cheap flights for residants?

[elhombresinnombre]

As a rule of thumb, the Argentina Federal Government allows all the greedy Argentine Airlines to charge Americans double the cost of a domestic flight ticket charged to Argentina's citizens, especially greedy LAN Airlines. I sent an e-mail letter to my New York State Representatives, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, former Senator Hillary Rodman Clinton and NYC Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney about it. I asked all three Members in Congress to take whatever action is needed in Congress to impress upon the Argentina Federal Government to stop this inequity and unfairness. USA American Airline Carriers do not charge foreigners a penny above the cost it charges Americans for a domestic flight ticket. Michael Z, Manhattan

So what are you expecting them to do about it? You know that the United States never meddles in the affairs of other sovereign nations.

 

[elhombresinnombre]

That's a frightening difference in price. To think of it it is also quite silly. To think that tourists have and are willing to pay the higher price is bad judgment. It reduces incentives to travel by plane and reduces competition. I suppose since AA is now on the road to public ownership the government has every wish to keep this tourist cash cow going. However since tourist numbers are dropping markedly it will be interesting to see what is going on.

I am more shocked that LAN is on the act as well. Since they took over Southern Winds they have been quite greedy in this respect. They could have seriously created decent competition between itself and AA but are happy to take part in this state sanctioned aviation cartel.

Although South America and Argentina don't have the economies of scale as in Europe, US etc they seriously need a Michael O Leary to kick some gaucho butt.

I think that it is unfortunate that the OP, who is after all resident, is unable to access low cost fares, but I suspect government policy is based on social rather than business policy. None of the internal flights that I've taken have had empty seats and the majority of the passengers haven't been tourists but Argentines on their way home or going to the place where they work. Given the low wage structure even for professional people, there'd be no incentive for key workers to to accept transfers to far-flung provinces if they couldn't get to and from their homes and families quickly, cheaply and easily.

 

[syngirl]

It's unfortunate -- when LAN first started flying the major routes here they didn't charge a difference, making them a much better deal -- and with a better chance of actually departing on time LAN was the preferable airline anyway. So if everyone says that they are now charging the same fees, there must have somehow been some pressure put on them to do so. Makes me wonder whether that money goes to LAN, or goes to the Argentine govt as a payoff to allow them to continue flying here? The airline industry truly is the most ridiculous industry on the planet.