Rapid Travel Chai

See also visa craziness in Belize for Chinese, parts 1 and 2 of renting a car and driving to Tikal, turkey crossing in Tikal, discounts in Belize, the itinerary wrap-up, and the photo album.

4:45 am an American Airlines robot calls The Rapid Traveler with news that his Miami-Belize flight has been canceled, no reason given and he has been rebooked on a later flight that will miss his Belize domestic connection. And in middle seats!

Not a fun wake-up call, nor was waiting on hold for half an hour to reach an agent who was perfectly happy to rebook on Delta but was not seeing the six seats Delta had left because none were in Y class. A plaintive call to Delta’s Diamond line accomplished nothing and the agent thought no Y class would be released and that the airport agents would not be able to help. The decision was to either collect a full refund or press on and hope.

San Pedro's commuter canals

Pressing on, The Rapid Traveler reached the airport and had to convince an AA agent that the cancellation was actually AA’s fault. She finally agreed to rebook on Delta but bizarrely routed him to Miami to the same unacceptable AA flight and sent him off to the Delta counter thinking he was on the nonstop from Atlanta. He was helped by Dalandra who spotted the error, released a seat and The Rapid Traveler headed back to AA. This time a new agent made quick work of it and he was soon back with Dalandra receiving his boarding pass.

Shark Ray Alley

Seat assignment at the gate was in first. Miles should post on Delta. Made the Tropic Air connection to San Pedro. Arrived in time to swim with nurse sharks and sting rays. Not bad for a BA miles economy redemption on AA!

Lesson, as One Mile at a Time always emphasizes: persist, persist, persist.