Just getting to Colombia was brutal. The combined flights on United, my primary airline for over a decade, were supposed to have our feet down in Bogotá by 7:44 pm on the same day. Unfortunately, the first leg from Chicago to Miami was delayed due to a mechanical problem. The first delay would still allow us to make our connecting flight on Avianca Airlines, a partner carrier. A few delays later, we were well past the time necessary to connect. The service desk was able to reroute us from Miami to Houston via American Airlines where we would take our third flight finally arriving in Bogotá by 4:44am the following day. For some reason, they could not get us on the later Avianca flight despite it still having seats available.