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| Subject: Re: I am stuck in Peru becuaes of corruption, Migrations and Lan Peru airlines, help!
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Posted on: Sat, 24 Jun 2006 18:49:13 +0000 (UTC)
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Yes, I am thinking of Chile to get consular help if this keeps getting
postponed at Migrations in Lima as I fear the ticket price will double
in July. I hope they don't fluff me off.
vtuck@tucklings.com wrote:
> Angela,
>
> A seasoned traveler once told me that if I got into a real fix that I
> should go to a British embassy or consulate (I'm an American as was
> he). He said that the British consulate will embarass the American
> consulate into putting the matter on a fast track. Otherwise, they
> just fluff you off.
>
> I don't know if there's any truth in it. But it sounds like you really
> do need consular help.
>
> Vernon
>
> angela l wrote:
> > On 6/07/06 I went to Lima airport for trip back to the states. There
> > had been a change to my flight, made by Cheaptickets.com over the
> > internet, but they did not provide me with a new paper ticket. Lan Peru
> > airlines refused to let me fly and said I didn't figure into their
> > system for the new flight and they said the email I brought from
> > Cheaptickets.com didn't mean I had paid for the flight. I spoke to
> > American airlines at the airport and they said I was in their system
> > for the connection flight from Miami to Chicago, but they had no
> > control over Lan airlines. I went to Lan Peru office in Lima, where
> > they are very malicious and unprofessional about this. Thier only
> > solution is EXTORTION (for me to be a scared foreigner) to buy a flight
> > to Quito, Ecuador for above $1,000.00 USD ONEWAY which would connect me
> > to the American flight, or pick another day to fly with Lan to Miami,
> > tickets limited to service, Monday through Thursday, putting me at an
> > illegal immigration status, as my Visa expired 06/11/06. And Lan will
> > change my tickets and charge me a penalty fee of $250.00 USD and the
> > difference of ticket price (I bought the tickets on Cheaptickets.com in
> > November 05). They want to charge me $200 for the change to Lan and
> > $50.00 for the change to American Airlines and whatever is the ticket
> > price difference the day I give in. That doesn't seem legitimate that
> > this airline would charge the fee for the American Airlines change. I
> > did not willingly make or ask for a change to my trip. I arrived with
> > plenty of time prior to boarding for the flight I was denied, and I had
> > paid for with Cheaptickets.com. I spent two hours struggling with
> > baggage weighing 45 kg up and down stairs, then back and forth down the
> > corridor of the airport, with a lot of chaos everywhere, looking for
> > offices to help me, only to find it didn't make any sense that person
> > has no idea how to help me; there was no order in that airport. They
> > were threatening me when there were ten minutes left to gate closing
> > time and I still had no answer. I have been here in South America,
> > mostly in Peru for six months, so now I have no money, and they won't
> > simply help me, let me travel back to the states. They want to force me
> > to buy another ticket, pay again, I have no money. There is no logic,
> > they just have a win-win situtation to make money under their false
> > pretexts.
> >
> > I have diligently tried to work this out with Cheaptickets.com writing
> > like 20 emails, spending my last $20 for long distance call, put on
> > hold for 46 minutes and then disconnected. Each time I call, it
> > disconnects while on hold. They cannot give me the answer over the
> > internet and repeatedly say I must call them without providing a direct
> > line or a call collect line for foreign travelers in an emergency.
> >
> > At the moment, I cannot leave Peru until I get a 30-day extension
> > stamped in my passport, which I have been denied daily at Migrations in
> > Lima. I went yesterday and today, same problem. I began the process for
> > a 30-day extension, Prorroga de Permanencia on Friday morning, the 9th
> > of June, 2006 (my 90-day Visa expired on Sunday, the 11th) and waiting
> > in terribly long lines, I received the application on Monday the 12th
> > (which I still have on hand, they didn't accept it). I have receipts
> > for payment (Banco de la Nacion) for this service, but absurd as it is,
> > they have used ludicrous excuses to postpone the stamp of approval.
> > They don't like the format of my single last name in my U.S. passport
> > with which I have traveled for 5 years abroad (including entry and
> > departure to and from Peru a total of 10 times), and it never raised a
> > question. As ridiculous as it is, I had to write an official, notarized
> > letter to the Director of Migrations, appologizing for my U.S.
> > passport, that I have an error in my name on my Migrant card, which
> > stays with them when I leave. This has to do with Americans having one
> > surname and the Spanish-speaking using two sunames.
> >
> > I have been to Migrations, desperately on a daily basis ever since and
> > they look for any lame reason to refuse to give me the 30-day extension
> > (Prorroga de Permanencia). Yesterday and this morning, they said they
> > would call the Director of Migrations at the border with Ecuador,
> > Tumbes about the (ridiculous, I am sorry) letter I wrote and I may come
> > back again tomorrow to see if they accept this letter. They showed me a
> > stack of letters, with mine at the bottom. It is corrupt extortion, but
> > I am accompanied by Peruvian friends who are helping me avoid this. We
> > will return tomorrow and every day thereafter until I get the 30-day
> > extension I need to leave the country. They mentioned paying $1 per day
> > stayed beyond the 90-day Visa along with the airport departure tax of
> > $30.24, but I am told there is no Migratory office at the airport. Lan
> > told me to pay $10 per day.
> >
> > Once I have the extension, hoping by the 27th, I am waiting for my
> > ticket back to Chicago that week. If Peruvian Migrations doesn't
> > concede, I might see about the U.S. Embassy getting involved because it
> > is ridiculously wrong. I already paid for the extension and they won't
> > give me a refund (then I would have money to call Cheaptickets.com).
> >
> > I am working hard to get money to call again, yet I am not sure they
> > will have a solution. They might say they have no control over the Lan
> > segment of my flight. The problem here is flying with distinct airline
> > policies.
> >
> > HELP!!!
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