South American extraction team

[waverly]

Monday we got the letter from the hospital for my emergency passport.  I had to pay $140 to translate 2 hospital documents expedited.  Tuesday, I got my emergency passport.  DH drove the car to MI and flew back, so we would have a car at the airport.

Wednesday we flew out, which went so well we had to know it wasn't going to be this smooth.  First class on American.  Spent the night in Bogota, then flew in the morning to Santa Marta.  Dad's friend picked us up from the airport.  The riots, thankfully, are pretty much over in Santa Marta which was the main concern.  They caused a lot of damage, and they were on the outskirts of Santa Marta where our road would have come in which is by the universities as there were a lot of students protesting.  Protests were about raising taxes especially on funerals when so many people are dying right now due to Covid.  In that region, also changes in managing the tributaries because it is where a river meets the ocean.  Our driver was excellent, but kind of scary dodging people, dogs, motorcycles.  I totally thought we were going to splat a motorcyclist.  

Columbia is beautiful.  Bogota is at 9,000 feet so you feel the lack of Oxygen and it was mild due to the mountains.  Santa Marta and dad's town was beyond hot.  Think 95 degrees with 90% humidity.  Just basically a sauna sweat fest. No air conditioning, so obviously for someone not eating or drinking and then sweating all the time it's bad.  He had a private nurse, but it was clear needed to be readmitted to the hospital for fluids.  Also, we had to hire a private nurse to travel and do Covid tests for our return trip.  The driver had to bring her to and from Santa Marta (1.5 hours each way). 

Santa Marta back to Bogota was fine.  Bogota was a nightmare.  DH dropped our passports on the last plane, had to run back and get them.  He was being an idiot.  Then dad had overstayed his Visa, so we had to go to back rooms of the airport, fill out paperwork, make copies (DH had not gotten out enough Columbian money, but luckily they took dollars) do all these things that no one could have done unless I was there to speak Spanish.  Go through security, and they throw a huge fit about my deodorant, but finally decide it is fine, and I can keep it.  Get to the gate 5 minutes before the flight leaves.  Delayed from 11:45 pm to 2:30 am then 3:30 am you see where this is going.  Cancelled.  Have to go through immigration and customs on the way out and grab our bags again.  400 pissed off Columbians and some Americans.  American airlines was not helpful at all.  Gave us a hotel voucher, but I cannot take my dad on a shuttle and into a hotel since he is wheelchair bound, and the wheel chair is the airports through their disabled assistance program.  Had to book on another airline, spent the night in Bogota with my poor dad not sleeping in his wheelchair, go back through customs and immigration finally make it to Miami at 1pm Saturday.  We flew out 7pm Friday night.

Go through immigration there, pick up bags, switch from Avianca to Delta.  Delta didn't charge us for our bags at all.  The disabled passenger assistance program is amazing.  We couldn't have done it without it.  Finally made it to where my sister picked him up and took him to the VA hospital.  And we slept for 10 hours.  Drove back home Sunday.  Healthcare is much better at the VA.  We had tons of doctors there.  We did call ahead but here is this guy in rough shape flying in from South America, so they didn't know if there was some weird infectious disease going on.  He is very confused which probably was a good thing for the flight because otherwise he would have been belligerent about staying the night in an airport, I am sure. 

[AdaraMarie]

I'm so glad you're all back and I hope you dad starts doing better soon.

[waverly]

Also fighting with American on a refund. If anyone knows anyone over there let me know. We did not fly them back from Bogota to Detroit, so we shouldn't pay for it. They didn't provide the service, and if you try to call them its a 2-4 hour wait. And 400 people in line in Bogota with an unhelpful agent who wouldn't listen to us when we said we need the first flight to the US and we can't use a hotel because of his disability.

[sdlaura]

OMG waverly that's so crazy. You are amazing! I'm so glad you're back safely, and your Dad is getting the care he needs. From what you've said, he's probably not coherent enough to fully appreciate everything you did for him, but he's super lucky to have you.

[twinmomma]

waverly, You are a saint! I'm glad you all made it back and your dad is getting taken care of!

For the airlines, if they have a live chat on the website, that might be faster than waiting on a phone line. But you'll probably just have to sit on hold and hope for the best. Airlines suck to deal with.

[waverly]

twinmomma, I've emailed and they said they will give me points. I don't want points, I want my $2700 back. Then I chatted and they said to fill out a refund form. I did do that, but it says refund $80 not sure where they got that number unless they were refunding me the hotel and food credit the airline gave me (which we didn't use) which would be stupid. So yeah.

[supertrooper1]

waverly, I'm glad you made it back safely. Good luck with American. I had a horrible experience years ago and ended up with a voucher that I never ended up using instead of a refund.

[186momx]

waverly, I'm glad you are back and safe. Hope you get your refund and the VA can figure out what is going on with your dad.

[k3am]

I'm glad everyone made it back safely, even if it wasn't smooth and there's still some loose ends to clean up. (Expensive loose ends!!!) I hope they're able to help him.

Can you put this on your resume? It sounds like an impressive feat.

[mommyatty]

Look up the CEO’s office number. Or at least the HQ number. If you can get someone there, they are more likely to work to make you happy. (I have the number to the Office if the CEO at AT&T, and it’s amazing how much they care about solving your problem.)

[librarychica]

No advice on the airline, but that sounds like an ordeal and I am glad you’re all back and your dad is getting treatment.

[shakinros]

Omg. I’m so glad you all made it back. Well done. Seriously.

[mae0111]

Wow. Just... wow. Congratulations on pulling this off! Amazing!!

[phdmomma]

Awesome job getting back. Do you have Twitter? I’ve tweeted challenges with airlines before, and they seem to solve things surprisingly quickly.

[sandandsea]

I’m glad you all made it back safely. Sounds hectic and frustrating but you survived!

[traveltheworld]

Yay! Great job!

[waverly]

No good deed goes unpunished. Now we all have travelers diarrhea. Possibly gotten from my dad. We did not drink the water at all.

Dad is in ICU, blood pressure dropped and had a seizure. I can only imagine that happening at the sweaty hotel and then maybe him dying because there was no one to stabilize the blood pressure there. Was it only Saturday we returned, so I guess he has been in the US hospital Saturday night-Wednesday so far. I mean he still might die, but at least he would be in the US in a hospital as opposed to the jungle of Columbia in a hotel with no air conditioning and 90% humidity.

I submitted the refund to American- I guess it takes 7-10 days, but then I followed up with an email to the refunds department offering documentation of the hospital stays.  They are not going to be able to avoid me.