport, they were also kind enough to wait while I checked in to made sure there was no drama…which of course there was. A “VIP” decided they wanted my pre-selected seat, so it had been given away. I was having absolutely none of this, and made it known…and did get my seats back. Said our goodbyes, I changed a little bit of leftover security, and headed for the gate area.

I had been warned there was no lounge in the international terminal, so made a point not to arrive too early to the airport. By the time I’d cleared immigration and the painfully slow security checkpoint it was only about 30 minutes until boarding. There was a fairly nice waiting area filled with outlets for charging phones/etc so that was nice. There was also a small, but decent variety of places to eat and shop. Overall not bad for a smaller airport. We boarded about 20 minutes late, and only about 15 minutes before scheduled departure which was worrisome, since I had barely 40 minutes to connect in Panama.

COPA Airlines flight 646 operated by COPA Airlines Colombia aka Aero Republica
Medellin, Colombia (MDE) to Panama City, Panama (PTY)
Depart 13:22, Arrive 14:38, Flight Time 1:16
Embraer ERJ-190, Registration HP-1562CMP, Manufactured 2007, Seat 2A

Even more shocking for a short flight once we were airborn, there was not just a meal on this flight with a flight time of 52 minutes, there was a choice of meals! I went with the chicken. It was decently tasty. One thing I remembered on this flight, COPA always makes a point to turn the glasses to face you when they serve, so you can read the writing. Small touch, but adds a tiny bit of class!

I asked for a second glass of wine after the meal, but it was too close to landing…but that wasn’t a problem. They just served it United-style!

Landed in Panama right on time, and of course with a short-ish connection the flight was clear across the airport, about a 15 minute walk away. Wouldn’t have been too much of a problem, except even with the air conditioning it was hot. And with the humidex it felt downright nasty:

We boarded right at scheduled departure time, so there was really no reason I had to rush. I was only slightly concerned, because in my experience COPA is incredibly punctual, and even though it’s a small airport I figured they would almost certainly be on time.

COPA Airlines flight 159
Panama City, Panama (PTY) to Quito, Ecuador (UIO)
Depart 15:24, Arrive 17:20, Flight Time 1:56
Boeing 737-800, Registration HP-1531CMP, Manufactured 2006, Seat 2B

Boarding took…forever. Business was supposed to be full, but it appeared there were only 4 seats taken in total. How odd. Boarding was delayed because there was a group of 50+ American teenagers and their chaperones going to do some sort of missionary work in Ecuador. Packing away their giant backpacks, guitars, combined with the typical inefficiency of boarding planes for Americans, meant we finally left the gate about 30 minutes late. Would have only been 20, except we waited another 10 for the remaining six business class passengers who were all connecting from the same delayed flight. Turned out I really didn’t need to worry!

First things, up in the air, immigration forms were handed out. Straightforward, but I wasn’t sure what the “date of bird” was? Is this like a Chinese Zodiac thing? 😉

Once again, there were two choices. I don’t remember the other one, but it sounded unappetizing, so I went with the generic “salmon” which turned out to be a salmon bagel. It was quite mediocre:

Once again, however, the glasses were turned properly!

Landed in Quito just over 30 minutes late, and had a relatively short walk to immigration. The line was nearly an hour long, and I ended up chatting up a mid-50s Canadian couple from Regina (who made sure to inform me how to pronounce the city…yes, yes, I’m not an ignorant American) who were on their second trip to Ecuador. They’d gotten bad altitude sickness the first time, and had to abandon the trip and head home rather than go to the Galapagos. Up until this point, I hadn’t realized that Quito is still at approximately 10,000 feet above sea level. Coming from Bolivia it felt absolutely wonderful to be able to breathe easily again!

Rather chatting immigration agent, but soon I was through and in a taxi to the hotel in a torrential downpour….which took nearly two hours since it was rush hour. Oh well, that’s one way to get a brief preview of the city I suppose!

Plenty of Salt, Not Enough Oxygen…a Trip to Boliva, Colombia, and Ecuador

Bolivia, Bolivia and Ecuador plus Medellin, Colombia, Ecuador No Responses »

Apr 232014

I’d been thinking about this trip for a long time. For about a year, I’ve had only two countries remaining to visit in South America, Bolivia and Ecuador. I’d always planned on doing it with American, but earlier this year when United seriously devalued miles I wanted to burn every last one. I started looking for weeks I could get away, and possible routings. Getting into La Paz and out of Quito were pretty easy, but getting between them was harder.

I could have done the easy thing and just buy it, but I had some more miles left, and United was giving me all sorts of exotic routings that would allow 23 hour connections in cities I hadn’t been to before. In the end, I decided on Medellin as it sounded the most interesting and exotic. I’ll admit, I didn’t do much research when putting this together. I had over 500,000 United miles to burn, and under a week to get things done, so I planned the in and out flights…and left the middle to chance a bit. That said, I leave in barely a week and still don’t have everything booked. It’ll all come together I suspect.

…any last minute “musts” or advice are certainly welcome.

The planned itinerary, and rough plans for this report:

Part I: Washington DC to La Paz, Bolivia on US Airways and Avianca (via Charlotte, Miami, Bogota)
Part II: La Paz, Bolivia
Part III: La Paz to Uyuni, Bolivia and the Hotel Luna Salada
Part IV: Salar de Uyuni – the Salt Flats
Part V: Uyuni to La Paz, and daytrip to Lake Titicaca
Part VI: La Paz to Medellin, Colombia on TACA Peru (via Lima)
Part VII: Short Stay in Medellin
Part VIII: Medellin to Quito, Ecuador on Aero Republica and COPA (via Panama)
Part IX: Quito, Ecuador
Part X: Quito to Washington DC on COPA and US Airways (via Panama, Cancun, and Philadelphia)

Routing:

I promise this won’t be one of those post and run trip reports….it’ll go live in just over a week with the first update! I also can’t resist sharing, as a teaser, the BIG trip I’m planning in October/November. Suiffice to say with a trip report name like “From Bula to Shalom!” I hope it will be epic…four weeks in the south pacific, a couple days in DC for laundry, and then Israel and Palestine.