The good folks of the sleeping room.

A minor irritant.

Location: Avianca lounge, San Salvador, El Salvador.

Eleven hour layover. I’d used tens of thousands of Aeroplan points to get business class travel to the Galapagos and free access to lounges like this one. Much needed due to the number of connections and length of layovers. Enough Aeroplan points to get me two dive trips to Mexico and back.

Some airlines limit the time you can spend in their lounge. Between four and six hours. But not Avianca. Thank goodness.

The image depicts the quiet rest area in the modest lounge. Dim lights. A place to sleep. Just want I needed after 10 hours and two evening/overnight flights from Vancouver to San Francisco to here.

Only, there were no available seats when I arrived. All occupied by people, except for one, which was occupied by someone’s bag. Someone not using, but ‘reserving’ the seat.

I waited to see if the bag holder would show up to use the seat. And waited. Tried to sleep in a different part of the lounge. Only to be tortured by a guy having a loud and lengthy conversation on his smartphone. Then, I got pissed off. Screw this reserving stuff. I wanted that seat if it wasn’t in use. (I’m not, admittedly, at my best when I’m sleep deprived and anxious.)

So, off I went in search of a staffer who could help. What I got were stares of cluelessness. Plus, a few refusals. Finally, someone agreed to try to locate the bag owner. Turns out it belonged to the loud guy on the smartphone.

We convinced the loud guy to remove his bag from the seat. Seems he had no intention of using it – at least at that point.

Appreciate that he gave me the seat. Still, I hate people who do this stuff. You often see this at all-inclusive resorts.

Use it or lose it, I say. Wait a reasonable length of time – maybe an hour – or a bit longer during meal hours. If no one returns, I’m grabbing a seat.

Wish this had been the worst of the Galapagos trip. Far from it.

To be continued.