Picture this.. desperately asking people to go ahead of them in a 100 person deep customs line that isn’t moving. Sprinting through the airport from one terminal to another, only to have to go through customs again. Heart rate is at 160bpm. Stress levels at 10/10. This was us as we transferred through Colombia’s biggest airport, Bogota.
We had booked flights from Cusco to Cartagena through Avianca, with a stopover in Bogota (sadly almost no flights go directly through to Cartagena). We booked via the airline, with 2.5 hours of time to get between our flights.. more than enough time in most European, middle eastern and Asian airports. However, this was South America.. and we should have known better.
A word of warning on the “cheap airlines”.. they will likely taxi away from the terminal, requiring a 10-20minute bus ride to reach to terminal. They you have to clear immigration. This is the time consuming part. Despite us having a connecting flight departing in 1.5 hours, we had little sympathy from the staff, herded into a 100-200 deep line that wasn’t moving. 10 minutes passed.. we hardly moved. We pleaded again with the staff to let us through.. nothing. Then a local piped up.. “you’ll miss your flight if you wait in this line”. It turns out this was a common occurrence.. and the locals knew well the perils of the immigration line.
As the time edged under 1 hour, we desperately began asking people in front of us if we could move ahead of them.. and surprisingly people were “okay” about it. We somehow bypassed the 1hour plus line with a lot of desperation, shame and pure anxiety at this point. 30-40 minutes until boarding. We clear immigration, and think “we’ll make it now”. Sprinting through the terminal we race the 1-2 kms out of the international terminal and into the domestic area. Heart rate and stress through the roof.. and we have to go through another check in, customs, and bag check. We are down to 10-15 minutes. We put our head down and sprint to reach the gate.. making boarding by bare margins. This isn’t our style.. and it shouldn’t have to be this way.
“Maybe it was just this once”.. we muse on reflection, dreading the return leg through Bogota to get to Cusco. Our 2.5-3 hour layover now seems far too small. The day arrived and a dreaded sense of deja vu comes upon us. We taxi away from the terminal. 20minutes on the bus. Lines at the immigration. We know the drill by now. Another sprint through the terminal.. and guess what, our printed boarding pass won’t scan on the machine. With time slipping away we need to drastically reprint the pass and sprint to the gate.. making it just as boarding is ending. This is madness.
So take this as your warning, and a strong recommendation.. don’t have a connection through Bogota if you can help it. We would encourage you to consider alternative options, or actually stop in Bogota for a few nights to avoid the chaos. If you are connecting between flights, do not, we repeat, DO NOT do self transfer. We had our bags checked through with the same airline and barely made it on 2-3 hour layovers. This required us breaking common curtsey and maybe a few airport rules. We would suggest that a 3+ hour layover would be required for any connecting flights at Bogota Airport, and even longer if self transferring. We can’t say we didn’t warn you!
Despite the chaos (one of our most stressful travel days ever), we thoroughly enjoyed our stops in Cusco, Cartagena and Mexico. Stay tuned for more of our guides as we share the realities of travel, along with our recommendations and tips! If you want to follow more of our travel experiences, check out our Instagram page @2cupsoftravel.
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