Airlines

UA has a fare $434 plus taxes from Cleveland. Jump on it!

I just called Delta in order to book a reward flight back to USA. I gave them an approximate date (May 30) understanding that you have to be somewhat flexible when using miles. Last time I did this (Sept-05) there were open flights about every 3 days and I was also reserving about 6 weeks in advance that time.

The first flight available from BA to Atlanta is on Aug-16! 2 and a half months after my desired date.

Delta has obviously reduced its award seats to effectively zero. The miles are basically worthless just like the shares.

I had better luck using my Delta miles on Continental last time I came to BsAs, you can also check available reward flights on Continentals web page, if you find a flight you want just call Delta and they will book it. I think Delta charged me $10.00 to book the flight. I had to fly out of Houston.

Punter 127

I must be doing something wrong here. Pretty much every time I cannot find a flight below 1000usd on any of the sites from ord-eze. Last May I booked a flight on Lan Pero for only about 600usd. Since that time I have found nothing even close, and I am checking flexible dates every couple of days.

I just booked a flight last week. I tried to find some of these consolidator websites but these sites were directing me mostly through Sao Paulo, and they were more expensive than booking just on the American Airlines website! One quote was for like 1700usd with some shitty ass South American airline.

In the end a deal came up for 900usd on United at Yahoo Travel, but the connection from Ohare to Dulles was on some little regional jet. I have enough flying anxiety as it is, I get too nervous on those small planes. The flight I like out of Miami was just 193 dollars more so I just paid the extra.

From this point on I decided I will only fly in and out of Miami. Those extra hours flying further inland into the United States fucking kill me. 8 hours I can deal with.

[blue]Hi Marak5,

I had the same fare results when I flew back to the USA in March. It seems that at the moment the MIA-EZE tickets are hovering around $900 to $1,000 USD. You might get a little less flying a South American airline, which will route you through one of their hubs, but my experience (Varig, Lan Chile and LAB) is that the cheaper fare isn't worth the extra aggravation and the time lost.

What strikes me is that you can fly NYC to Europe for approximately $400 USD, a relatively equavalent distance, at almost any time. Obviously, we need more competition on the USA-EZE routes.

Thanks,

Jackson[/blue]

[QUOTE=Marak5]I must be doing something wrong here. Pretty much every time I cannot find a flight below 1000usd on any of the sites from ord-eze. Last May I booked a flight on Lan Pero for only about 600usd. Since that time I have found nothing even close, and I am checking flexible dates every couple of days.

I just booked a flight last week. I tried to find some of these consolidator websites but these sites were directing me mostly through Sao Paulo, and they were more expensive than booking just on the american airlines website! One quote was for like 1700usd with some shitty ass south american airline.

In the end a deal came up for 900usd on United at Yahoo Travel, but the connection from Ohare to Dulles was on some little regional jet. I have enough flying anxiety as it is, I get too nervous on those small planes. The flight I like out of Miami was just 193 dollars more so I just paid the extra.

From this point on I decided I will only fly in and out of Miami. Those extra hours flying further inland into the United States fucking kill me. 8 hours I can deal with.[/QUOTE]Try Costamer Travel [1-800-444-7171 ] I booked with them from MIA to EZE for $590,00 all inclusiv on Coppa Airline. Leaving on June 13 returning July13. Coppa Flight CM 301 leaving MIA at 4,30 pm to PTY. Leaving Panama City at 7,35 pm Flight CM 454 arriving at EZE 4,40 am. Less Time then with Lan Peru.

Good Luck

Thanks for the air info. How are you, I hope you are well. Maybe some time we will both be in BA at the same time and go to the fights together. Best wishes and stay well.

Sconjo USA

[QUOTE=Jackson]What strikes me is that you can fly NYC to Europe for approximately $400 USD, a relatively equavalent distance, at almost any time. Obviously, we need more competition on the USA-EZE routes.[/QUOTE]You can fly from almost any US city (Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, etc) for US$400s to Europe in the off-season (approx Nov-Mar). In summer you're generally paying US$700+. You basically never get those super low fares from USA to Arg/Brasil, which is about a 5,000 mile trip just like Europe. The Europe market is, of course, MUCH larger (developed) than the South America market. Lower fares are probably due to economies of scale. Can you think of any imported product, excluding Paraguayan whoares, that is cheaper in Arg than in USA/Europe? Obviously you can reduce direct profit margins/markups with higher sales volume. The corner store usually can't compete with WalMart retail prices. When the local Arg market develops to the degree that there are nonstop flights from Atlanta to Mendoza and Dallas to Rosario, then we'll see how low fares are. Hell will probably freeze over before that happens.

The good news is that there are more carriers/routes from BA to USA than ever. Not so long ago, Miami and NYC on American/Aerolineas were the only way to get here. Such was the case again after the devaluation when most carriers cancelled their flights to BA. Now you can fly directly to Atlanta, Houston, Chicago, DC, Dallas. Aerolineas is supposed to start a nonstop to LA. Ive paid between about $600 and $1300 for my flights and have yet to see any correlation between the prices and seasons/devaluations etc. If memory serves, the lowest I ever paid ($600s) was during Christmas week, which included a 4-hour connection to the west coast. Go figure...

[blue]Hi Moore,

I concur.

Thanks,

Jackson[/blue]

Mongers,

The three different times I flew to Buenos Aires I was able to get a flight each time between $600-$700 USD. I left the USA in August, January, and April. The flights were on United (IAD) in Jan. 05 and American (JFK) in Aug. 05 and April 06. I used 1800argentina. Com each time for the flight.

Suerte,

Dirk Diggler

$600-700 has been my experience as well but prices from ORD are out of sight this year. I have not seen a "regular" ticket (I. E. Non-consolidator) under $900 this year.

[QUOTE=Punter 127]I had better luck using my Delta miles on Continental last time I came to BsAs, you can also check available reward flights on Continentals web page, if you find a flight you want just call Delta and they will book it. I think Delta charged me $10.00 to book the flight. I had to fly out of Houston. [/QUOTE]How did you do this? Continental has MANY more award seats available than Delta and they are partners. I called Delta and said - x flights are available per Continental. They told me that just because they are available for Continental doesn't mean they are available for award booking via Delta. Partners, but not seamless award systems apparently. Advice? Continental has the dates / times that I need.

I called the number on the back of my SkyMiles card (1-800-325-1551) told them I wanted to use my Delta miles to book a flight on Continental, she ask for the date, checked availability and scheduled the flight. Sounds like whoever you talked with didn't know how to do it. I did this in January and had enough miles for two flights, the first date I could get on Delta was in May, but I was able to get one on Continental in March, I booked both trips at the same time. It cost me $34.00 for the Delta flight and $45.00 for the Continental flight. I think the extra $10.00 was for Delta to schedule the flight on Continental.

Good Luck,

Punter 127

When you fly alot (ie have top tier frequent flyer status) there are extra seats available to you. This explains why I've had such a problem getting UA awards nd such an easy time getting AA awards.

The real secret though is most frequent flyer open up awards for booking 330 days in advance. Use Excel to figure out the dates and reserve promptly. In the event you need to change your plans there is on average a $100 change fee. You don't airline status for this.

Eddie

** The most important thing with getting a reward flight, is to know what partners fly there. Always ask them to check availability on partners! Most phone agents will only quote their own flights and won't bother to check partners. Many agents don't know the correct rules. So, when in doubt, call a few different times until you get an answer you like. **

I've flown one Biz class reward to EZE when they were still 70k miles. I've got one RTW Biz reward that I'm in the middle of now, and one of the last legs is a MXP-EZE (Milan-BA) later this year. I had fairly good luck finding coach rewards, but Biz class were very tight, even 6 months in advance.

I fly Northwest for domestic and Asian / European flights, but can use DL, CO, Copa and maybe one or two others to get to EZE.

I always evaluate whether to use a reward or not by a simple rule of thumb. How many miles does it cost? Multiply by 2 cents each. So if it's 50,000 miles for a coach reward, that's a basic $1000 value. Say the flight is 10,000 miles round trip, if you're elite, you'll get a bonus as well, possibly to as much as 22,500 miles with base mileage. Those miles by themselves are worth up to $450, plus going towards your elite status.

So, unless your coach ticket is $1300 or more, it's probably best to buy the ticket. Of course, if you don't have any status, this can change the equation.

Frequent flyer benefits vary. In my program (Northwest) as the highest level (Platinum) I can change reward tickets for free. I get free FC upgrades on 49/ states domestic (95% average) I get 125% bonus miles on all standard flights. I also get some upgrades on international flights (Mainly on Continental 737/757's) and companion FC upgrades for domestic flights. So if you're flying to Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia or Peru on Continental, it pays to have status.

An important thing to find out is which partners fly to the city you want to go to. You can usually mix carriers that are in your alliance. So you can fly CO to Atlanta, and then fly DL to EZE.

The nice thing about reward tickets, is that they're usually good for a year. Say you want to stay in BA for 9 months. If you buy a ticket like that it will probably cost $1500 or more. A reward ticket won't cost any extra.

If some of you guys have a lot of miles around, you may consider doing an Around The World (RTW) reward. Most airlines don't advertise these, but they are a great use of miles.

And I'm sure that there will be some sales for EZE. Wait for CO/DL or AA to fight. The last time this happened, I got sub $400 (plus tax) on DL and Copa to EZE. Some cities are much cheaper than other to fly out of. Always check the NYC area, Chicago and LAX. I flew on Delta for $389+ from LAX. If I had flown out of Atlanta (which my plane connected to), it was double the price!

A few good resources:

[url]www.flyertalk.com[/url] A frequent flyer forum.

[url]www.farecompare.com[/url] A new tool for finding low priced flights.

[url]www.travelocity.com[/url] A decent tool for finding the lowest price in a given period. However, don't trust the "Travelocity Guarantee" further than you can throw it.

[QUOTE=TheKnife]When you fly alot (ie have top tier frequent flyer status) there are extra seats available to you. This explains why I've had such a problem getting UA awards nd such an easy time getting AA awards.

The real secret though is most frequent flyer open up awards for booking 330 days in advance. Use Excel to figure out the dates and reserve promptly. In the event you need to change your plans there is on average a $100 change fee. You don't airline status for this.

Eddie[/QUOTE]The extra award seats for top tier flyers (1K) on UA are limited to domestic coach seats. Nothing international or in a premium class. Award (and upgrade) seats to EZE are hard to find because UA inventory management doesn't appear to release any seats. The prices are sky high this year so I'll be interested to see the loads when come down in June.

The 330 day tip used to be golden but inventory management has gotten much more clever the last couple of years.