I am hoping to go to BA in Feb of 2009 and am starting to look for flights.

The least amount of time to get there would be San Francisco to Mexico City and then to BA, has anyone taken this route and how was it?

My other options seem to be to fly to the east coast and then down to Argentina, seem very long this way as is Sf to Miami and then down.

I think my other options are Atlanta and or Texas.

Does anyone have a preferred route based on cost, time, popularity or negative feelings about a certain airport?

Thanks

If the fare is good via Mexico City then no problem going that route. I assume its on Aeromexico? They (or Mexicana), started service MEX-EZE within the past year. Both airlines are fine. And, the flight is essentially always heading in the right direction, south east. Alternatively, via Miami, or Houston, makes a lot of sense. There may also be good fares on Lan Chile via Santiago, but that may add a bunch more travel time. Have fun.

Have you checked for SFO to EZE on http://matrix.itasoftware.com ? There are several options. One thing I would note is that given the notoriously frequent delays out of SFO I would allow a nice cushion in connecting time - or even consider an alternate airport, like SJC or Oakland.

Yes, you've got options on AA via DFW and CO via IAH (each with just the one stop). I wouldn't dismiss MIA out of hand. A lot of people don't realize how far east BA is from the US east coast, so it's not really as much out of the way as you might think. Yes, it's a long way from SFO, but you've also gone a long way toward the southeast direction of BA. If the fare and schedule were good, I'd consider it.

I haven't transfered in MEX so can't comment on that. DFW and IAH are pretty easy to nagivage, MIA less so IMO.

Sorry. "nagivage" obviously should be "navigate". Fingers aren't working this morning.

Thank you so much, I woke up this morning to some great answers!

I was hoping someone had an opinion on Mexico City since that one seems to be the quickest and also code shares with United.

I will also look at Dallas , Huston and Atlanta as well as Miami, NYC will be a last alternative.

At the moment prices are about $1200, do you know if this is about right unless I find a sale, which I won't count on, there hadn't been any for my last trip to Europe and I am a great searcher.

Thanks for the Martix software, I didn't realize that I could use it as a guest.

I am surprised you are getting a fare that low so far out. I have been checking fares from Texas to EZE for March at a mindboggling $1,750.

susanna - we regularly fly into MEX but usually as a destination not a transit point. I can tell you that delays are not uncommon for ground services like immigration, but as a transiting passenger you would not have to deal with that.

We are traveling from the West Coast (Oregon) to BA in March 2009 and was quite surprised as well to see that I would have to travel through places like Dulles.

The best flights I have found are also on Mexicana through Mexico City. I did some searching on here and TA and see that people seem to really like Mexicana airlines and I have read very little negatiave things about them. However, I am planning on using FF miles on United so looks like I will be flying through Dulles - but worth it for 4 free tickets!!

Drdawggy - flights from LAX-EZE in March on Mexicana are just under $1300.

I used DL from SFO to EZE via ATL last Nov. and found the transfer smooth and efficient and the service ok. Last year, the schedules were frequent, and we had a layover of about an hour. The schedules may have diminished with cancelled flights. IAH is also a good airport for transit to Latin America, again with efficient transfers between gates/terminals, and I prefer it to DFW. Both are better than MIA.

I have transited in MEX and did not find it the best airport for this. If you would have to change planes there, it might not be the best idea. When we were at MEX, gates were assigned late (there was a big waiting room where things were supposed to be posted/announced) and no one could ever tell you where your gate was. The airport is long and narrow, and you may walk a long way to where your gate is and find out you walked the wrong way! Unless there is a huge price difference, I think I'd go via IAH, ATL or DFW. Just my 2 cents.

Good luck.

Thanks everyone, I guess 1200 will be a good price.

DrD: check out the link to the matric itsoftware.

thanks, Susanna, I will check....

At this point in time, I'd say $1200 for a ticket from SFO to EZE is probably the going rate.
I have been getting weekly alerts from Kayak, and the fares are not going down. When I first started looking for fares, they were sitting at about $1000. We decided to take a wait and see, and consequently paid a couple hundred more for the tickets.
I'd be more concerned about airlines cutting out flights and gateways......that happened to us as we had nice connections through O'Hare when AA decided to cut out that flight.
Most of the $1200 flights I'm now seeing are for two stops (from Minnesota). A single stop is more than that.
You may want to consider layover times in your scheme. Some of the flights we looked at had layovers of four hours. (Atlanta via Delta)
good luck,
tptr

tptr - just curious. When is your trip? I just picked random date of 8/28 and CO has $1245 fare from MSP - EZE with just one stop and change in IAH. For $45, I'd probably opt to eliminate the second stop, but maybe you didn't have that choice (?).