five sighs of relief

My day of travels did not begin well.

I was up at 5 to hit the road by 530 for my 8am flight to San Antonio. I said goodbye to Neri at the house and dad drove me to the airport through the quiet freeways of Houston at that time of the morning.

I was flying airTrans and jumped in the “international traveler” line and waited while the two couples at the counter tried to wrap their heads around the fact that their flight had been canceled. Apparently some mechanical trouble with the plane. But they weren’t having it. I jumped lines as the ticket agent was explaining tersely that she drives a car and sometimes it breaks down.

Mechanical trouble was definitely a theme of the day.

On the regular line, I checked in using the kiosk, shelled out my $60 for two bags, and then got an error message. It took four different counter agents about 20 minutes to establish the problem was that I didn’t have a return ticket. They said that I was not going to be allowed to leave the country without a return ticket.

No, why, you may be asking, didn’t I get a return ticket? Because I didn’t know when I would be coming back and the tickets I priced were basically subject to a huge change fee. Plus, the one ways were cheaper than the round trips, so I just didn’t do it. Anyway, when I purchased my one way ticket, there were no warnings about this.

I am still confused about this mandatory return ticket issue. Is this something mandated by the government? Is this an airline policy? Is this an idiotic data entry thing where the system won’t process without a return ticket? It doesn’t make any sense if its an US immigration issue- people fleeing the US aren’t to going to not flee because they need to spend a couple hundred extra on a return flight. And once outside the US there is no obligation or compulsion I can think of (apart from the 8 month rule) to force people back to the country.

 One forum thread I read suggested that airlines may adopt this policy as a means of insurance- if people are turned away from the border at the airport, they are flown back at the airline’s expense if they don’t have a return ticket.

Anyway, I needed to buy a return ticket to go to my graduation anyway, so I flipped out my tablet and did some searches while the desk agent searched on the airTran and Southwest system, and I actually got a decent price for a flight back to St. Louis. At this point, I’d been at the airport for about an hour, and I was really happy I’d arrived early.

The time it takes to drive to San Antonio from Houston is about three hours. Considering my flight was supposed to depart at 8am, and actually arrived closer to noon, I might have been better served with the bus.

The first plane left the gate on time, but on the tarmac with the full system testing, we got an announcement from the captain “ahhhhhh….during our preflight checks….ahhhhhh….it looks like one of our engines is unresponsive……..ahhhhhhh.” So we did a U turn on the runway. In a plane. And went back to the terminal.

 Although we didn’t know it at the time, this plane’s mechanical issues would impact us farther down the line.
The vast majority of the people on board were trying to to catch a flight to Cancun, so when we got back, they all stampeeded off to another gate to catch another flight, and the five of us headed to Mexico City stayed behind and waited for a gate assignment.

The second plane was a Southwest flight. Mala suerte followed me because no sooner had everyone boarded before once again the captains speaker crackled into life and explained there were plumbing issues in the back of the plane and that a mechanic was being called to investigate. Apparently it was not as critical a problem as say, the engines, so we got it fixed and took off on our 40 minute flight.

In San Antonio, I caught up with the disgruntled Cancun folks as well as the people trying to get to Mexico City. The flight was originally supposed to leave at 11:30. I arrived at 11:45 and we didn’t take off for another two hours. Apparently, the plane that couldn’t in Houston was supposed to be the plane to Mexico City as well, so they had to bring another plane down from Atlanta.

On the flight to Mexico city (1 hour 40 minutes) I sat next to the same catholic sister I’d be seated by in the first plane. Flight went well although my nerves were completely shot as I worried about getting through customs and immigration. Actually, it was at the forefront of my mind all day as I didn’t know if I was going to be grilled about my 45 day stay. The issues behind it still need to be resolved in the next month or so.

When we landed in Mexico city, there were the extremely long dingy corridors familiar to any international traveler or dwarf inhabitant to the mines of Moria. One of the first things I noticed is that there’s a lot of helper people, usually pretty young. One guy checked my documents to make sure I’d filled them out, and a girl directed me to the next agent. No problems clearing immigration. (sigh of relief 1). My luggage came out where it was expected (sigh of relief 2).

Mexican customs is kind of fun. Each stand where you clear customs is manned(womaned?) by three women who directed me push a red button on a panel. Apparently its tied to a randomizing system where if you get the green light, you’re free to go, but if you get a red, your bags are xrayed and put for further scrutiny. I got the green (sigh of relief 3) and walked past the sliding doors into Mexico City.

The airport is dingy although the floors are marble polished to a nearly ice-slickness. My shoes kept losing traction. I pulled some pesos from an ATM (sigh of relief 4) and prepaid for a taxi at one of the numerous taxi kiosks. They’re more expensive, but very reliable and safe. I paid the girl and she gave me a ticket and directed me out the door. One ticket went to the guy manning the company stand, who recorded everything, one ticket to the driver, and one ticket to me with the cab number on it. I like this system. No haggling, just a set price based on your destination zone. Luggage in the trunk, and we took off! (sigh of relief 5). No mechanical problems this time!