When I got to the Sydney Airport for my flight to Santiago, I went to the Quantas check in desk. I was suprised that there were only about 10 people in line, but that was good since the shuttle bus I took to the airport took over an hour and I was now running late. When I got to the front of the line, the lady said,

"This is not the right check in desk, even though your ticket says Quantas, the flight is actually operated by LanChile."

"Really? There is no mention of LanChile anywhere on this ticket or my itinerary." I said.

"Yeah, I know. It´s not very clear. The LanChile check-in is around the corner and two aisles down."

Great, now I was really late. I grabbed my bags and ran. Of course, when I got to the LanChile desk, the line snaked around back and forth five or six times and almost out the door. Shoot.

When I finally got up to the counter, it was already time to board, and I requested a window seat, the lady said "Hmm... you are flying standby?"

"Nooooooo, I confirmed this flight months ago."

She left and dissapeared behind the counter for about 5 minutes, talking to some official looking people, came back and said "O.k., you´ve got a seat."

Phew.

I ran to the gate. Made it. Didn´t get a window seat, I was actually sitting in the middle aisle in between two other seats. I was just glad to actually be on the plane, but wasn´t looking forward to being smashed between two people the whole time. Luckily one of the seats next to me ended up being vacant. On the other side of me was a 14 year old Brazilian girl, Melissa, that was returning home after visiting her sister in Brisbane.

We were talking about how long the flight was going to be she told me that she had just gotten off a 2 hour flight to Sydney from Brisbane, and after the 17 hour flight to Santiago, she was getting on a 5 hour flight to Rio and then an 18 hour bus ride to her little hometown in Brazil.

She trumped me. After that I had nothing to whine about...

3 movies (50 First Dates, Shrek 2, and The Stepford Wives), 3 in flight meals, and 2 screaming toddlers later, we landed in Santiago.