Checking in

“Length of stay in country not permitted. Please see a customer service representative.”

That’s what appeared on the electronic check-in screen after I selected my flight and scanned my passport. My ticket’s return date was in August, more than the typical six month Mexican visa period, but I didn’t think the airline would worry about that. Or if they did, I figured the system would have told me when I purchased the ticket. After all, the purchase was directly through United. ‘Oh well, it’s the first hiccup of the journey,’ I thought, and headed with my Dad for customer service.

There were just three people waiting in line, in contrast to the dozens in line to check-in, but it took more than twice as long to get to the front. Long enough for a roaming customer service agent to come along and ask us about our problems. She was a rotund lady with a bright dinosaur sticker on her name badge. Hearing our troubles, she nodded sagely. ‘Yeah, I know what’s going on. That’s going to be difficult to fix.”

We explained that the August return wasn’t important, and besides, I had a ticket to return through a different airline in December, so the visa period would start again in January (still too long a stay, but closer to acceptable). ‘We can just change the date of the ticket, right?’ I said, and my dad added something similar. Her reply, addressed to my dad: ‘Where’s that accent from?’ ‘New Zealand’ ‘Hmm,’ she said, ‘You guys need to do something about that Barramundi.’ Barramundi? What?

In truth, those may not have been her exact words, but she was definitely serving a reproach for the treatment of the beloved Australian fish. Not that I knew it was an Australian fish, anymore than Spanglish for an uncovered world (mundo = world), until a few seconds later in the conversation. We continued talking, though I don’t believe she ever explained why she thought we were going to have problems, until she was called away, and moments later we went to the counter. We explained my situation for the second time as a trainee found my flight, then looking up from the computer, she told us there was no problem and handed me the boarding pass. Our Barramundi-loving friend was nowhere to be seen.

Disclaimer: Details are subject to my memory, which, without a notebook, is notorious.