Expert: Cesar - 12/29/2009

Question
Ceaser,

My name is Steven.  I am currently stationed in Iraq with the US Army.  My wife and I have been married for only two years now, although I've known here for nearly five.  She is from Cali, Colombia and I'd like to take her home with our daughter.  I have never met her father besides phone conversations and the internet.  I am not a rich man and want to get to Colombia with my wife and daughter this summer.  I've looked at many different airlines from Texas to Cali and I can't get us there under 2000US.  I was considering a possible trip by Sea.  Do you have any suggestions to get to Cali and Back for cheaper?  Anything would help as we are long overdue.  Thanks for the help.

Steve

Answer
Dear Mr. Steven:

Based on what you said, you already consulted the Internet for best fares. That is a great place to look for such information.

The information about you being stationed in Iraq throws me off since I do not know if you want to fly from Iraq to Colombia and meet your wife in Colombia. Any flight from Iraq to South America / Colombia would be very long and with stops. That would be very expensive.

IF FROM IRAQ:
if you are travelling from Iraq you will need to do some stops because the distance is long and Cali is not the main place of arrival for international flights. Bogotá is the main one. Multiple stop flights could become very expensive if you pick the wrong cities or if you book one international flight with several local flights in the destination country. The change of airlines is a big cause for huge price increases because change of cities and planes to non large international airports increases prices very much (airlines do not want to pay other airlines for some of the travel portions, but sometimes have to and will charge heavily for that).

My first suggestion to you is to now try with travel agencies (actually go or call agencies) where a live agent will work with you on the best route and dates. An additional suggestion is to pick a different destination for the Colombia part to Bogotá and then a local flight to Cali. The problem is that Bogotá is the main hub for international planes to Colombia, Cali is a lesser of a hub (arrival destination) than Bogotá. If you pick a somewhat small city in an international flight then the prices increases tremendously due to the change of planes for a local flight. You could simply fly to Bogotá and then to Cali. You could choose Avianca (AV, the official airline of Colombia) for the travel from Bogotá to Cali. Another option is to check flying to Medellín or Cartagena if there is no availability for such dates to Bogotá. From Medellín or Cartagena you can then fly with Avianca in a local flight. Please notice that there is a lesser weight limit in local flights and if you exceed the weight limits you will have to pay extra for the extra luggage you brought in the international flight. If you want to save money then you would pick less busy dates such as in low season or pick specials that airlines run from time to time.

You can call Avianca and ask for assistance. Their website is: http://www.avianca.com and displays display phones to call. They have agents who speak English and Spanish.

One of Avianca's contact page is: http://www.avianca.com/Inicio/PiedePagina/es/Contactenos.htm

You can do a search at travel websites such as Skyscanner. You can use search keywords such as "travel from Iraq to Colombia" to find travel information.

http://www.skyscanner.net/vuelos-desde/iq/vuelos-mas-baratos-de-iraq.html

http://www.skyscanner.net/vuelos/iq/bog/100115/100122/vuelos-mas-baratos-a-bogot...

IF FROM TEXAS:
I am not sure if you want to fly from Iraq yourself and have your wife fly from Texas to Colombia. For the flights from the US to Colombia you can use websites such as www.expedia.com and www.travelocity.com. Normally, travel from the US to Colombia sells for more than $500 per person if flying from some places such as Los Angeles. Continental Airlines has its main hub in Texas and therefore flights from there are cheap in Continental. Avianca flies from several cities in the US such as Miami, Chicago, and Los Angeles, but does not have departures from Texas that I know of (Texas does not appear in their list of departure cities in their website). Therefore for departures from Texas you can pick another airline such as Continental. Their website is www.Continental.com. You can also try visiting websites for other American airlines such as American Airlines (www.AA.com), and place dates and times for price and availability information.

There are cruises from the US to Colombia, but they are probably more expensive than flying. You can contact a travel agent about any specials they have.

Best wishes,

Cesar
www.CesarUSA.com