Airfare Inside Argentina

Steve K

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My wife and I want to make a trip from Buenos Aires to Mendoza for a few weeks an then return. Not interested in doing the bus.

I know Aerolinas charges a hefty surcharge to extraneros. Last time we just went to a LAN office and bought tickets there. I imagine there are other and possibly better choices also.

What are the best ways to get good roundtrip airfares on other arilines? Is there a good one that you use for domestic excursions? Do they have weird upcharges for checked or carry-on luggage that we should be aware of? (We each travel with a backpack "personal item" and a carry on roller bag.
 
Try Sky Airlines or JetSmart Air, Flybondi . Best choices in Despegar.com, Checked in luggage has a surcharge. Sky may do one way fare?
I love the Overnight Bus from Retiro. May be cheaper considering the 4 Taxi? fares to airports on both ends
 
I just checked Norwegian airlines, they have fares as low as 2000 pesos each way from Aeroparque.
 
Last time I tried to buy tickets on latam there was no place to enter your credit card number to pay.

The time before that they charged me twice for the same transaction. I've been trying to get my money back from them for 4 months now. Finally just turned them over to my credit card and let them deal with it.
 
Try Sky Airlines or JetSmart Air, Flybondi . Best choices in Despegar.com, Checked in luggage has a surcharge. Sky may do one way fare?
I love the Overnight Bus from Retiro. May be cheaper considering the 4 Taxi? fares to airports on both ends

I expect that Ben has an interesting opinion on this.

I took a Flybondi flight a few weeks ago because I wanted to try out El Palomar airport since it's almost walking distance from my end of town. (Almost.) And because it was cheap.

Executive summary: if this is a leisure trip with no vital connections and appointments, then enjoy a low cost flight from EPA. If anything is time-critical: don't do it.

I spent a lot of time checking punctuality and cancellations on flights out of EPA before I booked so you don't have to: if you still want to check then flightaware and flightradar24 are the way to go. On a typical day, delays and cancellations are the norm: I've even seen a flight time moved forwards by two hours. On the day, my flight (Flybondi to Jujuy) was literally the only flight on the board not showing delay or cancellation and it actually took off within half an hour of when they said it would. That was pure luck on my part: the previous flight to that destination had been delayed by four hours.
 
I know Aerolinas charges a hefty surcharge to extraneros.
Can you give more detail on this? I haven't seen surcharges for foreigners with Aerolineas (and I buy online with a foreign CC).

I've generally found Aerolineas to be very good to fly with, it's very convenient to fly out of Aeroparque if you live in Buenos Aires. Our second choice has been Norwegian, also flying from Aeroparque... however if you're paying with a foreign CC they take you to their international site and quote you prices in Euros, which seem to be 10 - 20% more than you would get if paying with a local CC.

Our experience with JetSmart was very poor, they take the money, and then refuse to board you unless you verify your ID and CC via a link that doesn't work. We haven't flown with Latam either since they took the money and cancelled the reservation without notification, @jblaze5779 this seems to be how Latam works, there's a whole FaceBook group dedicated to Latam ripoffs, and taken together with JetSmart's behaviour I conclude it must be a "pillo chileno" thing.

I book directly with the airlines, online, never (again) with despegar.
 
Can you give more detail on this? I haven't seen surcharges for foreigners with Aerolineas (and I buy online with a foreign CC).

I believe you only have ever seen the extranjero prices on Aerolinas. They are not hugely overpriced, and I agree the service is generally good. If your are an Argentine citizen and book with proper ID, you get a substantial discount, and you will never see that option from a foreign IP address.

My online experience with LATAM was like all of yours, unacceptable. HOWEVER, if you go in person to the LATAM office and speak to a ticketing agent, they are friendly, helpful, and professional. Your booking will be done properly in the system, and you can pay by card or pesos at the cashier (except for the office near Calle Florida - no effectivo accepted there). Keep in mind that these are Argentine citizens with excellent multi-lingual skills working in nice offices for very good pay. They bent over backwards to help us, in English. It is possible that the same could be said for Norwegian and the other major carriers.

Sounds like the low-cost airlines from EPA are only good if you have a home nearby to go back to, as canceled flights may not happen until a day or two later.
 
I believe you only have ever seen the extranjero prices on Aerolinas. They are not hugely overpriced, and I agree the service is generally good. If your are an Argentine citizen and book with proper ID, you get a substantial discount, and you will never see that option from a foreign IP address.
Well, my IP address is local, I'm here in Buenos Aires. I can see if I get different prices using a VPN and setting the location to somewhere else.
 
There's no risk buying flights from within Argentina (and getting quoted local prices) even if you don't have a DNI? I always thought this fare class was not valid for extranjeros.
 
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