On the Intern in Ecuador program we ask all students to arrive at any time on the designated arrival day. It is always a Friday and the exact date of your arrival will be in your acceptance email. Most flights arrive in the evening, even as late as 10 or 11pm. These late times are fine to arrive at, so don’t worry, our staff will be there.
The exact date will vary based on when your program starts, but arriving on Friday is important because Saturday and Sunday are orientation and excursion days. Arriving a day late could result in you missing some of the orientation/excursion activities.
You should arrive into the Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito (UIO) where you will be met by our onsite staff. Once you’ve passed through immigration and customs look for signs with CISabroad and/of your name. We will meet you at the airport so we can help transfer you back to the accommodations. Please note the airport is located about 40 minutes outside of the city, so there will be a bit of a commute back into downtown Quito.
Airport pickup is included in the CISabroad program fee, but we cannot guarantee airport pickup for anyone that arrives outside of the designated arrival times.
We will meet you at the airport, but not in baggage claim or before you have gone through customs and/or immigration. We will meet you outside of these areas after you exit customs/immigration. We will then transfer you to your housing.
Your bags may decide to take a later flight (don’t panic). If the airline loses your luggage you must file a report with the airline while you are still in the baggage area. It is much more difficult to file this report once you’ve left the baggage claim area.
If your flight is delayed, please make sure to call the CISabroad Emergency phone so that we can inform our onsite team of your delay. We will do everything we can to pick you up from the airport, even if your flight is delayed, but if we cannot meet you there, we will provide you with detailed information on how to take transportation to your housing.
A Pre-Arrival sheet will be e-mailed to you, 1-2 weeks before you arrive onsite. This will contain more detailed information on your arrival as well as specific phone numbers and contact information if there are any issues with your flight or airport pickup.
For extra information on airports around the world, including maps and estimated arrival times, check out the website, Flightstats.com.