When I booked the connection from Santiago to San Francisco via Toronto and Los Angeles, I already had a hunch. This would be tight. You have to factor in delays, the time at immigration and customs, the transfers etc, etc.

I had mailed all my itineraries and booking codes to my friend Renato, with whom I would stay in San Francisco, so he could follow my flights and eventual delays…. Thank God I had done that.

While the flight to Toronto was smooth and uneventful, and I even managed to sleep through at least half of it, the trouble started in Toronto. I was coming from 32 degrees C into -8, and the usual Canadian winter.

The plane to LA was delayed, and delayed, and when we finally boarded one hour late, we still had to wait to get de-iced, which added another hour to my delay. No chance to ever make my connection in LAX.

If it wasn’t for my Airline guardian angel, Renato, who had monitored it all.

He’s the kind of guy who will know all connections, best airport lounges, tricks and deals to get the most out of your flight and airline status.

First he had already upgraded my 75$ flight from LAX to SFO to United first class. Seat 1B. In case I do miss my flight I could use the lounges.

But it gets even better. Seeing how late my flight was, he kicked into action, rebooked me onto a later plane for a small fee, first class again. Speeds up the security check. He has all my data and booking codes so he could simply do that while I was unaware in the air, somewhere over the Midwest.

When I landed in LA and connected with my US phone, he had already left messages where to go and how to get there. He guided me through it all, directed me right to the correct terminal and counters, so I didn’t lose much time asking my way through.

I made it into my plane, one of the last to board, so I only lost two hours. It would have taken me all afternoon to get to the counter get a rebooking for a new flight.

He collected me at SFO, the only thing that didn’t make the connection was my luggage…

I’m home in San Francisco.

Here’s the updated itinerary:

Flight 7 to Toronto

Date: 25/12/2013
Code: AC93 from SCL to YYZ
Airline: Air Canada
Plane: Boeing 777-300ER
Distance flown: 6306 Miles
Duration: 10h00

Flight 8 to Los Angeles

Date: 26/12/2013
Code: AC791 from YYZ to LAX
Airline: Air Canada
Plane: Airbus 330-300
Distance flown: 2220 Miles
Duration: 4h30

Flight 9 to San Francisco

Date: 26/12/2013
Code: UA 447 from LAX to SFO
Airline: United
Plane: Airbus 319
Distance flown: 450 Miles
Duration: 0h50