Flying advice Buenos Aires to Ushuaia

Hi

I am traveling on Vavilov 8-18 Dec to Antarctica. Many of you would have done to the BUE-USH flights and I wanted to get an opinion.

I am flying to EZE this december with Emirates. My flight arrives at 7.30pm on a Thursday (6Dec). There are two options either I take a 4.30AM LAN flight on Friday or leave my fate to Aerolinas Argentinas(AA) to hopefully get me to Ushuaia on Friday at somepoint(there are multiple flights on that day).

From the reviews I have gathered that people prefer taking buses than AA. I too would prefer LAN in case of any strike stops AA as I do not want to be stuck in BA while my cruise travels to Antarctica.

So two questions:

1) I'll be reaching after a 20hr flight to EZE at 7.30PM, what is the best option to get some sleep before LAN flight at 4.30AM. I am on a tight budget :( Does it make sense to go out of the airport?

2) Can AA be trusted with domestic flights? i.e. book one of their direct flights to Ushuaia on 7Dec?

Thanks for your help.

Hi

 

 

So two questions:

 

1) I'll be reaching after a 20hr flight to EZE at 7.30PM, what is the best option to get some sleep before LAN flight at 4.30AM. I am on a tight budget :( Does it make sense to go out of the airport?

 

2) Can AA be trusted with domestic flights? i.e. book one of their direct flights to Ushuaia on 7Dec?

 

Thanks for your help.

1) If you're arriving at 7.30pm, then by the time you've cleared customs and immigration, collected bags etc, it will be around the 9pm mark. Check-in for the LAN flight would start around 3am - that gives you a 6 hour lay over at EZE, which is bearable if you can't afford a hotel room for the night.

2) AA run domestic flights all day every day. Will they have a problem on the day you arrive? Who knows. If you can afford a hotel room, I'd take an AA flight on the Friday - you'll be wrecked after 20 hours (presumably in economy).

It really depends on the time your cruise is leaving Ushuaia - the LAN flight will get you there at around 8am, which means dragging your luggage around until the ship boards. Then again, that might be preferable to missing a flight the next day.

Thanks for your input.

I dont mind taking a hotel at night, but since the airport is an hour away from the city, I really would get maybe 2-3 hrs at the hotel which may/may not be worth.

The cruise starts only on 8 Dec so I'll still have plenty of time in Ushuaia to catch on with sleep after I arrive on 7 Dec at 8AM with LAN, probably completely broken with 35-40hrs of travel.

I guess I am confused if AA is reliable so that I can get some rest in BA before flying out or is it too risky and I should take the early LAN flight

We went from Boston to Houston to BA in December. We then changed to the domestic airport for the AA fight to Ushuaia. We had decided to skip staying in BA and go straight to Ushuaia 2 days early for our cruise. We never regretted the decision.

Customs and Emigration were somewhat of a nightmare to get through, but the connection from the International Airport to the Domestic Airport was a snap on the bus. We had heard the horror stories, but the flight down was on time as was the AA flight back to BA after the cruise.

My vote would be to opt for the AA flight and get straight down to Ushuaia. Get a good night sleep there knowing you absolutely will not miss the ship. Enjoy Ushuaia - we loved it!

Just my 2 cents worth.

By the time you have cleared EZE, and assuming your flight is on time, you would have only a few hours in a hotel in Buenos Aires before you would have to set off back to the airport.

I've never flown with AA, but their reputation led me to book LAN for a trip to Iguazu Falls.

For those reasons I would get some sleep on the flight into EZE, stay at the airport, and then get the early LAN flight to Ushuaia. Extra time in Ushuaia catching up on sleep is far preferable to arriving at the dock to find your ship has left without you and with no ports of call to fly to to catch it up.

If, for any reason, the LAN flight fails I imagine you would be able to transfer to an AA flight?

parischris, if your Antarctica voyage is half as enjoyable as ours last Feb, the discomfort of getting there won't matter a bit.

We flew LAN from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia but not from EZE. Domestic flights use AEP (Aeropark) on the other side of the city. If you are likewise, transfering will take up a bit more of your sleeping (?) time.

It is advisable to organise ground transport inside the EZE terminal, the taxi touts outside the terminal were very aggressive and quoted us $US100 to Buenos Aires city centre. We scuttled back inside and arranged a remis(private car) through Manuel Tienda Leon for about $US40. The same company runs buses to a city terminal and possibly also to AEP. There is a booth inside EZE for regular taxis (blue and white) but in the haze of jet lag we missed it. Check with the Buenos Aires forum on these boards, several postings. Had no problems hailing taxis in the streets anywhere else in Buenos Aires or AEP and fares were very reasonable. Carried a map showing our destination as we speak no Spanish.

I didn't see any airport hotels at EZE or AEP, but I wasn't looking. We stayed at the Ibis on Corrientes, less than $US100 pn. Clean, basic, annoying ac, but we had asked for quiet room and slept well with ac off and window open.

Enjoy Antarctica!

I have flown a bunch of flights with LAN and AA with no issues whatsoever.

I would be aiming to get to ushuaia a day or two before your ship leaves. I think its irresponsible to plan to arrive on the same day as so many soom to do. Delays with any airline (its not unique to AA) can occur so anyone planning to have connecting ship departures should always allow for spare days.

And there is so many things to do in Ushuaia that its not like you will be bored for those couple of days.