Aerolineas Argentinas

SYD-AKL return. Staff pleasant and polite. Food edible if you are hungry. A good budget airline seats in good condition and comfortable. Only downside would be no in flight entertainment. It wouldn't kill them to put on a movie especially during school holidays.

Buenos Aires to Calafate economy class. Food and drinks were reasonable. Cabin interior was clean. On return the aircraft was MD80 legroom reasonable but as no entertainment service on this 3 hour flight.

We flew to and from Madrid and we left and arrived on time. Both trips take about 11 hours and the experience was good. The seat is confortable though it is not a flat bed and the food was good. The plane was a rather old B747.

Sydney to Auckland. No inflight entertainment just a snack and drinks service and good legroom which Aerolineas have on the A340. Friendly and engaging crew. Overall a good flight and very cheap ticket.

Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires. Aerolineas Argentinas now offers service to Aeroparque which is more convenient than Ezeiza. We bought business class tickets. Check-in staff at GRU tells us that aircraft assigned to flight has all-coach cabin offers refund. Same happens on the way back. Strong suggestion that Aerolineas Argentinas is selling tickets to non-existent business class seats.

Buenos Aires to Sydney via Auckland. Staff were efficient and friendly enough. The food was fine leg room pretty good. Buenos Aires to Auckland after dinner the lights go off and you do not see the staff often after that but water was left out on the tray. TVs only in the centre aisle but audio was in English. Blankets and pillows on the seat. The plane had been around for years though. A negative is at the boarding lounge gate you handheld baggage is searched and they took all my wife's makeup and threw it away they should have provided plastic bags because it needed to be in an individual bag and she was very upset about this.

Auckland to Buenos Aires. Plane was delayed by five hours after we'd checked in with pretty much no explanation (except that the incoming plane from Sydney was delayed but again no explanation why). We were travelling with two young children so the delays were a bit difficult. Legroom was pretty much as I remember other airlines in economy class. The lack of decent entertainment was a pain (only the old monitors up in the aisles where you had to crane your neck to see) but the kids ended up falling asleep anyway. And the movie they played was in Spanish. Dinner was acceptable. Kids had a kids meal as requested. It was disappointing there was no beverage service during the night for those who were awake. I went hunting for a drink of water hoping they'd give me a bottle to tide me over but no just a cup. Having said all that the staff were reasonably friendly and the fare was much cheaper. It saved us around $1200 as a family. So if you don't mind no-frills it's not a bad choice. The domestic leg from Buenos Aires to Lima was on time and efficient.