AEROLINEAS ARGENTINAS  Passenger Reviews and Customer Trip Reports

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AEROLINEAS ARGENTINAS customer review :  31 January 2010 by Tim Gall   (New Zealand)

We flew 10 sectors on Aerolineas over the Xmas period 2009. The two long haul flights AKL-EZE and return were the worst for both aircraft condition and service, with a 24 hour delay in our case on the outbound flight. The inbound flight leaves EZE at 0205 (0330 in our case with a delay due to fog predicted for AKL) by which time virtually the whole airport is closed up. A340's used are very tired, as it appears are the cabin crew. Reports of broken seats, faulty entertainment systems and virtual absence of service I have read in other reviews were all substantiated for our flights. Leaving passengers to fend for completely themselves for 10 hours on a 13 hour flight, with not an offer of a glass of water is not good passenger management! As the only carrier on this route, it appears to me that Aerolineas Argentinasis just not trying. Inter-regional and domestic flights were a total contrast with all eight flights right on time in either new or recently refurbished aircraft, with generally appropriate service. My only complaint would be the meal service being only a sandwich type snack on relatively long sectors like the five hours from EZE-LIM and return.

AEROLINEAS ARGENTINAS customer review :  30 January 2010 by Tim Weiss   (Germany)

SYD to EZE - flight Sydney to Auckland got cancelled but I was rebooked on an Air New Zealand flight without trouble. Flight from Auckland ran late by a couple of hours, but the time given after the announcement of the delay was actual departure time. Service on board was ok. Condition of the aircraft seemed good, no safety concerns. If arriving a few hours later isn't a big matter one can choose this airline.

AEROLINEAS ARGENTINAS customer review :  29 January 2010 by Katie O'Donnell   (Australia)

Buenos Aires to Sydney via Auckland. Arrived at EZE at 22:00 for 02:00 flight and informed there was a 10 hour delay with no reason. We were given a taxi to a hotel for night back in Buenos Aires city and told we would be picked up at 8:30am. The taxi showed up at 7:45 am when we were just starting breakfast. Arrived back at EZE and were told we were unable to even line up to check in until 10am which turned into 11am. Why the rush to pick us up from the hotel then? The flight was originally rescheduled for noon, but we didnt leave till 3pm. They didnt even offer us a meal voucher for this extended stay at the airport. Their communication is hopeless. They wont update you on what is happening. you just need to stand around in lines all day till they can be bothered telling you to stand somewhere else. After a long flight with poor assistance from the grumpy flight attendants, we reached Auckland at 8:30pm - this would give us 5 hours to do the 3 hour flight to Sydney before the curfew. On landing in Auckland there was a casual announcement that we would be overnighting in Auckland and not going to Sydney till the following day. I am sure they knew this before we took off but didnt have the guts to tell us till landing. This turned out to be because they wanted to return the plane we were on to EZE rather than take us to our promised destination - somehow that worked out financially better for them. The flight attendants couldnt even tell us if we were going to get our checked in luggage back for the night so we waited at the baggage carousel with hope and we did get it back luckily. We got a bus to an airport hotel where we were told that the bus would pick us up at 6am the following morning. We were not told what time the flight would be. We were up at 5am (after only 5 hrs sleep) to get ready and have breakfast and then stood outside with the other passengers waiting for the bus - which never showed up. The board in the hotel with the flight times showed that the plane wasn't leaving till noon. Why did we have to be up at 5am again? Finally the hotel got through to them to be told that they had been meaning to let us know that the bus had been cancelled, but not what time a new one would come. The hotel started shuttling us to the airport in their own buses since they didn't want 40 annoyed people outside the front of their hotel. We lined up, yet again, for a few hours before they would check us in to the noon flight. Some people were slotted onto different flights and some didn't fit on the noon flight and had to wait till 5:30pm for a Qantas or Air NZ flight. Families were being separated onto different flights. It is apalling management. Finally our noon flight took off at 1pm and everyone was relieved to finally make it to Sydney at 2pm.

AEROLINEAS ARGENTINAS customer review :  26 January 2010 by Ivan Lawrie   (New Zealand)

My two sons and I travelled return to Argentina on separate flights AKL-EZE. As expats living in NZ we put up with the discomforts, aged upholstery and total lack of in-flight entertainment. We can even put up with the odd delay here and there. It's happened for years. But now it has got too much: on my return flight Dec 2, I spent the night chucked on the floor at EZE during a four-hour delay. My son had already arrived with a two-hour delay the previous day. Today he is arriving back to Auckland with a twelve hour delay-too late to catch any flights to Auckland so we have had to spend an extra $400 so my wife can go and meet him + hotel plus return flights to Christchurch.

AEROLINEAS ARGENTINAS customer review :  23 January 2010 by D Muir   (UK)

Madrid to Buenos Aires (EZE), worst long haul flight I have ever taken. Plane should be in a museum, rickety seats, yellowed plastics, jerky poorly tuned old crt televisions 3 of which didn't work - didn't matter though as they offered no film in the 12hr flight. Toilets were quaint. Food thrown at you in a box and was bland and small. Food box was then not removed for hours. Bring some food with you. My table was at 25 degree tilt and had lost its extension. Without warning the lights were flicked off and the cabin crew disappeared for 6hrs only to return with "breakfast" - not fit for purpose. Crew looked as weary as the plane and need retraining in customer service. On return leg more of the same and EZE departure terminal B is a disgrace. Once in Argentina I did several domestic flights with AR. Buenos Aires to Ushaia, Ushaia to Calafate and Calafate to Trewlow then Trelow to Buenos Aires - maybe because of the lowered expectations from my transatlantic flights..

AEROLINEAS ARGENTINAS customer review :  19 January 2010 by Eugene Engelbrecht   (South Africa)

IGR-AEP. The flight time was moved earlier by several hours irrespective of passengers' plans. The flight on the day was then delayed by at least two hours. No one was offered even a glass of water during the delay even though everyone had been put into the waiting area, where there were no shops or restaurants. Again, the leg room on the flight was appalling. At least the cabin crew on this leg had a much better attitude and were interested in the passengers.

AEROLINEAS ARGENTINAS customer review :  19 January 2010 by Eugene Engelbrecht   (South Africa)

AEP-IGR. The airline kept changing the departure time up to and including the day of the flight, first moving it later and then on the actual day moving it earlier. The ground staff did not know an hour before boarding what gate we should go to. One flight attendant remarked loudly and sarcastically and using inappropriate gestures that a child passenger was mentally retarded simply because he was hearing impaired. There was very slight turbulence for two minutes in a one-and-a-half hour flight. As a result of this, the breakfast service was suspended. It was never resumed once the turbulence had cleared, and the cabin crew remained seated until shortly before landing, when they took the trays from the few people they had served breakfast to. The legroom on this airline is appalling, and I was grateful that this was not a long-haul flight.

AEROLINEAS ARGENTINAS customer review :  14 January 2010 by J Fernandez   (New Zealand)

Auckland to Buenos Aires. Plane showing it's age with threadbare seats that did not stay upright for take off and landing. Service non-existant, attendants would appear to deliver a meal and take the empty tray (on a 13 hour flight), no response to the attendant call button. Screen up front did not work until we touched down and the loose cable or whatever closed the circuit and it came to life - so no entertainment or distraction.

AEROLINEAS ARGENTINAS customer review :  8 January 2010 by L Reinstein   (USA)

EZE-GIG Business Class. A mediocre experience. Flight was on time, business class seat was larger than coach (though clearly showing its age), and male flight attendant tried his best with a good attitude. On the negative side, the business class lounge is dingy and offers little to eat, the food on board was appalling, and there was no air conditioning on the plane while we waiting on the ground during a 90F morning.

AEROLINEAS ARGENTINAS customer review :  2 January 2010 by Robert Simpson   (Spain)

Having splashed out my hard-earned savings on a business class ticket (Madrid to Buenos Aires) with Aerolineas Argentinas - I was amazed at the poor standard of staff - or rather in particular, one senior cabin stewardess I had the bad luck to experience. She threatened to move my small bag neatly placed on the spacious floor in front of the empty adjoining seat on numerous times during the flight. She claimed she may 'hit herself on it.' She picked on other nearby passengers who dared commit such ‘sins’ as leaving newspapers and pillows on empty seats. The food, that came over two hours after being in the air - without any prior service, was thrown at us and collected the same way a few minutes after serving. No pre- dinner drinks were offered. The wine was corked and asking for a second glass, and daring to change my choice, was without doubt, an 'Oliver Twist' experience. Then the lights were switched off without warning - clearly just a 'go to sleep - and don't bother us anymore' gesture. Asking for a second liquor after the meal received sarcasm and looks of 'I hate 1 A- ers.' She rudely blasted – ‘are you having another one after this’ – whilst making sure I retrieved it from her hand rather than it being placed on my tray. I am not an over indulgent drinker- far from it – but she clearly wanted me to beg for it. I think this woman should be retired off, and sent to kick lost Argentine sheep up the bums. She may enjoy that, rather than being employed to offend paying airline passengers. But I will feel sorry for the sheep. I woke at 4 am to go to the rear of our upper-deck business class cabin to enquire about the possibility of a coffee. I was being over optimistic. No chance. I was told to wait for breakfast - though that came from her male colleague, who was clearly under her tyrannic control. Almost 3,000 euros spent - and I whilst I am easy to please and not demanding like many business class passengers may be – I did not get value for money, far from it - or, more importantly the slightest bit of respect. I wish I had travelled in economy class and given the difference to my company’s charity account. Aerolineas flights maybe be almost full at the moment, but with some ten different airlines offering the same route, they will one day regret losing customers through such unnecessary poor service.

AEROLINEAS ARGENTINAS customer review :  2 January 2010 by Mark Evans   (USA)

Buenos Aires to El Chaltan. They changed our flight and did not tell us when we checked in. The new flight was two hours later. We sat in the airport for hours. On the flight, a MD 80, the cabin filled with the smell of cigarette smoke three times, which we finally attributed to the head stewardess lighting up in the galley area and grabbing a quick puff. I'm not kidding! Return flight was fine. Note that in BA the airline often uses stairs and busses for plane loading and unloading if you have mobility issues.