"I made a 6:00am start the next morning in order to find a taxi and get to the airport in plenty of time for the 8:00am flight. I arrived ok and had enough time to check in and have breakfast, before joining the queue for the plane. But at this point things went wrong; it seemed there were two flights leaving at the same time and I just followed the other passengers and got on the plane. As it was just a domestic flight seats had not been allocated, and the steward who checked my ticket told me I could sit anywhere. It was not until we had been in the air for over 3/4hr, and I could see a large city starting to appear, that could only have been Quito, that I suspected I was on the wrong flight. At this stage I hoped that the plane was just visiting Quito, but no, for the first time in my life I had managed to get on the wrong  plane. The airline accepted that it was really their fault that for not checking my ticket as I boarded the plane, and I was informed that there would not be another flight to Loja until the next morning. So, it was agreed that the best thing was to have the day in Quito, stay at a guest house near the airport, and catch a 7:00am flight the following morning back to Guayaquil then on to Loja. As a result, I got a full day in Quito plus 2 flights with meals all for £6.
 
While the decision was being made I was able to enjoy a coffee in the staff lounge, and I was surprised to find that many of the pilots who spoke to me, had done much of their training with British Aerospace in my hometown of Preston." - MH