Unfriendly Caracas airport

El Expatriado says on Jun 17, 2009, 05:23:

Welcome to Venezuela. The fun is only started.

Thay were probably pissed you never gave them money.

There are some real good people there, but notthe cops, muhggers and thieves (who fall into the same subset).

Watch out in Caracas, Scandi-boy (or girl) there are some real dangerous areas.

Socialism aint all it's cracked up to be.

0 funny, 1 helpful.

sloopskipper says on Jun 17, 2009, 06:10:

I have nothing good to say about my 5 hour layover in Caracas, except that I found the people nice, and eager to help. But of course, nobody spoke English.

I was traveling on AA miles, and they made a reservation for me on a LAN Perú flight to Lima.
I spent nearly all that time searching for a LAN counter. I was directed to an area where there was nothing but an unattended desk, with no indication which carrier used it.

I had checked the weather before leaving San Juan, and stupidly decided to travel in shorts, since it was about 90° in Caracas. It was so unbelievably cold in that airport, that I finally found a shop and bought a sweatshirt.

I kept returning to that empty counter, and finally about an hour before that announced take-off time, some people appeared, and answered that they were LAN.

Since my return flight was scheduled for one minute after the daily flight to San Juan, I thought that I’d spend a few days on Margarita. The hotel booking people were very unresponsive, but I already had booked a flight on Laser Airlines.

I sent Laser an e-mail, in Spanish, asking how would I pay for the flight, credit card, cash ($ or Bolivars?). I received e-mail return receipts indicating that 3 people had deleted my message, without reading, and two more had read and ignored.

A Venezuelan friend told me that I should be able to make a short tour in an “official” black taxi, but I learned that a visitor visa cost about $50, and I was still was unsure how, and where, to check in.

Once in Perú I postponed, and changed to my return to Puerto Rico via MIA, paid an extra $100, and spent about 5 more hours traveling.

Needless to say, I’ll not return to Venezuela anytime soon.

Seems that some people think "everybody's outa step but me".

0 funny, 1 helpful.

quantum says on Jun 30, 2009, 07:08:

Hey Sloop, what about just flying direct to Margarita? Do u know anything about the place? Is it a completly different vibe than dealing with the rest of Venez?

quantum

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Clinman says on Jul 8, 2009, 11:44:

From the US I am not sure if you can fly direct to Margarita. But from Europe such as Germany and England there are direct flights to Margarita. I spent a week there Feb 08 at the Hilton and really enjoyed myself. I flew in from Colombia with my then novia first departing from the US. The food is good, great beaches, friendly people, and US dollar is strong. Margarita is far different than Caracas in atmosphere and safety. I agree that the line going from International to Domestic (Margarita) is very sketchy and you must stay on your toes.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

nine inch nails says on Jul 16, 2009, 08:04:

With all this said what's up with Valencia? Are there direct flights there from MIA? Saw an ad. in the Herald for it so something nice must be there but NOT going thru Caracas for it.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

panthdave says on Aug 1, 2009, 14:40:

I just flew Medellin-Bogota-Caracas-Porlamar and the same back.....The only problem the whole trip was on the way back to Caracas via Avior Airlines from Porlamar the baggage carousel jammed and almost missed my Avianca flight out of Caracas and ran to the international section to check in with Avianca..I am a platino member so I was able to check in right away..

Otherwise no problems...and people were helpful in the Caracas airport....ah Don't take Laser Airlines...thats creepy..they use very old DC-9's.....I took Avior back on a 737 from Porlamar to Caracas.....

I wish there was more direct flights even from Bogota would be great...

panthdave Miami

0 funny, 0 helpful.