TIA

The global financial crisis strikes again. Air Senegal collapsed rather abruptly a couple of days ago, with the result that much of the team here is stranded. I thought I was safe, having been booked with Cabo Verde Airlines for the return leg between Bissau and Dakar, but apparently not. In the resulting scramble to secure the remaining seats on Cabo Verde Airlines, many people's reservations were 'lost'. As luck would have it, my reservation was not lost; one of the local assistants was able to find my name on the airline's list. Despite this, however, and despite the physical boarding pass I have in my purse, the airline will not permit me to fly.

Unless.

Unless what? This.Is.Africa, and so naturally we are talking about dollars. Three hundred of them, to be exact. What is going on here is straightforward extortion. So I will be purchasing for the second time a ticket on a flight for which I already have a ticket. I will probably even get the same seat.

T.I.A.