Airlines

Well it is too bad for Riina and maybe for the rest of us who need cheap plane tickets. The reduction in the price of oil is putting a lot of money in peoples pockets so you get more travel (more demand) AND there has been huge movements in the currency markets mostly favoring the dollar so many destinations have gotten MUCH cheaper in the last few months, especially Europe (about 12%) and places like Brazil, Colombia and Mexico too. It is hard to find a destination that has gotten more expensive versus the dollar. Really it's cool for those of us living outside of the USA Or traveling outside the USA So the airlines really are in fat city!

Not much help for South America. I did see $400 RT for Lima to BA on Lan. So if you have 30 AA miles RT to Lima, you are home free.

From this side of the Pacific, I have not seem such great airfares since the Sars epedemic and 9/11. Not sure what the dynamics for all these incredible airfares. While RT are great, the best for me are multi-city flights. I scored a Capetown to Bangkok-Paris for $595 on Etihad in April. And Singapore-LAX-Bangkok next month on Delta. And I saw a flgiht that I might buy after Paris, and that is Moscow-Istanbul-Bangkok for $330 on Turkish Airline in June.

Last month, I did a Singapore-Sydney RT for $200 on Malaysian Airlines. Not true? Just go to Kayak and start hammering.

Disasters seem to follow me everywhere. After I left Sydney, there was a hostage crisis, leaving 3/4 dead. And now that I am booked for Paris, the terrorist shooting a few days ago. I am starting to feel like Jason Bourne.

I am trying to make reservations for a March trip to Lima and Bs As.

Very frustrating. I juggle dates and every time I finally find fights that are reasonable and try to book either the flights are no longer available or the price increases, in one case by over $3000.

Don B.

So I tried delaying until May. Same thing tried about 1 o flights, even ones that were ridiculous and the same thing, price doubles.

You just can't get to Bs As with a stop in Lima.

Don B.

In general, there is a time window for different destinations where prices will be low and then will start to creep up. After that, you have to look out for FLASH deals where they might appear for a few hours, sometimes days.

Go to Kayak. March, LAX-Lima, round trip $600-$800, Lima-EZE, round trip $500-$600. For a single ticket, with Lima stopover1 or 2 way, $1300+. August, you probably could save around $300+.

For about 2 weeks, I was looking for a ticket for my friend, LAX-Paris, round trip. A few months ago, Aeroflot was the cheapest at $700+ with very bad connection times. Not too many alternatives, $1200+ for the others. Then Aeroflot started creeping up, now at around $1050+. But 2 days ago, Turkish Air came out with $800 round trip. Connection time was just as bad, but 1 or 2 nights in Istanbul cannot be beat. He is not a monger. For me, Moscow would have been great. Now that the ruble is down, I was able to book an American 5 star hotel for $104 plus taxes. It used to $300 to $400 a night.

How do you say "fuck me" in Russian?

[QUOTE=DonB;443853]So I tried delaying until May. Same thing tried about 1 o flights, even ones that were ridiculous and the same thing, price doubles.

You just can't get to Bs As with a stop in Lima.

Don B.[/QUOTE]Still the same problem with one ticket. Looked at about two dozen cheap fares, even those with terrible connecting times, every time I checked availability the fare would go up by about $1000, USD that is.

By buying two tickets I got almost exactly what I wanted for 754 Ord to Lima and 419 RT Lima Bs As, total 1173. This also gives me a long enough layover in Mexico City for a quick trip for a photo that I want for a book I am writing.

Don B.

[QUOTE=DonB;444051]Still the same problem with one ticket. Looked at about two dozen cheap fares, even those with terrible connecting times, every time I checked availability the fare would go up by about $1000, USD that is.

By buying two tickets I got almost exactly what I wanted for 754 Ord to Lima and 419 RT Lima Bs As, total 1173. This also gives me a long enough layover in Mexico City for a quick trip for a photo that I want for a book I am writing.

Don B.[/QUOTE]If you are flexible on dates, AA still lets you travel from USA to BA for 40 k miles. With the promotion they have now, even if you don't have any miles you can get 40 k for about $1. 000. If you have some miles it is even less. I got my ticket for about $900.00, although you have to be flexible. The availability changes almost daily.

Anyone else ever tried getting an error fare? A mate of mine noticed this a few months back - [URL]http://www.secretflying.com/2015/01/error-fare-manchester-argentina-247-return/[/URL] - and I got x2 returns from Manchester (UK) to Buenos Aires for GBP250 (USD375) each!

Flying with Lufthansa. Good departure times too - late afternoon both ways. Will be there in April.

Last week I just missed out on first class returns, London-NYC-London, for GBP50!

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.

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=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