The Flight Going to the US

Conclusion of blog post: Journey to US Immigrant Visa

So my mother’s US visa was delivered on Nov 11 (yes it was the 11-11-11 day) last year and my sister was able to schedule a US flight for my mother on Nov. 29. Though we are all expecting that my mother would be traveling to the US before year 2011 ends, you can just imagine how busy we all were in November. First my mother had to figure out where to book a flight for my mom. She first asked me to inquire the schedule and rates of Philippine Airlines. When I called PAL, the schedule they gave me was this: my mom would need to have two stop-overs and in both stops, my mom had to wait for six to twelve hours. My mother is traveling alone so we don’t want her waiting that long.

Then my other sister who is working in Abu Dhabi had to go home (only for a one week visit) because she wants to see my mom before her flight to US. She also wants to personally help my mother pack her things because as an OFW for almost 15 years, she is a pro when it comes to traveling abroad. Then we arranged two small despedidas for my mother. I also had to buy some stuff for my sister in the US.

Back to my mom’s flight, my sister just contacted a travel agency from the Philippines and booked a flight for my mother and then gave me the contact details of the agency. My mom and I went to that travel agency to pay in US dollars and claim the ticket and itinerary.

In this flight, my mom had to travel on a Tuesday morning, around 8 am then by 1:00 she would have a stop over in Narita, Japan where she would only stay for two hours. My sister chose Delta Airlines (formerly Northwest Airlines).

Then the next flight would be from Japan to Detroit, USA which is my mom’s US port of entry. She would only stay there for three hours then she would board a flight going to Baltimore. She was set to arrive in US time at 3pm. But in the PH time, that would be around 4 am.

As my mother is not used to traveling overseas, my sister requested wheelchair assistance for her. Though my sister already specified it in to the travel agency, I still called the airlines a day before the flight to confirm the wheelchair assistance and I also informed them that my mother would need help in filling out immigration forms.

I also did little research and found this short but helpful video for those traveling to US for the first time. I let my mother watched his video several times so she would have an idea what woud happen in the course of her flight.

On the day of the flight, we are all up early and arrived in NAIA three hours before the sched. It surely pays to be early, because as my mom is traveling to US for the first time, she still needs to undergo a PDOS seminar. That got me worried for a while but the airport officer told me that the PDOS formality would only take a few minutes. We had to pay PHp400 for this seminar and I filled out an immigration form for my mom. They also checked in and weighed our baggage. I am nervous about this part because my sister requested many items for her balikbayan box.

We are over the 10 kilo-limit but since the excess is only two kilos, they let it pass. I think an excess of up to 5 kilos is allowed. Then we had to take pictures before saying goodbye and bon voyage to my mom. My brother and pamangkins, husband and daughter were all there.

All throughout the flight, I am praying for my mom’s safety. I love Delta Airlines because they have this flight tracker tool in their website- www.delta.com

I was so relieved when I saw my sister’s facebook status about my mom arriving safely in Baltimore. My mother has been in the US for four months now and though she sometimes complains about boredom as there is barely nothing to do around the house (meaning no chores), she is happy and intends to stay for a year before coming back here for a vacation.

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