@@saiyanchanwhat is your tip on sim cards upon arrival? I bought a new phone. It's set online that it was E-SIM compatible and then I find out it's not and I don't have another $400 right now to get another new phone so I'm relying on getting a SIM card upon arrival but I'm worried that if I get to the airport too late if there is a place to buy them in the airport they will be closed and then I will be screwed
Hello, I'm just getting to this now. What city are you going to? Please email me at saiyanchan@protonmail.com. If this is for Cali, I can probably figure out how to help you
Checkmig is super important. You will not be getting on the plane to Colombia without someone actually seeing it on your phone or on paper. I’ve tried every trick in the book to test… Spirit, Copa, Avianca, Spirit… none of them let you on wo seeing your checkmig. You’re so right about Bogota!! Bogota and Cartagena airports are the worst for immigration. 2+ hours is no joke and common!! But Bogota airport’s major plus is THE BEST exchange rate I’ve found- the company in the baggage area charges 100peso/$1 which may be worth using it as a connection/entry point just to do the exchange. Sometimes I intentionally go thru Bogota to exchange like $500-$1000 in one shot for multiple trips. Also that exchange is not visible from the street and no one other than travelers will be around you so it is as safe as it can possibly be. Medellin and Cartagena (and sometimes Santa Marta) are no better than exchanging at the airports in the USA where they take about 28%… so when the exchange rate is 4000p/$1, that equates to 1120p/$1 taken from you. Now Bogota at 100p/$1 makes real sense.
A month ago I took an early morning Avianca flight from Medellin to Boston via Bogota. There was NO line for the security/immigration in Bogota. First time in my life in any airport. Maybe because it was early in the morning on a weekday? Maybe this was a fluke. I will find out next month when I do this again on LATAM flight from Medellin to Quito via Bogota. You should not have to get your luggage in Bogota and recheck it in unless you booked two flights on two different airlines that do not codeshare. I don't recommend having a too short layover. But an airline should not book you on consecutive flights on their airline that are easy to miss the connecting flight since this effectively costs the airline money.
Yes do the check mig 72hrs beforehand. I did it at the airport big mistake i was getting the run around with the system omg. Now i know do it 72 hrs at home before travel
Thanks! For the info Godfather
Thank you very much! I appreciate it greatly
@@saiyanchanwhat is your tip on sim cards upon arrival? I bought a new phone. It's set online that it was E-SIM compatible and then I find out it's not and I don't have another $400 right now to get another new phone so I'm relying on getting a SIM card upon arrival but I'm worried that if I get to the airport too late if there is a place to buy them in the airport they will be closed and then I will be screwed
Hello, I'm just getting to this now. What city are you going to? Please email me at saiyanchan@protonmail.com. If this is for Cali, I can probably figure out how to help you
Thanks!
Thank you very much for the tip!
Cool thumbnail.
Checkmig is super important. You will not be getting on the plane to Colombia without someone actually seeing it on your phone or on paper. I’ve tried every trick in the book to test… Spirit, Copa, Avianca, Spirit… none of them let you on wo seeing your checkmig.
You’re so right about Bogota!! Bogota and Cartagena airports are the worst for immigration. 2+ hours is no joke and common!! But Bogota airport’s major plus is THE BEST exchange rate I’ve found- the company in the baggage area charges 100peso/$1 which may be worth using it as a connection/entry point just to do the exchange. Sometimes I intentionally go thru Bogota to exchange like $500-$1000 in one shot for multiple trips. Also that exchange is not visible from the street and no one other than travelers will be around you so it is as safe as it can possibly be.
Medellin and Cartagena (and sometimes Santa Marta) are no better than exchanging at the airports in the USA where they take about 28%… so when the exchange rate is 4000p/$1, that equates to 1120p/$1 taken from you. Now Bogota at 100p/$1 makes real sense.
thanks for confirming!
A month ago I took an early morning Avianca flight from Medellin to Boston via Bogota. There was NO line for the security/immigration in Bogota. First time in my life in any airport. Maybe because it was early in the morning on a weekday? Maybe this was a fluke. I will find out next month when I do this again on LATAM flight from Medellin to Quito via Bogota.
You should not have to get your luggage in Bogota and recheck it in unless you booked two flights on two different airlines that do not codeshare.
I don't recommend having a too short layover. But an airline should not book you on consecutive flights on their airline that are easy to miss the connecting flight since this effectively costs the airline money.
Thanks JW you made a good point about the connecting flights from different airlines.
I land in Bogota with a 3 hour layover wish I knew this before lol
Thanks for the tips. They will save me some time and (refund) money.
Happy to help!
Yes do the check mig 72hrs beforehand. I did it at the airport big mistake i was getting the run around with the system omg. Now i know do it 72 hrs at home before travel
The tax refund is a great tip....if you travel to other countries with the value added tax, you can generally get a refund in those countries as well.