atgyf

Four of us spending three weeks in Argentina in November. We want to travel from BA to Salta to Cordoba to Mendoza to Bariloche. Then Trelew back to BA. We are hoping to drive from Esquel to Trelew. We are flying transatlantic with KLM /BA
In trying to purchase the Aerolineas Argentia airpass we cannot immediately see that it can be done on line. Can anyone offer any assistance with this please?
Many thanks

ticino

AA has some sort of pass here:
http://www.aerolineas.com.ar/en-au/c...isit_argentina

But you won't be able to fly to/from Mendoza in November:
http://www.aerolineas.com.ar/en-au/p...endoza-airport

crellston

Good luck! I tried and failed miserably to buy an air pass from AA so I gave up and bought individual flights online. In the end I got them via Expedia as their website was much easier to use and the prices were similar.

Having bought them they have changed flight details three times. The last time was a couple of weeks ago when they announce that our "direct" flight from Salta to Iguazu was now indirect and required a connection in BA. Grrrr! Caveat Emptor!

Now I recall why last time we visited Argentina we travelled the whole country by bus - much easier.

PS I found the AA customer service line especially helpful ( calling from the UK) . May be worth giving them a try..

atgyf

Thank you both for this.
I was aware of the closure of Mendoza airport and had read that flights will use San Juan instead.
We put our transatlantic flights in place two months ago but had gone no further . That is why we know where we want to go but have not made any hotel bookings outside BA.
Other than the towns/areas mentioned the only thing we really want to do is to have a meal and perhaps overnight at a vinyard on the 12th November and had earmarked the Mendoza area for this.
I didn't fancy the long distance buses until I read what crellston said. I wonder whether the difficulties we are encountering around Mendoza could be avoided even with one bus-trip i.e. into or out of Mendoza. Having spent hours on this tonight we are wondering whether to drop Cordoba altogether and travel from Salta to Mendoza ( possibly via BA).
Crellston, can you tell me briefly what to expect on a bus- or have you reported previously on this.
Does anyone have any views on any other things I've mentioned above that perhaps I have overlooked? ( this includes any thoughts on Lantam which I understand is a successor to LAN - we flew them in Peru)
Many thanks

crellston

What to expect on a bus in Argentina? Travel VIP/ Ejecutivo/ full Cama class with a good company and you can expect wide, lie flat seats akin to the experience on a BA or similar Business Class. Meals are usually provided ( sometimes even wine!). Journeys can be long (I think our longest was around 18-20 hours) but they are scheduled overnight so a) you save on accomodation costs and, b) you don't lose as much time as you may think v flying when you factor in transport to/ from airports, check in times etc.

Personally, I would forget about Córdoba and possibly Mendoza too. Mendoza is rightly famous for its wines, but Salta has some world class vineyards too, around Cafayate - 3 hours drive from Salta city. We visited some of them and whilst some were closed, they did look amazing places to stay! Some of the best scenery in South America is an added bonus. We travel there later this year for the third time. Mendoza - Salta is approx. 12hrs by bus as I recall.

Flown Lan once or twice. They have a reputation as the most reliable airline in SA - at a price! Fares seem to be double anyone else's.

Here are links to a couple of our old blogs covering our time in Argentina

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...ai/1/tpod.html - Argentina starts at entry 70

A little more recent in 2013 our return to salta and the northwest http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...3537/tpod.html include a little about our brief foray into the bodegas and vineyards of Cafayate .

Happy to help with any other questions if I can. Can't guarantee a speedy response as we are in Ecuador at the moment and wifi is a tad problematic!

atgyf

Well I think that the question I asked as to the ability to purchase an airpass online has been answered to the extent that we are now looking at a combination of individual flights and buses.
I'll post separately in respect of other matters as I realise that the title of this question may not attract others who have information outside of this topic. Not that that is a criticism of you both- I'm very grateful to you
With thanks