Back from a 28 hour trip to pick up 500k. Shared two flights in C with RichLond and his entourage. Shared several segments with Student and his friend as well.

To answer several recent questions:

All transfers were a breeze except Bogota. San Salvador is a Taca hub, and you simply walk to your next gate. Also transferred from Copa to Lacsa in San Jose. It took the Lacsa agent a minute to figure out how I could be in the departure area without being checked in, but once I explained that I was in transit, he was o.k. Taca would not let me off Flight 514 in MGA, even though we had a separate boarding pass for the next segment. My friend spent the half hour flirting with the gate agent in the jetway.

Bogota is an experience. It took us an hour to transit, even though we were flying in C. I would guess that you should allow closer to two hours in Y. Thanks to Student for explaining how to avoid the departure tax.

All flights were on time, and service was fine. All announcements were made in English. Overall, it was easy.

"Overall it was easy!" Great attitude! Congratulations!

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 03-14-2000).]

leroy11, I can't say I experienced the Lima discotecas myself. We stayed at the Holiday Inn, which is about 20-30 minutes away from the airport. There seemed to be a lot of entertainment in this area. Can't wait to hear your report...

We stayed: GUA--Radisson; LIM--Holiday Inn; MGA--Intercontinental; and CCS-- Intercontinental. All were nice. Plenty of choices in GUA fairly close to the airport. Hotels were more distant in LIM, MGA & CCS. The Holiday Inn was the least expensive and also had the largest room. I didn't see much in MGA except the Intercontinental.

All airport taxes were listed and paid in US$ . US$ were accepted without exception for taxis, food, and purchases. We had good luck with all our taxis.

Non-Spanish speakers should be fine. Many ticket agents, taxi drivers, and waiters didn't speak English well, but there was usually someone nearby to help. I speak so-so Spanish, which definitely helped us out, although we still ended up with a few surprises--mainly when our food arrived. Once, in trying to order a plain peppercorn hamburger for my friend, I succeeded in ordering two: one plain and one regular. I managed to eat this mistake, just had to order another beer to wash it down. Similarly, I ended up with a "Haiti-style" dinner one night that featured steak, a fried egg, ham, a hot dog, french fries, and fried banana. Again, I ate.

Several of the hotel and rental car agents, and even a few of the airline agents seemed unfamiliar with the LatinPass program. Most everyone was able to figure it out, though.

While travelling, be sure to drink an Inca Kola in Peru and grab some of the famous fried chicken in El Salvador.

UpGradeMe.... I think I missed this if it was discussed before... What tips did student give you to avoid the departure tax? Thanks!

Pudding Guy -

I think I may take the discotecas option - there's 5 of us going so it should be interesting!! A report will follow ...

We did not have a problem changing from Taca to Copa at MGA. The trick was we told a person there before we got to immigration, as we were walking up the walkway. That person took us through a door (bypassing immagration) and to the gate. They had us wait in the bording area and had an agent bring up the passes. (in some cases it helps to speak spanish.) But for all of our connections we tried to let everyone know when we did not have boarding passes. They always went to get them for us.
We did not have to pay departure tax on any of our connecting flights. In Bogota if you stay the night be sure to get a slip when you check in for your flight that allows you to pay 1/2 of the departure tax. I think you also save if you pay in pesos. We paid in dollars but found out later that it would have been cheaper to pay in pesos.

[This message has been edited by fabsco (edited 03-15-2000).]

Fabsco:

Where did you stay in BOG just in case?!

Congrats to all of you who have completed your runs and thanks for all of the valueable tips! My husband and I leave Maui on the evening of the 15th for MIA. We will begin the first half of our million mile run on the 18th, getting back into MIA on the 21st. Will let you know how it goes. The second leg is booked for the beginning of May. Anyone else going this weekend? Aloha!!

I am considering going for the 500K miles, but had a few questions for those of you that have/are going for the bonus.

What do you plan to do with all of those miles you get on LatinPass? Which airline are you going to transfer them to? Besides using Hilton HHonors, is there any other way to use the LatinPass miles on non-latinpass member airlines?

In my case, having miles on the LatinPass member airlines is not very beneficial.

Thanks.

Phil

The short answer is that you can redeem the points for trips on the partner airlines i.e. TWA,National,USAirways and KLM. Look at the "Award Tables" entry on the LatinPass page (www.latinpass.com)

We stayed at Travelodge. It is the closest place to the airport. The locals know it as "el capital". We paid 84 dollars for the night. They have shuttles to the airport in the morning and very nice rooms. The taxi driver had plenty of cheaper of hotels to recommend, but we stuck with this one (recommend by immagration in bogota.) It is about 10 minutes from the airport.

We stayed at Travelodge. It is the closest place to the airport. The locals know it as "el capital". We paid 84 dollars for the night. They have shuttles to the airport in the morning and very nice rooms. The taxi driver had plenty of cheaper of hotels to recommend, but we stuck with this one (recommend by immagration in bogota.) It is about 10 minutes from the airport.
Also there are a ton of atms on the departure floor.

Has anyone had miles actually post to their LatinPass account? If so how long did it take? I am now past 4 weeks on my Thrifty Rental Car.

rich

Has anyone had miles actually post to their LatinPass account? If so how long did it take? I am now past 4 weeks on my Thrifty Rental Car.

rich

Neither my car rental nor my hotel stays have posted yet.