After landing ontime at São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport I grabbed my bags from the overhead and disembarked.

I had my boarding pass for my next flight and they had told me in Addis Ababa that my suitcase was checked all the way through so I was expecting to simply walk to the departure for the flight to Bogotá.

At the end of the jet bridge was a airline representative holding a sign with my name on it. Apparently the airport didn't have a transit facility so I had clear immigration, collect my suitcase, recheck my suitcase, collect a new boarding pass and then head back through Brazilian immigration.

I told the airline representative that I had already had my boarding pass and that my bag was supposed to be checked through, but he was insistent that I had to collect my bag and recheck it.

Luckily there was no queue for immigration and I was quickly through to the luggage belt where the bags were already coming through. After waiting for 30 minutes however my suitcase still wasn't to be seen! It was 55 minutes to departure for my Bogotá flight and given that I still apparently had to check-in again, pass through security and reclear immigration I couldn't really wait any longer or try and queue up at the lost baggage.

I didn't want to miss check-in and spend the night in São Paulo so decided to just hope that my suitcase was actually checked through to Bogotá and that the airline representative in São Paulo had been misinformed.

Although it was only 45 minutes to departure, Avianca check-in was luckily still open and they quickly reissued me with a new boarding pass.

Boarding had already begun for the flight after I managed to rush through security and immigration.


The Avianca Airbus A321 for the 6 hour flight to Bogotá.