flying between Salta and Iguazu....
 

Giena/Flintstones/Angie/--Any updates?????

"I recently heard AEROCHACO will start flying between Salta and Iguazu...."

We are hoping...

This is the latest I have seen in the newspaper on the subject, but it does not say WHEN the service between Iguazú and Salta will start:

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?...amp;high=salta

Aerolínea salteña
SALTA.- Leal Líneas Aéreas informó que incorporó un MD87 con capacidad para 109 pasajeros que será puesto al servicio de Aerochaco hasta que la Secretaría de Transporte de la Nación autorice los corredores propios desde Salta a Iguazú, Córdoba, Mendoza, Cuzco (Perú) y las ciudades chilenas de Calama e Iquique. El aparato cuenta con 12 asientos business y 97 de clase turista con tres baños y servicio de catering, y el próximo sábado hará un vuelo desde la capital salteña a San Miguel de Tucumán y San Salvador de Jujuy para conocimiento de la prensa. Leal pertenece al Grupo Alejandro Primero, que preside Marcos Levín, que proyecta presentar el avión también en Buenos Aires.

So glad to hear from Flintstones official ambassador!! My Spanish is pretty limited but it appears the planning for new routes to/from Salta- Iguazu are in progress... This route will make our plans for a 2+ week trip BA/Iguazu/Salta/BA doable. Now if we could just get our Governmental Pals to drop the "reciprocity fee" that has knocked the enthusiasm out of our planning. Thank you for your updates and your many informational posts!!!!!

crzn1 I wish we had more influences, but I feel the only who can hear our prays is GOD, but I feel He can do nothing about these reciprocity fees. LOL...
AVRooster has some influences...
When are you coming???
Flintstones...

We were planning to visit Sept. 2009 but if they add the "reciprocity fees" and the Dollar continues to rise against the Euro we might go back to Europe instead. We made our first trip to S.America (Peru)last month and really enjoyed it. Argentina looks wonderful so if they add the flights to/from Salta-Iguazu and drop the fees I think Argentina will win out. Please keep us posted, Thanks so much for all your great input, John & Robin

Aw, c´mon Robin & John, you have already been to Europe!

Try something new, like Argentina!

If anyone learns anything new about flights between Salta and Iguazu please let us know. We have booked our flight to BA for next October but I am struggling with our itinerary. Knowing that we could fly between the northeast and northwest without a detour to BA would help. (I have an allergy to conections.)

OK Roosterman, We just booked tickets for a 2 week trip (14 nights) to Argentina arriving the morning 20th Sept. 2009 (but we are going back to Europe in May) Any news on flights between Iguazu and Salta? We would still like to do 3-BA/ 2-Iguazu/ 6-Salta/ 3-BA perhaps subtracting 2 or 3 nights on buses unless these flights kick in. The bus from Iguazu to Salta does not sound as appealing as the other routes. We will probably do at least 1 leg by plane. (Hopefuly Iguazu to Salta) Please keep us up to date. Thanks....

I will, Robin and John. Thank you for choosing Argentina.

Thank you, avrooster. We are very excited to visit Argentina!!!!

I understand Andes is now flying this route.

Hi crzn1,

Yes Andes flies since several weeks between Iguazu and Salta, www.andesonline.com
The website still mentiones that there is also a flight at Wednesday, but a couple a days ago I phoned them and they said since 1 week there are only flights at Monday and Friday...
When you book online, many times the first try gives a error.. do a second attempt and probable you can continue..
The price is 532,82 pesos (one way)..
When you book... There is a message like "Thank you for booking" at the end, but our experience is that you don´t receive a e-ticket or something...( not a good service...)
I checked it for our guests in their office in Salta,and they were registered that day they had booked... So there was no problem..

Big Saludos
Alex y Rijkje
San Lorenzo (Salta)

I am sorry I missed this topic. I was late, but fortunatelly nice poeple could reply your questions,crzn1.
Flintstones..

Does anyone know anything about the reliability of Andes? Our trip is in October and I am concerned that they may drop the route or change the timetable before then. Given that the alternative is a much longer routing through BA I have some willingness to gamble on a very small airline but don't want to be foolish about it. Would there be any benefit to using a local travel agent rather than booking directly (assuming the web site comes back online).

For what I heard the connection Iguazú - Salta by Andes is okay. The only thing is that the website and the online booking system seems somewhat unreliable, but I know of many people who have bought tickets through the website and finally the got their e-tickets.

Another option, which I only heard abouth this week, is to fly with AreoChaco from Iguazú to Resistencia and take the bus from there to Salta. No online booking though, you can buy tickets when in Buenos Aires. Website: www.aerochaco.net

After a few false starts I was able to make the booking with Andes. I have a theory that leaving a page idle for too long causes it to time out without letting the user know. This happened as I was translating from Spanish...a slow process for me. I did get a confirmation e-mail with an approval code and the amount paid but no flight details. FYI they use Verified by Visa.

We made the flight with Andes from Iguazu to Salta on October 9 and everything was fine. The boarding passes were hand printed. We were served a snack consisting of three packaged cookies (similar to what Lan serves). It's not health food but if you are hungry...

Gavin,
Since you've made the flight on Andes Airline, any idea what their luggage restrictions are? I can't get them to answer any email in either Spanish or English. We're booked on the flight Iguazu to Salta. Glad to know everything went well on your flight. We'll take some healthier snacks along for the flight.

Thank you, Gavin for following up with that information re Andes AL. It is in our itinerary, so we really appreciate your feedback.

~MarnieWDC

I am booked from Iguazu to Salta on LAN on January 1st. I am contemplating taking the $30 cancellation fee to save the $300 and make a direct flight. But I am also worried about the reliability of the schedule, the baggage policy and what type of airplane it is? (my boryfriend isnt too keen on flying and will only get in a "real" etc). If they cancel the flight, my trip is kind of ruined.

Sorry - this was to fly on Andes.

I don't know about their luggage restriction...never event thought about it. I did make sure that our larger bag was well under Lan's 23 kg limit. If I recall correctly it was about 18 kg and the Andes agent was not concerned about it.

You can't do statistics on a sample of n=1. My flight left on time and arrived a few minutes late. If you study the timetable you can deduce how the plane gets to your start point and how much slack there is. With the Iguazu to Salta flight plane has a long turn around time after incoming from Salta so if it was late incoming there is slack in the timetable. According to Wikipedia they have 2 MD-82s and 1 MD-83. These are old planes but are still used by some major US carriers like AA. I also worried about the reliability of such a small airline but the benefit of non-stop flight outweighed the risk. Connecting flights carry risks as well. No travel is risk free.

Thanx Gavin - definately conisidering it.

Before I cancel my LAN flight and book with Andes. Can anyone help me with what this means?
VENTA Y EMISION: sólo en Argentina.
EMISION: deberá realizarse dentro de los 14 días de efectuadas las reservas. Regresos abiertos se permiten.
Bablefish translates it as:
SALE AND EMISSION: only in Argentina. EMISSION: it will have to be realised within the 14 days of conducted the reserves. Open returns are allowed.
Can I buy from the US?? And what is the 14 days?

Translated:

SALE AND ISSUANCE: only in Argentina.
ISSUE: must be made within 14 days of reservations made. Open returns allowed.

I guess that means you wont be able to by form the US

Not_enuf_vaca, where is the VENTA Y EMISION quote from? If it from the Andes site I suspect you select the Tarifas para no Residentes box. This has the effect of increasing the fare but such is life. I booked our flight from Canada. That said our flight was not full (perhaps 70%) so perhaps you could chance it and use a local travel agent when you get there.