Airlines

[QUOTE=GeorgeSims;445827]I am coming to BA in Dec. I looked for business class out of Miami with Aerolinas Argentinas. Ive read nothing buy horrible reviews on line but they are all over a year old. I RTFF and no one mentions the airline? Has anyone flown it? Are the seats lay flat?[/QUOTE]If anything Aerolinas Argentinas has gotten worse. I do not know if they have lie flat seats, but their fares are comparable, if not higher, than the other airlines flying to EZE. I cross my fingers every time I fly AA domestically because one never knows when they will arrive.

Tres3.

[QUOTE=Tres3;444071]If you are coming from South Florida or some other Avianca connecting city, you might want to check out Avianca via Bogota. The daily flight to and from BA is on the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The connections from / to MIA are short ant the return flight leaves in the morning, not at night. I travel on frequent flyer miles with the United alliance, but the fares from MIA look competitive.

Tres3.[/QUOTE]Avianca has shifted the Dreamliner to the Santiago, Chile route. I flew the Dreamliner my last visit to BA, and it was no big deal. Avianca went back to A330 airplanes to and from EZE. The Bogota/EZE airplane has lie flat seats in Business Class. I thought the MIA VIP lounge had better food than the airplane.

Tres3.

For those of you who think their service is so good..... My son came down from N.Y. Last week and the flight left 5 hours late.... No explanation or reason given. Yesterday , (18/8/15) almost all flights leaving BRC ( San Carlos de Bariloche ) where canceled. No reason given. Today my flight from BRC to Aeroparque, left a hour late. No reason given. One can only hope that Macri wins and returns the business to the private sector!

More on this disaster of a so called company. My son flew back to NY last night. The line to get on line stretched all the way across concourse C moving like a tortuga. When we finally approached the pre check in people ( five BOLUDOS checking in one person at a time) after almost a hour we see Argies coming up, skipping the line, besos y abrazo with the A.A. People and then they allow them to cut the line. When I objected and called them and the people they were allowing to cut the line a group Hijo de Putas and then they pulled the typical argie defence saying, no, I dont understand, no, they were on line and had to go to the bathroom, etc. Etc. So I tell the idiot to not piss on my leg and tell me its raining. Just like Cristina, lie to your face! Finally the police come over, but I kept making a fuss and they called out some fat chick from the back room who told me I had to make a complaint on line that I could not make a complaint in the airport (?????). Then I start ripping her a new one saying that A.A.s web site does not work worth a damn and you cant even check in on line like they tell you you have to do. At this point a large group of passengers that were near by started clapping and cheering ( I am guessing I am not the only person having a bad day with Asshole Argentina) Their automated check in machines on the concourse were not working either. Eventually the fat stupidvisor figured she had to do something since she was not winning the argument and brought us over to priority check in were there was no line and four agents sitting around with their thumbs up their proverbial a$$es. This morning I tried to lodge a complaint on line, and guess what? The web site was not HABILITADO!!! Macri was right when he said that if this government nationalized a carnival carousel that they would find a way to crash it. Avoid this sad excuse of a airline at all costs!

I flew back to the States last night and the automated machines were still out of order.

Even without any baggage to check in I was told to do the line and it took nearly an hour.

Since I do not live in Argentina I just see it as part of the "Argentina trip experience" but let me tell you I don't know if I'll have patience for this type of thing on a daily basis.

DWC

Hey maybe next time you could hitch a ride with her majesty Christina, bet she does not wait line for the Argie Air Force 1.

These guys are totally Fuck3d. I usually try to fly TAM from BsAs to Rio or Sao Paulo when I go over to Brazil.

I am thinking of doing the the Sao Paulo Buenos Aires South America circuit this year. The real is now favorable again to the US dollar after many many years. Yesterday I was looking at a combination of paid fare and airline points. Today all of a sudden there is a fare saver special on the flight from LAX to GRU. I can do the whole trip on airline miles. As the Grateful Dead once sang, "Sometimes the light is all shining on me, other times I can barely see.".

My travelling companion had to change her flight on Aerolineas and the change fee was more than the original ticket cost. Like about 30% more, just to change the return half. A bunch of Cock Suckers.

[QUOTE=Dickhead;445901]My travelling companion had to change her flight on Aerolineas and the change fee was more than the original ticket cost. Like about 30% more, just to change the return half. A bunch of Cock Suckers.[/QUOTE]Take a look at a one way fare on any airline coming to BA. It may be less than the change fee. I just bought a one way ticket from Florida to New England for substantially less than the change fee, and will just be a no show (no cancellation fee) on my original ticket. Change fees are complained about more in the USA than checked baggage fees.

Tres3.

[QUOTE=Tres3;445902]Take a look at a one way fare on any airline coming to BA. It may be less than the change fee. I just bought a one way ticket from Florida to New England for substantially less than the change fee, and will just be a no show (no cancellation fee) on my original ticket. Change fees are complained about more in the USA than checked baggage fees.

Tres3.[/QUOTE]I did do that but no one else flies one way non stop that I ever found and the layovers were very long and she only speaks Spanish (and nobody in Spain could fucking understand her argie ass anyway ha ha), and only $100 or so would have been saved.

Another weird airline quirk is that one way tickets are in most cases more expensive then a round trip.

In a pinch, there are some one way options utilizing the sometimes dirt cheap fares of one of the worlds worst airlines, Spirit, which has one way deals from Panama City and Lima and others. Jet Blue also has one low way fares. In addition to a 'free' layover in Peru or Columbia you can cobble together a trip and stretch a low number of miles as the airlines jack up the numbers from the U S to BA where close to 100k is becoming the norm. For instance, 20k can get you a one way within central/South America with Copa/United. Combine this with a cheap one way fare and a low mileage one way mileage award and you've got the trip closer to the mile level you were promised by the airline. This is an option to look at when your miles can only get you to/from BA in one direction for a reasonable amount of miles.

Keep in mind that while Spirit and Jet Blue sell one way international flights, proof of return travel is required to leave/return to the US. If using Spirit one has to be able to produce a paper copy of the Spirit 'ticket' for as the pariah of the industry, hated by everyone, Spirit is on their own and there is no recognized clearinghouse ticket number for their 'eticket'; this means there is no return ticket number to put into the computer system of the outgoing airline/TSA so it is essential to be able to produce/surrender a paper copy.

Booked a flight on Aerolineas Argentinas with a departure and return from AEP (down town airport - 20 minutes from my apt) for a 07:40 flight in their Premium Economy/Club Condor class (that is First/Business Class for us Americanos).

Two days before I depart I get an email telling me my flight is now at 06:10 and out of EZE (the international airport out in the boonies - 1 hour from the apt) and the return flight is to EZE as well.

Well I'm a bit pissed as this adds about 1 1/2 hours travel time.

But it gets better, my ticket shows Premium Economy and I get access to the premium lounge but when I board the aircraft guess what, it is all economy seating.

So what is the Argie answer to this you may ask?

Why they put me in the isle seat, leave the middle seat open and put the other passenger in the seat next to the window.

The seating chart for my original flight showed only two rows with a total of 8 seats in First/Business, as you would expect.

Asked the flight attendant about this and was told with a smile this was "Premium Economy" and to shut up and sit down or get off the plane.

Just got the email for the return flight and guess what, now I am moved up 4 hours earlier, the seating chart shows it's all economy again so it appears I am getting Argie First again.

My experience has been this airline almost never runs on time or keeps the ticketed itinerary, and their pilots are not competent to fly in the rain (IFR) but what do you expect from a county as Fu*ked Up as Argentina.

For all the mineral and agricultural wealth this country has due to their political corruption, ineptitude and greed they will never amount to anything under their socialist government. Well that's OK Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina are drowning in their social spending debt and will collapse in the near future. Venezuela will go first and it's a toss up between Argentina and Brazil in the next couple of years.

End of rant - got to boogie to the airport for my new departure time.

[QUOTE=Doppelganger;446285]Booked a flight on Aerolineas Argentinas with a departure and return from AEP (down town airport - 20 minutes from my apt) for a 07:40 flight in their Premium Economy/Club Condor class (that is First/Business Class for us Americanos).

Two days before I depart I get an email telling me my flight is now at 06:10 and out of EZE (the international airport out in the boonies - 1 hour from the apt) and the return flight is to EZE as well.[/QUOTE]Another confirmation of my earlier post to avoid Aerolineas unless you have no other choice.

Tres3.

Never had problems with them and honestly speaking they have improved over the years.
Talking abour Airlines, in my experience Avianca is the worst among the big south-american companies and there is no sign of improvement.

[QUOTE=Tres3;446288]Another confirmation of my earlier post to avoid Aerolineas unless you have no other choice.

Tres3.[/QUOTE]

AA is currently giving 10 miles for each dollar donated up to $1000. Miles are usually valued at 1.8 cents so buying at .10 cents is a good deal. It might be less if you are able to deduct charitable giving on your taxes. From the West Coast, I find AA the best for Brazil and Argentina. For Colombia and Central America I use Copa. Frankfurt and Madrid are also good on AA especially since they bought the Charlotte and Philadelphia hubs from US Air. You can find some business class flights for low points every once in awhile.

https://www.redcross.org/donate/cm/americanairlines-pub.html/

[QUOTE=BigBossMan;450296]AA is currently giving 10 miles for each dollar donated up to $1000. Miles are usually valued at 1.8 cents so buying at .10 cents is a good deal. It might be less if you are able to deduct charitable giving on your taxes. From the West Coast, I find AA the best for Brazil and Argentina. For Colombia and Central America I use Copa. Frankfurt and Madrid are also good on AA especially since they bought the Charlotte and Philadelphia hubs from US Air. You can find some business class flights for low points every once in awhile.

https://www.redcross.org/donate/cm/americanairlines-pub.html/[/QUOTE]This [URL]AA.com[/URL]/American Airlines ‘deal’ with Red Cross supports a worthy cause to raise funds for disaster relief but works out to 10 cents a mile, more than 5 times the recognized value.

Starting mid-December American Airlines starts daily nonstop 787 Dreamliner service from the Left Coast; Los Angeles to EZE.

12 hour Dreamliner Flight departs LAX at 2:30 p.m. And arrives EZE at 7:30 a.m.

Return 789 service departs EZE 10 p.m. And arrives LAX at 6 a.m.

Hopefully this new AA route will stick as it greatly reduces travel time from California.

[QUOTE=BigMic;450299]This [URL]AA.com[/URL]/American Airlines deal with Red Cross supports a worthy cause to raise funds for disaster relief but works out to 10 cents a mile, more than 5 times the recognized value.[/QUOTE]I can't tell the difference between cents and dollars. It is becoming even more dangerous to do things in my head. When I was working always used a piece of scratch paper to make sure my units were correct.