Getting from Port at Buenos Aires to Domestic airport

[JJean]

We will be docking in Buenos Aires the day before we get off the ship.

How early a flight could we safely book from the domestic airport AEP) to Iguazu Falls. I'm not exactly sure how far it is from the ship.

Thanks for your help.

[X1HYCB]

We will be docking in Buenos Aires the day before we get off the ship.

How early a flight could we safely book from the domestic airport AEP) to Iguazu Falls. I'm not exactly sure how far it is from the ship.

Thanks for your help.

 

Hi. There are enormous information on thread "IGUAZU FALLS FROM BUENOS AIRES."

[roaming_kiwi58]

In January this year we finished a cruise in Buenos Aires, then had two nights in Iguacu before returning to BA, to start our journey home to NZ.

 

We were on HAL, and we arrived in BA the day before we disembarked. On the ship there was a lot of misinformation from HAL about what time we could disembark. Firstly they said we could not get off the ship until 8.30am, which would have been too late to catch our flight to IGR (the Iguazu airport on the Argentinian side of the falls). Our flight was due to depart AEP (the domestic airport in BA) at 9.20am. We were told we would have to get off the ship the night before and stay in a hotel!! Not what we were told by HAL when we booked our flights for this cruise! Everytime I asked I got a different story about debarkation times given us. The earliest was 6am, so in the finish we decided to get off then, as we were unsure when indeed they would let us off, and how long everything would take. Debarkation depends on the Argentinian authorities, and staff at the terminal.

 

In the event we left the ship shortly after 6am, caught a shuttle to the terminal building, went through customs (baggage xrayed), then couldn't get out because all the gates were still locked. Someone eventually unlocked and we were able to get out onto the street about 6.30am. There were plenty of taxis waiting. I know people say not to get the taxis from the port, which are fixed price in US$, but they are safe and convenient. A guy told us the price to get to AEP, of US$25, and allocated us a driver. The journey to the airport took less than 15 minutes. So we were at the airport before 7am. We had been told it was a 2 hour checkin time, but in fact the domestic checkin times in South America that we have experienced usually seem to be 1 hour. So we were early, and the airport was relatively quiet. We have used this airport before on another trip, and it can be chaos and jammed with people. This was another reason we did not want to cut it fine timewise.

 

Hope that helps with your timings. There were a number of people off our cruise getting flights to IGR at 9.20am - there was an Aerolineas Argentinas and a LAN flight going at the same time.

[KirkNC]

We had a similar problem. We docked at 5:00 but we're not allowed off until 7:00. There were plenty of taxis and it's a short ride. I think our flight was around 11:00.

[dr__dawggy]

Roaming Kiwi,

 

The only reason people say not to take a waiting taxi at the cruise port is because the rate is at least three times the rate for a metered taxi. Since time was a bigger consideration than money, you were wise to just grab a cab and get to the airport.

 

Two other bits of advice: Aerolineas is not as reliable as LAN. Both Aerolineas and LAN change their schedules regularly so check several days in advance to make sure your flight time has not been switched. Aerolineas is more apt to just cancel its flights for a day than is LAN....but both switch flight times sometimes without letting passengers know. There is a new CEO at Aerolineas, so maybe they will improve.

[JJean]

Thank you for the information, that helps. We are taking LAN and our flight is around 11:00 so we will get off as early as possible.

[roaming_kiwi58]

Yes, definitely agree that LAN is usually more reliable than Aerolineas Argentinas. However, LAN are also good at changing flight numbers and times.

 

Another habit at South American airports is to keep changing departure gates without any announcements - so be alert for this! On both our trips to South America we found the airports to be universally pretty chaotic!

[davwen81]

JJean we recently docked at BA port left the ship at 8.30 got our luggage and were at the airport by 9.30am. We had time to change our 1.45 pm flight to the 11.15 am one, much to our delight. And yes they drive you crazy changing gates, boarding times etc ( 3 for ours) but hey, we got there in great time!

[JJean]

That sounds good, we have booked the 11:15 flight.

Thanks

[sr4mjc]

What about the international airport, EZE? Is an 11:30 AM flight doable?

Edited March 22, 2016 by sr4mjc

[davwen81]

sr4mjc, depends where you're flying too as some airlines say 2-3 hrs before flights for checkin and you can count on 45mins - 1 hrs for a taxi to the airport, depending on traffic which at that hour might be heavy.

[sr4mjc]

sr4mjc, depends where you're flying too as some airlines say 2-3 hrs before flights for checkin and you can count on 45mins - 1 hrs for a taxi to the airport, depending on traffic which at that hour might be heavy.

 

We are booked on Copa Airlines, back to FL through Panama. The good news is I have a flex class ticket and it can be changed. I was thinking 11:30am sounded great, but now am second guessing that. Our cruise docks in BA on Saturday Feb 4th at 5am and we overnight there with the traditional disembarkation being Sunday Feb 5th. My options are

 

1) Leave the flight the way it is on 2/5, try and self-disembark as early as possible with our own luggage and hope to beat the customs rush off the ship.

2) Disembark the ship early on Saturday the 4th, stay in a hotel and taxi to the airport the next morning.

3) Change the flight to 1:03am on Sunday morning, disembark early and go to the airport in the evening for a red eye home.

 

thx michelle

[KirkNC]

What about the international airport, EZE? Is an 11:30 AM flight doable?

 

That's a little tougher as the international airport is much further away and traffic going there can be a bear.

[dr__dawggy]

We are booked on Copa Airlines, back to FL through Panama. The good news is I have a flex class ticket and it can be changed. I was thinking 11:30am sounded great, but now am second guessing that. Our cruise docks in BA on Saturday Feb 4th at 5am and we overnight there with the traditional disembarkation being Sunday Feb 5th. My options are

 

1) Leave the flight the way it is on 2/5, try and self-disembark as early as possible with our own luggage and hope to beat the customs rush off the ship.

2) Disembark the ship early on Saturday the 4th, stay in a hotel and taxi to the airport the next morning.

3) Change the flight to 1:03am on Sunday morning, disembark early and go to the airport in the evening for a red eye home.

 

thx michelle

 

Option 1. Depends on how early you can self disembark AND on when the customs/immigration personnel open for business.

 

Options 2 and 3 are definitely workable. Personally, I like overnight flights from BA. I'd rather sleep than try than sit all day during the long haul flight back home.