El Piloto has left 116 comments
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El Piloto comments on What is it with Colombians going to Australia? That reminds me of a great story. Guy is flying into Sydney and gets questioned by the Australian immigration inspector as he's leafing through his passport: "Sir, do you have a criminal record?" -"Why, no, I'm very sorry but I didn't realize it was still a requirement." I never get tired of that joke! But still I would love to live in Oz. Dividing my time between Sydney and a finca in Colombia sounds like the perfect life! NZ is even prettier than Australia but as a place to live I need the cosmopolitan vibe of a big diverse city like Sydney... at least sometimes.
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El Piloto comments on What is it with Colombians going to Australia? Who can blame them really? I'm a norteamericano and would rather live in Australia than the USA.
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El Piloto comments on Medellin Restaurants - Parque Lleras List would be more useful if it had more reviews and/or details (i.e. menus) about the restaurants.
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El Piloto comments on AA - Great Deal from Miami to Barranquilla @ $168 USD Get in one last fling to BAQ on AA before they pull out of the market!
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El Piloto comments on Spirt air from Bogota to FLL Ronaldo those are not fatality RATES they are simply the number of events. Pretty meaningless data unless you compare the number of flights (or hours) racked up by the airlines during the time they had those events. If Airsafe.com's data on fatal events and flights flown is, in fact, accurate, then Avianca is roughly 6 times as dangerous as American because Avianca's fatal event rate per million departures is 3.15 versus AA's rate per million departures of 0.52
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El Piloto comments on A Tribute to the Real Winner, Miss Universe Talian Vargas 2008! Monpirri's side by side picture of the two makes obvious the travesty of all this. Miss Colombia should have won easily versus Venezuela. Venezuela - too dyed, face too angular, just too FAKE in every way. Taliana was the much more natural beauty. Personally I don't even think Ven deserved final two. Miss Republica Dominicana would make a better looking runner up to the lovely Taliana. Although I don't get the conspiracy theorists. Why would Trump/the Miss Universe Organization actively conspire to deny Miss Colombia the crown? Seems the likely explanation is just idiotic judging, not some vast conspiracy.
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El Piloto comments on Wathing Anthony Bourdain! Colombians eat Pig Ears? Bourdain's show on Colombia was really good. Does anyone know exactly where the restaurant Queareparaenamorarte that he visited is located?
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El Piloto comments on Wathing Anthony Bourdain! Colombians eat Pig Ears? GregYohn - don't knock Yuengling lager. I love that stuff. Always a treat to be back in Philly drinking Yuengling. Never drink beer with lime, not even Mexican beer, not even Corona (which I don't drink anyway - makes those thin American macrobrews look strong and complex in comparison) Speaking of Mexican beer, I love Indio from Monterrey.
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El Piloto comments on 4th of July Parties No I don't realistically expect them to let just anybody/thing inside the embassy. But I do find the whole thing really funny - let's celebrate our independence (and by extension liberty, freedom, etc.) by showing valid identification and getting searched
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El Piloto comments on anyone ever experienced baggage theft on an airline Problem with those plastic tie wraps, locks, etc. is that the TSA can cut them off and open your bag if they decide it needs further inspection. Sure you will know that the bag has been opened but since TSA now routinely hand searches many bags (and of course steals lots of stuff too) it really won't protect you from theft by TSA (or by airline rampers downline once the TSA has forceably opened your bag).
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El Piloto comments on anyone ever experienced baggage theft on an airline Latingirl - have your Mom file the claim with US Airways. I think you said US Airways was the airline that flew her on the last segment (Ft Lauderdale to Charlotte). You have to file a baggage loss/theft claim with the airline that lands you at your final destination, not the airline on which you start a trip.
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El Piloto comments on 4th of July Parties Jijiji - I love the irony here - celebrating the United States' independence requires presenting a valid U.S. passport, not bringing backpacks, and submitting to security screening. Certainly illustrates how far the U.S. has fallen from being a beacon of liberty.
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El Piloto comments on adrienne79 Interesting posts on the lost luggage thread. Ironically my AA lost bag/wine theft fiasco happened on the way to Bucaramanga last New Years. Never made it there to try those restaurant recommendations you gave! Curious what you used to do at DFW Airport?
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El Piloto comments on anyone ever experienced baggage theft on an airline My bag had both a name tag on it and my business card inside a business card holder on the outside of the bag. Both of them still there when the suitcase was delivered to me 4 WEEKS LATER. AA's incompetence, not lack of proper identification, was the reason it took 4 weeks for AA to locate and return my luggage. They seemed to be perfectly capabale of (quickly?) identifying which suitcase sitting around the MIA or BOG bag room had good wine in it worth stealing! I could have stitched my name and address into the fabric of the bag in 10 different places and it would not have done a damn thing to help AA get it back to me any quicker!
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El Piloto comments on anyone ever experienced baggage theft on an airline Latingirl - the good news might be that airline baggage loss/theft claims need to be filed with the airline that lands you at your final destination, not the airline that checked the luggage. Since your mom obviously didn't fly FLL-CLT on Avianca, she can file the loss/theft claim with the airline that landed her in CLT (US Airways???). All this assumes that the bag was checked all the way through on one bag tag CLO-BOG-FLL-CLT (yes I know you have to physically pick up the bag in FLL, clear customs, then redeposit on a transfer bag belt but if it's all on one bag tag you're still fine and need to file with the airline that landed you at your final destination). The bad news is that as other posters have pointed out all airlines always exclude any liability for jewelry, electronics, and other high value items. But since you mention there were other articles stolen too (clothing, leather purse), the airline should be responsible for those. Does your mom still have receipts? Receipts can be crticial. My one experience with lost/stolen luggage was with AA - was flying DFW-MIA-BOG but got in to MIA too late to make my BOG connection. At that point I decided to just cancel the trip and fly home to DFW. Took AA 4 weeks to eventually find my suitcase and when it was delivered to be 3 bottles of good wine and a few other articles had been stolen. AA's claim process involves listing the lost/stolen articles along with their purchase price. They asked for receipts for any item worth more than $100 (note to readers of this - ALWAYS save your receipts for purchases of nice clothes - never know when you might need them), and also date of purchase (this is because the airline is going to try and pay you the current depreciated value of an article and NOT the original full purchase price).
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El Piloto comments on Chivas whiskey in my checked bag??? And if what you are bringing is super-expensive liquor, be sure to save your receipts from the purchase of it so that you can prove the value of the stolen bottles when you have to file your claim with the airline for the liquor they (or TSA) stole from your checked luggage!
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El Piloto comments on When will there ever be direct Miami San Anndres service? An important technicality - it looks like those 12/31/2009 carveouts allowing unlimited service to ADZ and AXM only apply to *CHARTER* flights.
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El Piloto comments on United, Continental Team Up CO is starting a second IAH-BOG frequency later this year (red-eye in both directions) so the early morning arrival/late night departure should be great for improving connections to all over Colombia. Also love the fact that weekends in Colombia can now be accomplished without spending any vacation time away from the office. Star Alliance award availability to Colombia now becomes a possibility too. I've been crediting most of my non-AA flights (i.e. United, US Airways) to BMI British Midland recently since they have one of the better programs in the Star Alliance.
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El Piloto comments on Chivas whiskey in my checked bag??? Actually the bigger risk isn't that the bottle will break in your checked luggage but rather that the booze will be stolen by airline employees or TSA.
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El Piloto comments on spigrimace Looks like Buen Mozo, our favorite Colombian bred horse is entered tomorrow (26 May) at Golden Gate Fields. Didn't take well to the turf in his last race. Should contend tomorrow back on the synthetic Tapeta at GG.
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El Piloto comments on Hooters Bogotá Morphus - there's nothing Philadelphia at all about what passes for a cheesesteak at Hooters. Yuck. Here in the DFW area, also in Florida, there's a chain called Ker's Winghouse which ripped off the Hooters concept almost exactly. I think Hooters even tried to sue Ker's. Only difference is that Ker's Winghouse is a little cheaper, the short shorts are black instead of orange, and they have a few more menu items that are tolerable. http://www.winghouse.com/index.asp
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El Piloto comments on Satena cockpit landing in Medellin No, not yet but that's the goal for the future! Right now I am a private pilot here in Gringolandia with dreams of someday dividing my time between here and Colombia - and having my own plane to fly between them! It's nice to dream!
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El Piloto comments on Why is Avianca so confusing? CG hit the nail on the head. It all depends on the day and flight. Generally most airlines match each other and have the same fares in a market but since they all yield manage their different fares it's a crapshoot (well actually, behind the scenes, an incredibly complex optimization algorithm based on supply and demand) as to whether a given fare will be available on any particular flight. AA could easily be "sold out" of its cheapest fares on the same day they are available on AV and vice-versa. For me, I stick with AA because I have too much invested in their frequent flyer program to give up miles accrual and perks for the sake of $100. Fare difference of more than that and I'm willing to shop around. Although fares to Colombia being what they are I am more likely to use miles for free tickets to Colombia than to buy them with cash.
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El Piloto comments on Satena cockpit landing in Medellin Here's how things look on final approach over in Rionegro http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0J6Q7wf1gY
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El Piloto comments on Satena cockpit landing in Medellin Sí, that was the approach landing north (runway 02) at Olaya Herrera airport in the city.
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El Piloto comments on Satena cockpit landing in Medellin Wrong. EOH/SKMD is Olaya Herrera airport in Medellin. MDE/SKRG is Jose Maria Cordova Int'l at Rionegro.
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El Piloto comments on best restaurant in medellin Restaurante Nuqui a couple blocks off Parque Lleras is an excellent place for seafood but unfortunately is not even close to being "fancy."
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El Piloto comments on Juanes on PBS, Rocks Wish I was going to the Juanes concert in Dallas tonight.
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El Piloto comments on Boutique & Upmarket Small Hotels - Suggestions? Oh, and also in Bogotá many say the Sofitel Victoria Regia is the best hotel in town. Again have not stayed there but from my research it appears to be a smaller hotel in a very upmarket elegant style.
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El Piloto comments on Boutique & Upmarket Small Hotels - Suggestions? Saw an ad in American Way or Nexos magazine for Hotel Habitel in Bogotá. Have not stayed there but from the ad it was clear that they were trying to position Hotel Habitel as a small boutique hotel in a very contemporary style. Might be worth investigating to see if the place lives up to its marketing.
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El Piloto comments on Only 30k AA miles from JFK to MDE (American Airlines) The normal rate for coach awards from North America to Colombia is 30K miles "off-peak" and 35K miles "peak." From AA's website the off-peak dates are currently: Jan.16-Jun.14 and Sep.7-Nov.14. The 30K/35K would be available from any U.S. city, not just Miami, so yes you could originate in DFW or ABQ. The tricky part is always finding inventory since these awards are capacity controlled. The special 7,500 mile discount I mentioned a few posts upthread is a special promotion for Citi AAdvantage credit card holders and that is in effect for travel between April 1-June 30, 2008. That would make the price for any US city to BOG just 22,500 or 27,500 miles.
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El Piloto comments on Only 30k AA miles from JFK to MDE (American Airlines) Should point out that BOG is on the list this quarter (1Apr08-30Jun08) as a reduced mileage award for AA AAdvantage members that also have the Citi AAdvantage credit card. Reduced mileage awards offer travel for 7,500 miles less than the usual rate. It should work from any U.S. destination to BOG although of course the inventory has to actually be available so it could be tough finding T class depending on where you're originating, what day, etc.
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El Piloto comments on Good Avianca fare ATL-BOG $324 RT Other South America cities also available from ATL with a connection in BOG. Quito and Lima both price out about the same. People who don't live in Atlanta may still find it worthwhile to take advantage of these fares by buying a 2nd separate R/T ticket between their hometown and ATL to connect. Works best if you live in a city where Airtran has pushed down fares in the market...
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El Piloto comments on Good Avianca fare ATL-BOG $324 RT Bump. And I repeat - do not call Avianca about the fare.
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El Piloto comments on AA 'been cancelling Colombia flights? It's true. Like I said in the event that some flight has to be canceled because of maintenance, delayed or illegal crew, etc. it is possible that the airline will cancel the least heavily booked flight leaving that airport at that time, but canceling a flight ONLY for the reason of being lightly booked is not going to happen - and could open a US airline to legal action if it happened regularly. Also the way airline schedules are built just doesn't leave much slack in the system to play games like this (the downside of this being that it also doesn't leave much slack in the system to recover from operational disruptions such as bad weather at a major hub). Another reason why low load cancellations wouldn't make sense is that that lightly booked A300 scheduled to fly MIA-BOG has to turn around and come back to MIA and with average load factors being quite high, chances are the return flight will be pretty full. Cancel the lightly booked inbound flight and there's no A300 in BOG to fly all those passengers back. Rebooking a planeload full of passengers is not only time consuming for an airline but very expensive (every ticket that has to be endorsed over to Avianca or Delta or whoever means a payment from AA to the carrier that winds up taking the passenger).
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El Piloto comments on AA 'been cancelling Colombia flights? Bad weather here in DFW yesterday (6Mar) could have had a minor impact on routes elsewhere in the AA system. Probably though just maintenance cancellations that are par for the course on any airline. Airlines do not cancel flights just because of low load factors. Now it's possible that if an A300 goes mechanical at MIA and say there are three A300 flights scheduled to leave at the same time that the equipment from the least heavily booked one will be "stolen" and that flight canceled in order to be able to fly the flight that has more passengers. But to say that an (US) airline would cancel a flight solely because of low bookings is patently wrong, depsite being a popular urban legend. I was once one of only 8 passengers onboard an AA 727 flight!
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El Piloto comments on Bucaramanga Barrio Question I read about the American woman that was killed in BGA. Just searched and sure enough it was in Barrio Jardines de Coaviconsa. Disconcerting but hopefully that was an isolated incident. Have an amiga in BGA that lives in this barrio and was curious about the neighborhood. Maybe I need to decline the invitation to stay at her house.
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El Piloto comments on AA Flight MIA-MDE last night was Empty First Time I have seen that...... This is an off-peak time of year for the airline industry. There will be some leisure-oriented routes (i.e. domestic travel to South Florida) that see spikes in demand over Presidents Day weekend and then in March for spring break. But, yes, overall, late January/early Feb. is off-peak as far as air travel demand is concerned.
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El Piloto comments on General Motors Transfers Part Of Colombia Output To Venezuela Where in Colombia does GM have assembly plants?
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El Piloto comments on AA Flight MIA-MDE last night was Empty First Time I have seen that...... AA's capacity on MIA-MDE is double what it was last year (2 737s a day instead of just 1) so it's not surprising to see a load factor around 40% during an off-peak time of year like now.
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El Piloto comments on Some Ideas for Booking Reward Travel Open jaw awards are permitted on AA. Typically, AA's award availability is slightly better than its US competitors'. There's a reason CO's program is called "Nonepass" by those in the know! Also it's possible that first/business class milesaver (restricted) awards will be available when coach awards on the same flights are not. It's all about cabin-level demand and there are plenty of routes that just don't have much demand for paid travel in the front cabin. Award ticket availability, like availability of all fare buckets, is dynamic. Just because a flight has no award availability today doesn't mean that it won't open up tomorrow, and then close again the next day! On AA, the AAnytime awards (roughly double the miles of a Milesaaver) are available anytime there are any seats for sale in that cabin because AAnytime awards get the same availability as full fare coach/biz/first. These cost 60K miles to Colombia in Y, 120K in F/J. Although Droble77 makes a good point - avoid AA since MIA is a pit of rudeness, inefficiency and incompetence!
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El Piloto comments on CANADIAN PR VISA NOT SUFFICIENT TO FLY THROUGH U.S. Canada's treatment of US citizens entering Canada on business also leaves much to be desired. Maybe the key lesson here is that customs/immigration inspectors are pricks the world over!
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El Piloto comments on Buen Mozo, the colombian bred tries to break his maiden again at Golden Gate Fields He's back! He'll be wheeled back out on 10 days rest, dropping in claiming price down to $8000 and stretching out to 1-1/16 miles. Have to think these are all good signs for his first win. It's the 5th race at GG on Sunday the 13th. Corre, Buen Mozo! Break that maiden!
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El Piloto comments on CANADIAN PR VISA NOT SUFFICIENT TO FLY THROUGH U.S. Bill230: U.S. airports were set up with international transfer lounges inside the sterile international arrivals area of the airport. Pre-9/11/01 US airports such as MIA did a brisk trade in TWOV (transit without visa) movements and you are correct that there were separate secure lounges inside the immigration controlled area of the airport. But the government pulled the plug on TWOV in the paranoid world of post-9/11 "security." Airlines objected to this change as the inability to sell tickets to TWOV passengers has certainly put a dent in the load factors of U.S. carriers such as AA.
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El Piloto comments on Museum of Laziness in Bogota Interesting. The BBC article says that it was a temporary exhibit on the theme of laziness. TV news story here in Dallas implied it was an entire permanent museum. So not only do the no-talent assclowns working at local TV stations in the USA think Bogota is in Columbia, they can't even get the important details of a story right... Sad.
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