Colombia Forum

AlexCA
Joined 2017
Posts: 160

5 years ago

SCAM TRAVEL BIZ IN COLOMBIA

5 years ago

Buying airline tickets is a scam industry in COL when it comes to gringos. I live in Florencia, need to fly to Cartagena, with stopover on return in Medellin. Which means Florencio-Bogota (transfer to Cart)-Cart to Bogota to Medellin to Bogota to return to Florencia. For 2 people. You go online as the COLs all love to tout, cheaper tix. First problem, online reservation of tix is erratic. None of the telephone numbers to speak to individuals WORKS. Literally, no contesta. OK, bingo! For 2 people, rt bargain 1,980,000 pesos (or around $650). Novia says "Wait till Wednesday when they HAVE bargains!" Don't buy online! Today we go to Avianca to buy tix we reserve. Wednesday? Jajaja. Forget it. You want the ticket it's gonna cost you $2,480,000 pesos! How come? Oh, tickets sold! (Which means we're paying for some 15 year old china's coming out banquet). Big furiosa with novia. You said, Wait till Wednesday! Now it's half-a-mill more! It's not your money, it's not their money. Who cares? Then insult to injury, and/or vice versa, (why wasn't I told when the $1,980,000 price showed up online???? Don't ask stupid questions.) If you want to pay using VISA, Mastercards, any card . . . YOU CAN'T DO IT WITHOUT BEING A COOLOMBIAN CITIZEN, OR HAVING A COLOMBIAN BANK ACCOUNT. Now I've used same Visa to travel to Colombia, all over the country, including Cartagena . . . doesn't count. I need to go to Bancolombia to have them transfer the money. Or else if I want to fly out next week, I need to wait FIVE YEARS to become a Colombian citizen first. Am I being rude or just an asshole here? I refuse to accept this kind of extortion.

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