The Fraudulent Flight

GDL 11:03  - MEX 12:20, MEX 13:45 - DFW 15:30, the popular flight app displayed. “Dude it's not a bad flight for $300 bucks,” I told my brother as we sipped coffee at ‘La borra del café.

“You won’t have enough time to catch your next flight in Mexico City,” He replied without even looking up from his laptop, “Trust me, I have been to that airport multiple times, and one hour is not enough time.”

I was skeptical, I mean I had never been to Mexico City’s but a little over an hour to walk from one terminal to another? That’s more than plenty of time.

“Plus you still have to go to the immigration station and return the permit they gave you while you stayed in Mexico, you won’t make it.” My brother quickly added, sensing that I was doubtful.

“Yeah you’re right” I replied as I booked the flight. “ I will just find a different flight.”

Exp Date 02/25, I discreetly typed my credit card information, making sure that my brother couldn’t see the reflection of my phone on the glass wall we were sitting next to.

“I have been in worst situations, one hour is more than enough time.” I thought, “Worst case scenario, I’ll run through the entire airport.” “Hey look! I found another flight! And it leaves tomorrow at 11:15AM also!”

“That’s awesome dude, yeah man, you didn’t want to take that other flight, chances are you wouldn’t have made it. The Benito Juarez airport gets super packed and you don’t ever want to be in a situation in where time is not in your favor especially at an airport.”

“Oh yeah-yeah,” I said, trying to best to not sound at all anything suspicious. “I will pack tonight and head out around 8:00 AM, my Mexico City flight doesn’t depart until 11, so I will have plenty of time to go through security and board.”

I packed my belongings that same night, set the clothes I was going to wear the next day, hooked my laptop to charge, and set my alarm for 7:00 AM the next. “This is going to be a walk in the park,” I thought to myself as I dozed off into a deep sleep.

I arrived at the airport early, you could tell by taking one look at all the people who weren’t fully awake yet and were still yawning.

I approached Miguel Hidalgo’s directory, scanned through it and quickly located AeroMexico’s gates, and began heading there cheerfully.

The line of people waiting to get a boarding pass was long, at least 28 people were in front of me. I shrugged it off, reached into my pocket for my AirPods, and played Alejandra Guzman while the line didn’t seem to budge. “It’s barely 8:45 AM, I have more than enough time.”  

“I can take the next person,” called the attendant while raising her hand to let me know she was calling for the next person in line. I took a fast glance at my watch, “9:37 AM, this is going smoother than I expected!” I thought cheerfully.

“Could I see your booking number, sir?” AeroMexico’s attendant said softly. Quickly I retrieved my phone and happily presented her with my confirmation number. She glanced at the screen, typed a couple numbers, and said “Everything looks good sir, give me just a second and I will print out your boarding pass and send you on your way….. while I do that, could I see your COVID 19 test results?”

“Wait, What?” I replied, “I was not aware of this requirement, I was here in Guadalajara just a couple months ago and they did not ask for a Covid Test.”

“Yes sir, we have a testing center here at the airport, it usually takes about 45 minutes to get the results.”

“B-but I have to board my flight in one hour,” I replied with puppy eyes hoping she would have a bit of mercy and bend the rules a little. She responded with a gentle smile while nodding her head. “ugh…I will be right back.” I replied annoyed.

10:03 AM, Crap! I have to hurry!

The Guadalajara Airport had cleared the top floor of their parking garage, they had installed a portable unit and were swabbing everyone before they boarded a flight in an effort to prevent the spread of disease.

As I walked into the cold parking lot and took one look at the line to get a COVID test, I knew I missed my flight.

 It was like a gigantic anaconda, in an ‘S’ shape across the entire indoor garage. Social distancing seemed to make the line seem EVEN longer. You could taste the tension of frustrated passengers who showed up ready to board their flight. “I guess I’m not the only one that was unaware of having a COVID test before a flight,” I muttered low enough where nobody could hear me.

10:10AM, It was painful to look at my watch. Each time I glanced at it felt like I was skydiving for the very first time.” I’ve missed this flight,” I thought disappointed, “I would have better luck developing a time machine than I would catching my flight.” I reached the back of the line with the same energy someone has when they show up to court. Even if I cast the best Harry Potter spell and made everyone disappear, I still wouldn’t have enough time to run back into the airport, go through security and find the boarding gate.

I slowly crept up to the senior Mexican man in front of me, “Excuse me, Senor, is this your first time getting a COVID test at the airport?”

“They have been making everyone show proof that you tested negative,” He said softly in Spanish. “ Once you take the test, you have to wait 45 minutes before any results, they will send you the results to your email, look this is what the email looks like, the test is only valid for 10 days, after which you have to retake if you want to fly again.”

“Senor, could you forward me that email, so I can see who is conducting the exams, the test is expired plus it has your name on it, I could never use it.”

He shrugged and after a couple minutes of showing him how to forward an email, I received the notification that I had a new message in my inbox.

I explained to the older man that more than likely I was going to miss my flight, apologized for taking his time, and removed myself from the 3-mile line of socially distanced passengers.

I marched as fast as I could inside the airport, flipped open my laptop, and opened Adobe Acrobat. 10:37AM my watch warned me. Palms sweaty and my adrenaline revving like a NASCAR engine, I converted the email into an editable PDF, I rapidly changed the date and the name. Then I uploaded the PDF into a cloud storage bucket, then created a QR code that when scanned, would open the PDF file in a storage bucket called “Laboratorio Medico Polanco.”

I took one last glance at my watch, 10:46AM,  shot up and started running back towards the lady that was going to give me my boarding pass. “Look!, Look!” I said catching my breath and cutting everyone in line.

She scanned the QR code, (which lead her to my cloud storage bucket) took one glance at the PDF, made sure my name was correct and handed me my boarding pass. “that was fast,” she said surprised, “Usually people end up missing their flights.” I snatched my boarding pass, “there weren’t very many people today,” I replied while running towards the security checkpoint.