Are you planning to visit the Azores? Pack patience. You are at the mercy of weather especially when flying to the islands and might get delayed, so make sure you have snacks and can prepare to wait.

The beginning of my trip was especially cursed, so I'm offering all the gory details, hoping it can help someone in the future, I was trying to go from Boston's Logan to NYC JFK on Jet Blue and then JFK to Ponta Delgada. Spoiler: the first leg was delayed so I missed the connection. SATA does NOT have Customer Service (or at least not on a Friday night, even though they have multiple redeye planes leaving from the US), so I was stranded at the airport trying to figure out a plan. SATA has no working contact numbers in America, only a website chatbot and several email addresses-I tried everything. More than 24 hrs later, I still haven't heard back from them.

SATA is THE airline you will have to deal with eventually, so forewarned is forearmed. I want everyone to have a pleasant experience, but we need to plan for all situations. Get the travel insurance, have a Plan B, be flexible.