Oh my goodness, as I write this onboard a local bus from the airport to Lima city centre, my main thought is ‘phew’!! There was a point in time last night where we thought we’d still be in New York, stuck at JFK Airport.
Flashback to us sprinting through Frankfurt Airport for our connection to Singapore, only to miss the plane anyway and end up stranded in Frankfurt for days spring to mind! Thankfully, this story has a happier ending.
Our flight from Heathrow to JFK was great; delicious food, in-flight entertainment (it’s scientific fact that we cry more on airplanes right??) and we landed on time. Perfect. We had 2.5 hours to get our luggage and get onto our next flight… easy peasy.
Enter: US immigration. Despite the fact that we were only in transit, and not spending any time in New York, we still had to apply (and pay for!) for an ESTA visa. We had already done that before we left, so assumed getting through wouldn’t be a problem. And it wasn’t… but we still had to queue for what felt like forever… and even though we asked about our connecting flight – when we explained what time the flight left, we were told we had enough time.
Once we were finally through immigration, we grabbed our rucksacks and headed to the LATAM check in desk for our next flight… only to find it completely empty!
After trying to use the scan-it-yourself booths for a while, without any luck, we asked two women why we couldn’t check our bags in. That was when we were told, “Oh, check in is closed. You’ll have to arrange another flight, you’ve missed this one.”
…
Sorry, what? We still had an hour before the scheduled time of departure!
Cue the following sequence of events:
- Initial panic and swearing
- Discussion with a “manager” of the security section which went nowhere
- Time check and more swearing
- New plan: Kate and Dave try to get through security and run to the gate to find someone (anyone!) from LATAM to speak to
- Martin, Donna and kids stay behind with all the baggage and hope
- Kate and Dave push their way through the security queue to get to the front, get through and run like hell. Arrive at Gate B28, out of breath and sweating!
- With A LOT of persuasion, one of the ladies at the LATAM desk at Gate B28 finally agreed to ring her colleagues and send someone to check our bags
- Martin, Donna and kids find said colleague and rush the bags through check in
- Martin rings Kate: “bags checked in, on our way”
- Conveyor belt moving bags through to get onto plane breaks.
- Martin rings Kate: “I take it back, bags are stuck, we can’t leave yet”
- More panic, swearing and clock watching
- LATAM personnel finally manage to get conveyor belt to start moving again
- Gate B28 lady tells Kate and Dave their families have 15 minutes to get to gate
- Martin, Donna and kids frantically throw water away and push their way through to the front of the security queue
- Various items confiscated: Ffion’s new hair gel from NY and Kate’s new water bottle (it got missed in the water-chucking frenzy)
- Dave tells Kate they have 5 minutes left
- The gang comes sprinting round the corner to Gate B28 with one minute to spare
- Onto the plane, hot, sweating and full of adrenaline
I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to order a glass of champagne on a flight more! But we made it, and the Coyle family connection flight curse was broken.
We hope. Got a few more flights to take this trip, so we’ll keep you posted!
Coyle Family Adventures 