Six Continents Challenge, Part 2: North America & Africa

This is a continuation of Part 1…

I made it back to the airport in time for my “positioning” flight to Cairo; once there, I checked into the Le Méridien airport hotel. I can highly recommend it – it’s very pleasant, a good-value redemption with Marriott points, and easier to get to than, say, the Dubai Airport Holiday Inn. I fell asleep immediately, so woke in time for a leisurely breakfast by the pool prior to my 10am flight. Mindful of my excessive carbon footprint, I made the token effort of leaving my larger bag with the hotel, planning to pick it up in four days’ time.

The day’s task was to tick off North America, so I would be flying to Istanbul and then on to Denver.

The staff member at the check-in desk couldn’t find evidence of my ESTA (the visa-waiver for entering the United States). I knew I had applied for one for the Eurobonus Millionaire campaign that would still be valid, so I assured her that I had one, and I was allowed to check in as normal.

As we were about to land in Istanbul, a terrible realisation dawned on me. The Turkish Airlines app had not allowed me to add my Miles&Smiles number to the booking – unclear why, there were no such issues with my other bookings – and I had intended to ask for it to be added at the check-in desk but I had forgotten to do so. In normal circumstances this would be a minor issue, but here it could potentially cost me my million miles – the terms explicitly state that retroactive mileage claims would not count for the purposes of the challenge.

I had 1h40 for my connection, so spent much of that time running around trying to resolve the issue. They said they were unable to do anything for the Cairo to Istanbul flight, but thankfully they were able to reissue my boarding pass for Istanbul to Denver with my frequent flyer number in place.

I then headed to the gate shortly before it was due to close, where they initially waved me through, then called me back because they were struggling to find a record of my ESTA. I showed them my application from November and the flights I had taken in December, confident that there must be an issue with their system.

After a bit of back-and-forth, we realised the issue – I was absolutely correct that I had an ESTA. Unfortunately, it was attached to an older (but still valid) passport which I had left in a drawer in London.

Why did I get a new passport while the old one was still valid? Well, because I had almost run out of blank pages in the old one. And why had I run out of pages? Because, since Brexit, UK passports get stamped every time we enter or exit an EU country.

In other words: the blame for me being denied boarding to my flight to Denver lies squarely at the feet of David Cameron, Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage!

At this point, my options didn’t look great. My ticket was a “no changes” promotional ticket booked through an OTA, so it seemed likely that I would lose not just my flight to the US, but also the return flight back to Cairo. Even if I didn’t, I had only booked to stay in the US for two days, so there was the danger I’d arrive in Denver after my inbound flight had departed! Also, my bag being in Cairo was now a complicating factor.

My new ESTA was approved 30 minutes after the Denver flight took off, which at least meant I could plan appropriately, and put to rest any thoughts of having my other passport couriered from London to Istanbul. Thankfully, the desk was able to rebook me onto the next morning’s Chicago flight for $500, and I found a flight from there to Denver with American for 13,000 Avios. Not a cheap mistake, but in the circumstances it almost felt like a “get out of jail free” card.

In other news: I had managed to break my glasses. I had a spare pair, but I’d left them in my bag in Cairo. Still – I suppose you have to expect the occasional minor issue on a trip like this!

I landed in Chicago, ticking off the 2nd of the six continents. I had six hours until my flight to Denver, so you might have thought that, given the drama of the last couple of days, I’d be happy to relax, particularly given that my status-matched Oneworld Sapphire status with Royal Jordanian would give me access to American’s lounge.

Instead, I drew the opposite conclusion – my phone running out of battery during my brush with death in Dubai had confirmed in my mind that it was time to find a replacement, and I had located a very suitable place in Chicago to obtain one. Thanks to OMAAT I now know that I could have booked Turkish’s chauffeur service to the phone shop, but instead I attempted to do the journey by train and bus. This was partially successful – I was cutting it a bit fine on the way back, so skipped the bus and took an Uber to the train station.

Back at the airport, I needed to check my bag in – not due to its size, but because I had naively brought some full-sized toiletries and razorblades with me. My Oneworld status meant I was entitled to a free bag, but the machine insisted I make a payment of $0 and refused to print the tags.

I flagged down a staff member who, incredibly, refused to help me because I was merely Sapphire, not Emerald. I feel like this is a sure sign that the US has too many passengers with top-tier status! I was directed to a slow-moving queue, and now I feared that my excursion would cause me to miss my flight. Thankfully, the next staff member I approached was more helpful, and managed to get me the tags, so I did get to check out the lounge after all.

I enjoyed my shortened stay in Denver, it seemed a very pleasant city. Next up was the inbound flight to Cairo (via Istanbul, of course), thereby ticking off Africa. I managed to board with no real stress or mishaps.

I did, however, scan my mobile boarding pass to go through security without checking my bag in first – I must have thought it was merely security for entering the airport, as they had in Cairo. I retreated, checked my bag in, then reapproached the queue for security. I was a little concerned that the system might complain that I was trying to leave the country twice, but thankfully there were no such issues. I suppose that, for some, this might constitute “a mishap”, but I like to think my standards for such things are a bit higher than most people’s.

Unfortunately, I’d managed to get food poisoning in Denver. Turkish’s business class catering is excellent, so it is a measure of how sick I felt that I didn’t even try to eat anything during the flight.

One last thing to mention is that, buoyed by my success of buying a new phone in Chicago, I then bought a new laptop in Denver. I put it into the overhead locker on the plane saying, “I’ve put a package next to your bag. I’m scared I’ll forget it – when you take your bag down would you please remind me that it’s there?”

Come the end of the flight – she starts to take her bag down as she turns to me to mention my parcel…as she manages to pull it out of the overhead bin with her bag, and we both watch helplessly as it falls to the floor. Thankfully, it seems to have survived okay – it wouldn’t have been the first laptop I’ve owned that stopped working due to being dropped, but I usually get at least as far as turning it on before that happens!

In Cairo, I again spent the night at the airport hotel, before flying back to London with BA. I’d have two days at home, before setting off again on the next leg of the campaign.