Panama City, Panama. A Prelude

Our flight out of Cartagena departed at 9:36 am, so we arrived the required three hours in advance and proceeded to the BC check-in line. We were flying Business Class so we were in the shorter line, which was good because when we got to the counter the agent asked for proof of onward travel out of Panama. We explained that we were travelling to the San Blas Islands and then returning to Panama City before flying home, but we had not yet booked our return flight. She would not check us in without proof of onward travel.

This is only the second time this has ever happened to us in all of our travels, and no matter how hard we pleaded to just check us in and we’ll deal with it at the other end if need be, they wouldn’t budge.

So now we’re scrambling, but fortunately we arrived early, so we had time to feverishly find a flight, make sure it could be cancelled within 24 hours, pay and then wait to receive the email confirmation.

We proceeded back to the check-in counter. When the agent asked for proof of onward travel we showed her our flights. She didn’t ask to see who the passengers were or anything other than the most basic information. We could have just shown her a screenshot of any flight out of Panama.

So now we’re looking forward to the Business Class lounge where we can unwind a little, so we proceed through customs and immigration and security only to find out on the other end that there is no lounge.

We’re starving by this point, so we patiently wait in line at a tiny food kiosk stuck in the corner by the entrance to the public washrooms and purchase two café Americano and two ham and cheese sandwiches.

We did get to board before most of the other passengers but all that meant was we had to wait in the hot sun on the tarmac for 10 minutes longer than all the other suckers while waiting for the cleaning crew to finish.

The seats on our flight were comfortable, the cheesy or some other kind of flavoured crispy twists were superb and the coffee and orange juice, “naranka!” I was told is the correct pronunciation, were refreshing.

One hour later, welcome to Panama City.