I will give you a piece of advice: if you are flying into Panama from Colombia or anywhere else, be prepared to demonstrate that you plan to leave Panama. You will need a plane or bus ticket that shows onward travel. At the airport in Cartagena, I was not allowed to board a plane to my connecting flight in Bogota without being able to show that I planned to leave Panama. I was told that it was Panamanian law that I show this. My two friends missed their flight and connecting flight while we dealt with all of this. They ended up having to buy new tickets which cost them hundreds of dollars. I was on a later flight so I didn’t miss mine. We ultimately all had to buy tickets for flights out of Panama. We would have had to use the tickets or just lose hundreds of dollars trying to get out of Colombia but we had some good fortune. After spending a few days in Panama City we finally all got back to my house just a few minutes north of the Panamanian border, in Costa Rica. There we found that, luckily, my house had been burgled. One of the reasons that we could cancel our flights for a full refund was for burglary of my residence. I completed the necessary paperwork and had a police report written up. I got all of the money refunded for my Panamanian onward flight. I only lost the $25 or so for insurance. Two friends from Costa Rica, who were on a trip parallel to mine, had a similar situation trying to fly from Bogota to Panama city. They purchased onward tickets and then contacted their bank to explain. Bank of America agreed to refund the charges. I recommend buying a flight or bus ticket in advance. If you don’t know when you will leave Panama, doctor a document. Make it look real.
Have you been through this before? How did you handle it?
Check back next week when I’ll post advice on the right way to be robbed in Costa Rica.
