Thursday, October 22, 2020

Return to Bogota

 Since March this only "international" overnight I have had has been Cancun...and that's not really international. 

I have mostly been flying turn to Cancun and overnight in Anchorage as far as non-continental US has gone. September did allow for one turn to St. Maarten (which was a bucket list airport for me!) but that's it.

September was supposed to have been my return to Bogota. COVID-19 killed those plans as the country was still struggling. This month I finally returned.

Normally the flight is a 5PM departure from DFW arriving just after 11 PM. I stay 23 hours then depart at 11PM and arrive at 5:00 AM. For reasons I don't know...things are different...but just for ME.

This week I was supposed to have a 48 hour overnight and the normal red eye home. Scheduling changed it to a 33 hour overnight and a day time flight home. In the 15 + Bogota trips I have done....only one has been daytime and it was a flight to Miami. Seeing the airport awake and me being 100% awake just isn't normal. I was happy to do it though.

The Captain I had flown with a few times. Things in Bogota are not normal of course. Their citizens do a much better job wearing mask, cleaning and distancing than Americans by a long shot. The hotel was just a nice but only one of the four restaurants was open. The normal expansive breakfast buffet was very small. I appreciated being able to escape the country for a bit....and the exchange rate is majorly in our favor right now. 

Returning home was so easy. The Captain and kept remarking how much easier it is to fly the nearly 6 hour trip during bankers hours. We had an 11 AM departure. There was a snag. 

One of the Flight Attendants called in sick while in Bogota. With reduced frequency it would be more than a day for the next scheduled in bound. The plane we were flying arrived the night before. My airline went above and beyond fixing things. They scheduled an Airbus 319 to leave Miami with just one Flight Attendant on board...with the 2 pilots of course. The non-scheduled flight arrived 1 hour before departure and right next to my gate. 




The Flight Attendant walked off that plane and onto mine. We left on time. The Airbus 319 from Miami then returned to Miami. No cargo...no passengers. That was a huge expense by the airline to keep things moving.

I'm off for a few days before doing a similar trip but only a 10 hour 45 minute overnight in Bogota next week...still a daytime return. There are only 2 day time flights between Bogota and DFW this month...and I do them both. Every other day it's a red-eye. Lucky me!