Buying Airplane Tickets In Pesos (At Right Rate)

[Girino]

I am pretty sure that you can no longer pay in pesos if you are a nonresident. You must pay with an international credit card or USD at the official rate. It has been this way for months.

I was at Aerolineas Argentinas office in Mar del Plata last week and they gave me a price in pesos. I specified I wanted to buy ticket from my friends visiting from Italy as tourists.
They said I could pay cash. I will check with AA office in San Isidro which is where I would really make the purchase and I will report on that. Thanks for the heads up, in the meanwhile!

 

[polostar88]

Thanks for the responses. I'm still somewhat confused...I don't understand what people are saying about the bags. I'm going to try to buy tickets in pesos from the local airlines office or from a travel agency and see what they say.

The problem isn't even that I want a discount, but that the prices at the official rate are wildly inflated.

 

[K4RR4R]

I'd be interested to see if you can get around paying the 35% tax if you pay the amount in cash and show you are not a resident.

If you actually can (which I doubt) you can obviously save a chunk buy selling dollars at the black rate and using those pesos to buy the ticket.

If anyone has experience with this lately please let me know, thanks!

 

[ben]

Now another way: go to a privately owned travel agency and offer the owner to pay in full with USD at the blue rate (of course). He may be glad to accept them!!!

Yes.

I'd be interested to see if you can get around paying the 35% tax if you pay the amount in cash and show you are not a resident.

If you actually can (which I doubt) you can obviously save a chunk buy selling dollars at the black rate and using those pesos to buy the ticket.

If anyone has experience with this lately please let me know, thanks!

If you're not a resident, then technically speaking you can't buy the tickets in pesos, per government (actually central bank) regulations.

Some have found ways around this, but then you'd certainly be paying the 35%. Even in that case, you're saving money via-a-vis buying in dollars outright.

If you're looking for an English-speaking agent who can help with this I may know one or two... cough

I was at Aerolineas Argentinas office in Mar del Plata last week and they gave me a price in pesos. I specified I wanted to buy ticket from my friends visiting from Italy as tourists.
They said I could pay cash. I will check with AA office in San Isidro which is where I would really make the purchase and I will report on that. Thanks for the heads up, in the meanwhile!

This is correct. If you - a local - declare that you're paying and put down your info (namely CUIL) as the payer, most airlines will sell you the ticket. Some agencies as well

Thanks for the responses. I'm still somewhat confused...I don't understand what people are saying about the bags. I'm going to try to buy tickets in pesos from the local airlines office or from a travel agency and see what they say.

The problem isn't even that I want a discount, but that the prices at the official rate are wildly inflated.

Again, if you find an agent who will accept a blue rate (should I cough again? ), you'll not only not be getting prices inflated, but a discount.

 

[pmacay]

We always fly with American Airlines just to accumulate miles. We go to the regular AA.com website, find the flight we want and reserve the flight, then go to the local AA office and pay in cash. We have permanent residency and a DNI which is required to pay in cash (we've been told). The flight has to originate in Argentina, you can't book flights that start in the USA and be able to pay cash here in pesos. You also have to pay the 30% tax, so it makes all the extra work not that much difference. On two flights to the USA and back, we only saved $172 USA dollars by paying cash in pesos.

 

[fred mertz]

Sr Sleuth is absolutely correct.

 

[mikic007]

I have a question about domestic flights. My parents are coming to visit and I'm paying, so, no dollars involved. I am not aiming to get subsidy for parents (for me yes, of course), but I want to pay in pesos for all. Websites of course "don't allow" nothing of that sort, so my question is:

Can I pay my tickets with subsidy and parent's ticket normal price, all with pesos in the office?

I'm in favor of lan of course. I know there were numbers of answers, but things are changing wildly, so I try to get recent information. If needed, we can avoid counters, but this is last resort.

 

[GMXam]

Friends of mine from Canada and USA just paid in pesos at the LAN office to go to Iguazú. They were charged the 30% fee, but they paid in cash saving a little over $100 USD.

I have a question about domestic flights. My parents are coming to visit and I'm paying, so, no dollars involved. I am not aiming to get subsidy for parents (for me yes, of course), but I want to pay in pesos for all. Websites of course "don't allow" nothing of that sort, so my question is:

Can I pay my tickets with subsidy and parent's ticket normal price, all with pesos in the office?

I'm in favor of lan of course. I know there were numbers of answers, but things are changing wildly, so I try to get recent information. If needed, we can avoid counters, but this is last resort.

 

[mikic007]

Thank you for fast answer, in Monday I'll go to office and I'll report here.

 

[ben]

There is no 30% fee for pesos when it comes to domestic flights. Domestic fares are actually in pesos (rather than US dollars and then converted to pesos) so there is no purchase of dollars against which to charge 35%. Paying in cash should cost no more than a local buying a ticket at the same fare.

What there is is that there are certain fares which are subsidized by the government and as such are only available for residents. If a non-resident pays such a fare and the airline catches on (and cares), the passenger could be denied boarding, or made to pay the difference between what they paid and the cheapest available non-resident fare.

I know of a lot of cases where that didn't happen and the passenger traveled without issue, but one should certainly know of the possibility of problems arising.