How are you checking whether the credit for cars/hotels etc is posting to your account ? Online, or are you getting statements?

Back from the 500 000 miles run. Everything went very smoothly. All flights on time (in fact mostly 5 to 10 minutes early), smooth transfers, except the dreaded Bogota, of course. Generally a very positive impression and no doubt that I will be considering using Latinpass airlines that I would have had serious doubts considering before. Most has already been said by others. Just a few additional points:

1) Bogota connections: it seems possible to avoid at least part of the transfer routine if you connect from one Avianca flight to another: on deplaning from MIA, an Avianca representative was there to intercept connecting passengers just before immigration. I do not know whether this enables you to bypass all controls or just the immigration/emigration controls but not the security controls.

2) if you connect from GUA-MGA on Copa to a Grupo Taca flight from MGA, you can definitely get your boarding pass in GUA. If you are flying business class and intend to use the lounge at GUA, you might as well get your Taca boarding pass first, as the Copa agent at GUA will personally take you to the lounge once you have checked in with them. At MGA, you CAN avoid immigration if you have your onward boarding pass: just mention to an airport agent at the end of the airbridge that you have a connection and show your boarding pass, and they will take you directly to the gate via the backway (my total transfer time from the plane to the gate for my next flight must have been no more than 2 minutes). You do need to have an agent to take you through, though, as the route is not normally authorised for passengers. The odds are that the agent might not speak English but the word in Spanish for connection is virtually the same ("connexion", with the stress on the last syllable) so it should not be too difficult to make yourself understood http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

3) if you dread the perspective of waiting in smoke-filled airports, you'll be pleasantly surprised. I don't recall seeing anybody smoke anywhere, even in designated smoking areas at airports.

4) Radisson GUA: There are hotel representatives in the terminal on the right hand side just before the exit. Ours (Radisson) was not there and the shuttle was not there either even though Tomphot had called Radisson in advance. Nevertheless, when called (by the Marriott representative in the terminal on our behalf), they told us to get a taxi and they paid for the taxi on arrival at the hotel.

5) Departure tax at GUA is USD20. According to the Copa check-in agent at GUA, it IS possible to avoid payment of the tax if you arrive in the evening and leave the next morning. However, there must be some kind of special stamp by the immigration officer on your passport when you enter GUA rather than the normal immigration stamp. Neither Tomphot, his friend nor myself managed to avoid paying the departure tax, though. Future flyers might try to draw the immigration officer's attention to the fact that you are only provisionally transiting in Guatemala and see whether this produces any result.

6) You get nice views of volcanoes on the GUA-MGA flight: a few minutes after take off from GUA (on the right-hand side of the plane) and later, some 15 to 20 minutes before reaching Managua.

7) This one is for non-US nationals on the Visa-Waiver programme: make sure that the check-in agent collects the departure section of the green form when you leave the US: while airlines do it routinely on transatlantic flights, Latin American airlines might not necessarily do so as none of the Latin American nationalities (apart from Venezuela, I think) qualify for visa waiver, so airlines are less used to it. Avianca did not collect mine, as I realised too late. As it happened, I had no problem re-entering the US as the immigration officer at MIA was pretty relaxed, but INS agents can sometimes be inflexible. Also, pick-up a new green Visa Waiver form from the check-in agent for your US-bound flight, in case they don't have any on board the plane.

The icing on the cake for this trip was a voluntary bumping-off on a Northwest segment for my return trip to Europe, which resulted in my arriving home at the same time as originally planned and yet getting sufficient compensation from NW to get the cost of my (admittedly cheap) transatlantic flight back http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cool.gif

I'll probably be doing the remaining four segments for the million sometimes in May/June and spend some time in Quito but I will wait to see first how the posting to my LP account for this trip goes.

[This message has been edited by NickB (edited 04-03-2000).]

Well, it's booked (see details in Itineraries Forum). The whole million for $1575 + 15K miles, starting and ending in Miami. All of the segments qualify (most are Y, with a Q, V, K and M thrown in for good measure. All met Flying Dutchman's criteria and have been approved by airlines.

I'm still looking for others to meet up with since I'm flying alone. Please e-mail me if you will be on same flights, or in same cities.

BTW, thanks everybody for all of the great information. I can't wait to hit Machu Picchu, Cuzco and Quito.

Two things to consider before leaving for your trip. (We learn from our mistakes.)
1. Change your hotel program club status to earn LatinPass miles. I know this can be done on the web for Holiday Inn, Radisson, and Marriott or call their service centers. I haven't checked about the other partner hotels. Marriott said they will change the points to LatinPass miles without any problem.

2. Make photocopies of all your tickets before you leave. Particularly the passenger receipt ticket. The agent in Guatemala took my passenger receipt and I didn't realize this until I was on the plane. I was just making sure I had all the boarding passes, my passport, and LatinPass card. I called Copa and they said it would have been thrown away. Fortunately the travel agency will give me another copy. So save yourself any trouble and photocopy everything before you go.

I will post an account of my six country trip today or tomorrow. It was great.

i'll be arriving in lima just after midnight and leaving for quito at 6 am. does anyone know if i can stay in transit and avoid the departure tax? and what's the transit area like.

same questions for the caracas airport.
thanks.

.

[This message has been edited by RichLond (edited 04-06-2000).]

Has anyone connected from the ACES UIO - LIM flight that arrives at 00:14 to the Aeropostal LIM - GYE flight that departs at 3:45am?

Was it possible to check in for this flight without going through immigration?

thanks,
rich

Has anyone connected from the ACES UIO-LIM flight that arrives at 00:14 to the Aeropostal LIM - GYE flight that departs at 3:45am? Were u able to obtain boarding passes with out going through immigration? If there is no easy way to do it, I will probably just pay the 25 dollar departure tax to go through.


Thanks,
rich

Hey guys! I'm a flight attendant with one of the major airlines but I'll be retiring the wings next summer to teach elementary school. I need some miles to travel during the summers. Needless to say, I found out about the Latin Pass promotion a little late. Does anyone have any connections or ideas about how I can get into the current promototion? Thanks and safe travels!

[This message has been edited by hiflyer (edited 04-06-2000).]

[This message has been edited by hiflyer (edited 04-06-2000).]

S-T-R-E-T-C-H your 500K or 1M bonus

I noticed that LatinPass posted special awards on their website:
http://www.latinpass.com/special_aw.htm

15,000 miles for domestic RT
35,000 miles for US-Europe RT

We're making our run Saturday through Wednesday. Full report upon our return.

S-T-R-E-T-C-H your 500K or 1M bonus

I noticed that LatinPass posted special awards on their website:
http://www.latinpass.com/special_aw.htm

15,000 miles for domestic RT
35,000 miles for US-Europe RT

We're making our run Saturday through Wednesday. Full report upon our return.

When does this promo expire ? I am new to the game and have some q's.Where do I get more Info?when you get the 500k miles on which FF airline can you use them ?Is it too late to get started ? I have free time in may and june , can I do it ? Thanks for your help !!

Postings anyone??

Has anyone had postings to the LP account? If so, what partner (Avis, TWA, ??) and how long did it take to get posted?

I am wondering when I should start to get concerned about postings.

Also - any hints on how to be sure the LP # is in the LP airline records?

BigBrian - Afraid you are too late unless you had enrolled in LP before 20 March.

I called Latinpass yesterday and they said that postings probably would take 4-6 weeks. I just got back last week from my trip and was anxious to see those miles post before I decide whether or not to for the final 500,000... We'll see.

All: Please let us know if/when your miles post and how long it took..

Cheers,
NSW

[QUOTE]Originally posted by SAPMAN:
[B]Postings anyone??

Has anyone had postings to the LP account? If so, what partner (Avis, TWA, ??) and how long did it take to get posted?

I am wondering when I should start to get concerned about postings.

duplicate

[This message has been edited by Schutzee (edited 04-07-2000).]