www.CostaRicaTicas.com

They are a low-cost carrier (or LCC). Sometimes it will work out for you and you'll save some money. If something goes wrong then chances are you are screwed (and they don't care).

I flew Southwest from DAL-HOU-SJO Normally I check 1 bag and then carry on the other. Since Southwest doesn't charge for 2 bags I went ahead and check both of them. Arrived in SJO and only 1 bag arrived. filled out a lost bag form and was told they would send my bag when found to CROC'S. I called the 800 number every day and was bounced around from person to person. The main reason I stayed at CROCS vs. COCAL was because of the internet conection at CROCS. But my laptop was in the lost bag along with my truck keys. I had several sales pending and needed to keep in touch with my business. I got my son to hire a locksmith and paid $320 to get a set of keys so when I returned to DAL I could get home. I filled out a few forms and Southwest customer service just transferred me from one person to the next. Finally my bag was returned to me 3 days after I returned home. I probably spent about 10 hours on the phone with Southwest being transferred from one person to the next. I was finally offered $250 voucher as my only compensation, so I will probably fly them again but there customer service is no better than Spirit

What a nightmare. That is why I never check in a bag.

Who wants the hassle of waiting for a bag on the other side?
What do you need to bring that they don't have at your destination?
Why bring so much stuff?
Pack the essentials and never let them leave your control?
Small back pack (personal item) and one roll aboard is more than enough for up to two weeks.

t.

I fly out of Fort Lauderdale, FLL. I stopped flying Spirit after the volcano blew last year and spirit just 'lazily' cancelled their flight and told me the next available seat was 3 days away. I paid more, but Jet Blue flew me the next day to CR

I am a jet blue fan, they are much more organized. I just dont like paying for a check in bag.

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Having too much fun. 8)

You were tempting fate with that stuff in a checked bag.

And I'm not casting stones because I did something similar. It's a mistake a guy makes exactly ONE time, if ever.

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Just got a back pack for Christmas TSA approved

If I absolutely HAD to check in a bag, I would never put valuables in a check in bag. TSA likes to steal things from check in bags and sell them on Ebay. Don't put anything in the check in bag that you can't do without, can't replace easily, and that a dishonest TSA employee can easily pawn or sell on Ebay. Don't check in a bag, but if you do, have your most worthless stuff in it.

Another thing to consider is that, if you have more than one back, build in redundancy in your packing. If you lose any one of your bags, is your trip ruined?

Have a complete day's worth of clothes in each of your bags. I like female condoms, but they are almost impossible to find down there, so put some in each bag. One of a kind things like cameras, lap tops/tablets, etc. go into the bag that never leaves my sight. Even if it goes into the overhead, it goes into the overhead across from my seat, so I can keep an eye on it if someone else goes into the bin.

Like they say in the Navy, when it comes to gear that is absolutely, positively necessary to accomplish the mission: "Two is one, and one is none." This is not to say that you have to double pack everything, but either make sure you can replace that one thing, or you guard it carefully.

Don't let your trip get ruined by a lost bag.

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"I'm not one those pathetic lietuenant colonels working a silly civilian job, working out two hours a day trying to reclaim a body they lost 20 years ago and four hours a night completing War College by correspondence in a sad attempt at colonel. Tyler Durden told us [i]'Self improvement is masturbation[/i].' My mid-life crisis is going to involve a new sports car, or the zoftig redhead with daddy issues in accounting, or better yet, racking up frequent flyer miles going to Pattaya."

Exactly, and add prescription medication to the list. That was my situation - forgot to take it out of my toiltery kit. Found myself making phone calls and running to a pharmacy.

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This post is provided purely for entertainment purposes and free of charge on the part of the author. No tourist or travel promotion is expressed or implied. The author of this post was not provided compensation (monetary or otherwise) for this potentially entertaining contribution.

Looks like Spirit has competition, United airlines starting in January will not allow carry on bags that do not fit under your seat for basic economy. Have to pay more if you want to use the overhead bins.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/16/1365 ... on-baggage

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I love the nights,
I can not remember,
with Friends,
I can not forget......

United make it sound like they are doing us a favor when in reality it is nothing but a price increase.

I give this no carry-on policy a month before it is scrapped. How many people actually read the rules before buying. Imagine coming to the airport and being told that you can't bring your clothes with you. I guess they will offer to check your bag for a FEE of course. There are gonna be some pissed off customers. They bettre put in a BIG BOLD DISCLAIMER when buying that no carry-ons are allowed.

As for price, I'm guessing the current Economy price will become new new Basic Economy price, and the new Economy price will be jacked up, even though you are getting nada more.

US carriers are asking to be put out of business.

Since we are discussing airline issues, here's mine from 2 weeks ago. It's a little long, lo siento.

Since a new consumer protection regulation was passed in 2011, any airline flying into/out of the US must offer either a 24 hr airfare hold or full refund within 24 hours. I have done the refund within 24 hours a few times with both US and foreign carriers without issue. Mid-december, I bought a ticket on Avianca, directly from their website, at around 11pm, and then within less than an hour decided that I wanted to extend the trip one day after talking with a friend. I bought the new ticket since there was a sale and went online to cancel the first one. On their site, Avianca has a refund request section. You enter your ticket number and there's a field to choose the airline. There are several choices: Avianca, Lacsa, Taca Int'l, and Taca Peru. I put in the request, and I chose Avianca for obvious reasons. And it kept rejecting it. I tried calling cust service, but didn't feeli like waiting 45 minutes after midnight. Finally, I spoke to a customer service rep the next morning. He could not figure out why it wasn't taking and advised to to email my request. I did and got no confirmation nor reply. After about 8 hours, I knew that I didn't have a lot of time left. So I called them again, and spoke to another guy who advised me that I was doing it incorrectly. I was supposed to use Taca Int'l, not Avianca. WTF??? Okay, so I submitted the request and got an automated email confirm at 4pm (I bought the ticket at 11pm the night before), so well with the 24 hour timeframe.

After submitting the refund request, I finally got a reply to the email that I sent saying that the department that I emailed is not the correct one. There was no help as to where I should submit the request, like one would expect. No, it simply said that I emailed the wrong dept. But they added "Have a nice day". Ahh, that was sweet of them.

After submitting the refund request (it should be an immediate cancelation and refund, not a request that needs to be approved by somebody), I read more and it takes 20-30 days for the refund to be processed. Muy Tico. About 10 days after, I get an email denying my refund request. It says that after further review, the fare is not refundable. For the last few days, I've been dealing with these idiots trying to get my money back. This is not over, I will get my money. If they refuse, I will file a grievance with US Dept of Transportation (I already have the site bookmarked) and they will get hit with a fine. I'm not letting this one go, not for $450. I will march into the Avianca sales office and demand a refund in person if I have to.

BTW- When buying the ticket, it does say that you can cancel and refund the ticket without penalty within 24 hours as one of the "purchase conditions". I always verify this before I buy just in case. Apparently, the refund department people don't know about this.

Point of the story, don't expect Avianca to honor the 24 hour cancelation policy. They are great in the planes, but as for customer service or logistics, Lord have mercy.

Mr. Orange,

I went through the same thing about a year ago. I did finally get the money back without having to file any kind of a claim or grievance, but it took awhile. I booked the ticket myself online, but a friend of mine is a travel agent here in Costa Rica and he agreed to help me even though he didn't book the ticket for me. It still took 3 or 4 weeks to get the refund.

He tried to explain the situation to me, but he lost me. Anyway, here's the gist of what he told me, as best as I can recall. It's a little bit of a warning for me for the next time, as well as anyone else. I'll think twice about using Avianca in the future.

Avianca is not an airline as U.S. law understands it. It's something less than an airline, but more than just an alliance (like Star Alliance) or codeshare partners. There's still a TACA, a LACSA, and apparently 3 or 4 Aviancas (Avianca Brazil, Avianca Colombia, etc.). The "Real" Avianca is apparently the one in Colombia. But you book a ticket on the Avianca website and you have no idea which airline you actually bought the ticket from. Apparently there is a way to tell which airline you bought the ticket from by looking at your receipt, but I couldn't figure it out.

It just seems to me like any attempt to make any changes to a ticket or any interruptions in your flight could potentially end up being a royal goat-rope. I'm really not too keen on dealing with this clusterf#*k again.

When it comes to logistics and customer service, Avianca is the Central/South American version of Spirit, aka "Spirit Latino"