Beginning and End
Jul 22nd, 2007 by Don Ray
It seems that the beginning and end of most of my trips are the parts I would like to eliminate. The parts in the middle are usually fine, but the airports tend to be nerve wracking. Such was the case in this trip as well.
My flight to the US took me from Panama City to Miami which included a 5-6 hour layover before continuing to Dallas. I hate going through Miami and only did so because I thought my return flight was direct from Dallas to Panama City (more on that later).
The flight got into Dallas around 6:45PM. I waited for the baggage to deplane and when the last bag rolled off and my bags were not among them, I knew this was par for the course. On my last trip to the US, American had lost my bags and it was a couple days before I received them. So seeing my bags were missing, I headed to the American Airline baggage center thinking “Deja vu all over again“.
The American Airline attendants were very polite, but said they had no clue why my bag wasn’t there since it had been available for loading over five hours before the scheduled flight. After filling out all the paperwork and giving all addresses and phone numbers of the places I would be in the next couple of weeks, I asked one more time, if there was any chance that they could have put the bags on an earlier flight.
They said if it had come on an earlier flight, they might be in another terminal. So off I head to find the tram to the other terminal. When I got there there I found an area with a sea of bags. After wading through the mass of luggage, I finally found my two bags. Hurray! Only now I was close to two hours late for my car rental.
I went to the Alamo counter and was served by two nice ladies who happened to be Panamanian and were surprised when they saw that my drivers license was also from Panama. Taking my keys and heading to the lot, I thought all the adventure was probably over. I was surprised to find no attendants in the lot to assist me in finding my car. I finally saw someone and asked where my car would be and he pointed in a general area. I left the airport about 3 hours later than my scheduled time.
It was so late that I only drove to Denton and spent the night. The next morning I see that the car I had received had a Florida license plate. This gave me a strange filling, but I ignored it. I drove to central Oklahoma and had a great time including a family reunion with all the food fixings that one could desire. One of my cousins (Rex) and I hadn’t seen each other in over 50 years. I would have still recognized him if I had met him on the street.
From Oklahoma I drove to Austin, Texas and spent time with my daughter, son and 8 grand-kids. I will post more on this part of the trip later.
From Austin, I returned to Dallas and was able to visit with several friends. Then is when the rest of the stressful part of the trip begins. While I was in Austin, I had to park the car in the hot Texas sun. Apparently when the car had been driven from Florida to Texas it had been hit with a small stone and it had chipped the windshield just above the wiper. The Texas heat caused the chip to turn into a crack. So with this now visible crack that wasn’t caused by me, I felt certain that Alamo would try to dun me for the crack. They didn’t disappoint me. Of course you can’t talk to anyone and they said they would contact me later. It remains to be seen what will come out of that experience.
The return flight turned out not to be a direct flight. Instead it stopped in Miami and required deplaning before continuing to Panama City. Had I known that it wasn’t really direct, I would have flown Continental and gone through Houston and not Miami. That is what I plan on doing from now on.
I spent the night in Panama City and then caught an early flight to David. My plan was to take a cab from the airport and not bother anyone. This plan changed when the cab driver wanted $5.00 for the trip. The correct rate is $3.00. Apparently there are plenty of crooked taxi drivers now that think gringos will pay what ever they are asked. I told him the correct fee was $3.00 but he wouldn’t budge trying his best English to try to get me in his cab. I refused and called a friend who picked me up. I refuse to pay crooks and apparently the taxi drivers at the airport have found a new way to increase their income.
My advice is to have a friend pick you up if you fly into David. Times are changing and it seems that gringos are becoming more of a target to be gouged. I am sorry to see that. I wish I would have taken his photo so that you would know who to avoid. As I said above, it is the endpoints of the trip that I don’t care for. With those exceptions, my trip was great. I will try to be more positive in future posts.
Try Atlanta. Delta has direct flights. I try to never go through Miami if at all possible and Dallas seemed to have a thunder storm every time I went there. If you fly in to ATL there is a train that takes you to the next connecting flight. Baggage, no matter the airline, seems to obey laws in an alternate universe.
Glad you are back.
Since my ultimate destination is usually Dallas, I think I will always have a connection some where. In the past, my best flights went through Houston. I will keep Delta in mind. I think I am through using American as my preferred carrier.
We always fly through Hoiuston, with Continental, but then again, we do so mainly so we can eat at Pappadeux’s…haha
That is as good a reason as any!
Welcome back, Don.
Depending on where you are connecting to, Copa now has direct PTY-IAD flights to Dulles airport just outside of Washington.
We’re all so used to thinking of Houston or Miami that this new connection is easy to overlook.
Mike
Hi Mike. I am sure Copa would be better than American if one could avoid Miami. I will remember that if I head up to the DC area.
Welcome Back,
Copa also flies in and out of Orlando non-stop. NO MIAMI connection required. Continental through Houston was the easiest customs and immigration pass through I have experienced. I will never fly DELTA again. ANYWHERE!
We will look forward to hearing the details of the new Copa flight(s) to and from David.
Shrader
Hi Shrader.
I think I am going to stick with the Houston route if I am going to Texas. Related to the new Copa flights, I would want to wait for the runways to be extended before I used the Copa flight. There are too many foreighn flights over running the runways and in the rain it may be a problem in David.
Hi Don,
Welcome back, Don. Having lived in Houston, I can understand the Pappadeu’s desire, but now family is in Dallas and we don’t stop to eat in Houston. Actually, we now avoid Houston. Weather has caused us many problems trying to get through there, and the little commuter plane they put us on to Dallas is less than fun. Wish Copa had a direct flight to Dallas!
But we now use TACA to Texas. Even though there are stops in San Jose and El Salvador, it is a fantastic airline whose personnel have always treated us better than we have ever been treated by an airline. We also like the fact that we only go through customs at the end of the line.
Lots of alternatives: none are perfect. But ya gotta do what ya gotta do. We really do not like the experience of flying to the states. Period!
Last January/February we flew to Columbia, Brazil, and Argentina. Our pleasant experiences on these trips reminded us of the old days of flying in the states.
Hi Richard. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. I agree that the getting to and returning from the states is the pits. The middle part has mixed pleasures and problems as well. Traffic in the Houston, Austin, and Dallas areas is a bear.
When I drive there I have more of a feeling of stress than I do here in David.
I will keep your recommendations in mind for my next trip.
Don,
I have been gleaning the net for as much real info as possible on Panama and find your site to be one of the best. I am writing because it looks like I just missed you on your trip back to the states. My wife and I currently live in Austin, Texas and are travelling down to Panama August 9th (Continental through Houston) for our first Panamanian experience. I first arrived at your site via Google when I started researching the cars available in Panama. I am a big diesel proponent and glad to see the more european faire is offered. I read on another post that you are quite the ping pong player… next trip you should swing by our house for a couple of rounds. We generally have quite a spirited nightly game, as long as it is not raining…
Hi Don:
I’m glad you’re back and in full swing. We missed your daily posts. Your adventure to the US and back are very interesting–as usual.
Best Regards,
Omar.-
Hi Darin. Thanks for leaving a comment. Sorry I didn’t know about the ping pong while I was in Austin. I almost bought my daughter and her kids a ping pong table while I was there. Looked at a couple ads on the Austin Craigs list. It has been a quite a while since I played, but I used to enjoy it a lot.
Diesel cars are pretty big sellers here since the price of diesel is so much cheaper than gasoline.
Hi Omar. It is good to be back. For your info, I did get to go buy an Apple store and hold and play with an iPhone. It was pretty spiffy.
Welcome back, Don Ray!
Our trips to Panama are always with Continental through Houston. They have added a flight to PC that gets you there in the early afternoon and the regular one that arrives at 6PM. And since they fly to Houston about every two hours it’s easy to pick a good departure time.
For a short time, American had a direct DFW to PTY and I got to take it once. I was only one of about 6 passengers and they soon discontinued it. While it lasted, it was heaven, 5 hours of flight time and no stops. We also made the trip on American through Miami, ONCE. Never again.
It’s great to have you back online!
jim and nena in Fort Worth
Hi Jim and Nena,
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. I would have gone via Houston this time if I hadn’t been confused into thinking that my return flight was direct. I won’t make that mistake again.