Advice re SYD-EZE flights for Antarctica cruise

[Ken1]

We will be going on a cruise to Antarctica in February 2021 and would like to book J flights from SYD to EZE. As a QFF Bronze it seems unlikely we will be able to book J award flights so we'll have to purchase tickets, hopefully when a sale is on.

I would appreciate thoughts from others who have knowledge of travelling this route, especially when going on a cruise to Antarctica.

Our cruise starts on Wed Feb 10, when we check into a hotel in Ushuaia included in the cruise cost and then sail away the next afternoon. We're thinking that we would like to arrive at EZE on Sunday Feb 7 and stay 2 nights in Buenos Aires and then fly to USH on Tuesday Feb 9. This way we will have a full day in BA and an extra day in Ushuaia in case of any flight delays.

At the end of the cruise we leave the ship on Tuesday morning March 2 and we would like to stay in Ushuaia one extra day and then fly to AEP on the Wednesday. We'll probably then stay 2 nights in BA and fly back home on Friday March 5.

I've looked at the QF website and for SYD-EZE they show QF27 that arrives at SCL at 11:10, connecting to either AC92 SCL-EZE that departs SCL at 12:35 or KL702 that departs at 12:45, with connecting time in SCL of only 1hr25 or 1hr35. I would really prefer a longer transit time in case of flight delays. I don't know if prices would be any different if I tried multi city and searched for QF27 SYD-SCL and then tried to book a flight with LA for SCL to EZE. I can also consider booking LA rather than QF but I'e read comments on AFF that QF can be more reliable.

Another option we're considering is to fly NZ, going SYD-AKL on NZ104 and NZ30 AKL-EZE, which would save having to transit in SCL. It appears that NZ fly that route 4 times a week at that time of year, on Mon, Wed, Fri & Sun.

For AEP-USH flights I would prefer to fly with LA so I'll have to see if they can be put on one PNR with the flights to and from SYD. I tried a multi city search on the QF website last night and was able to enter SYD-EZE and AEP-USH return and it showed flights for dates I searched for in December so I should be able to do that with QF but I don't know if a travel agent could book NZ flights with LA to and from USH on one PNR so that the international flight would be protected in case of flight delays. For the end of the trip the NZ flight from EZE departs at 23:45 so we could fly USH-AEP on Wednesday March 3 and connect to the NZ flight that night rather than stay 2 nights in BA and book the Friday night flight on March 7.

I've read that flight delays can frequently happen in South America so I'm being cautious with planning our flight dates.

I want to decide which flights we want to book when all dates are released so when any sales come along we can grab them. During the last few months I've seen several South America flight sales on LA and QF so I hope we can pickup a sale for the dates we will need in February and March.

Thanks for any advice that you can offer.

 

[ButFli]

Yes I have flown to USH for Antarctica.

It is probably a little too early to be searching for flights for February 2021. Generally they only become available about 300 days in advance. That explains why you can find more availability for December 2020.

1:35 would not be enough connecting time at SCL for me. That QF27 is often late. I would expect more connections to be available than just the AC and KL flights. Not sure why they won't show up as there are plenty of LA and AR flights SCL-EZE later in the day.

Don't limit your searches to AEP for the flights to and from USH. Some flights will depart and arrive from EZE.

 

[Ken1]

Thanks ButFli.

Yes there's no way I would want to accept only 1:35 between SYD-SCL and SCL-EZE.

When I search on the Latam website and type in EZE or AEP it says "We could not find a city or airport with this name" so it mustn't recognise airport codes, unlike most airline websites I've used. When I then type in Buenos Aires it shows "Buenos Aires (BUE), Argentina" so should be showing both BA airports in the searches, but so far any random dates I've searched have shown AEP. I'll keep checking both airports when the dates we need are available.

I realise that Latam flights for February will not be available yet so I was looking at December on the QF website to see if I could do a multi city including USH with the international flights on the one PNR with dates currently available. I see that QF and NZ flights are already available for SYD-EZE but have to wait until the March dates I need are released for our return to Sydney.

 

[sammy]

Santiago is actually a lovely city, and worth a stop to break up the trip if you can spare the time.
its also worth noting that there’s a Holiday Inn at Santiago airport that’s a quick stroll across the road - incredibly convenient. We are overnighting there again on our trip to Quito in September.
Ushaia isn’t the most interesting town, and I must say we regretted spending an extra night there after our Antarctica trip. Although we did have a memorable dinner of Patagonian toothfish, which is rare elsewhere.
My biggest tip for you is to buy a warm hat with ear flaps. my lined beanie pulled down over my ears, and I thought that would be enough, but it wasn’t. I remember being so jealous of others in the zodiac with warmer headgear.

 

[Ken1]

Thanks sammy. I'll look at the fares for QF, LA and NZ when there are sales on. Hopefully we'll see some good J fares for our dates on February and March 2021 like I've seen over the past few months when there have been sales. Thanks also for the tip about buying a warm hat with ear flaps. We have beanies but not hats like that yet.

 

[tgh]

Lost track of this thread..
To diverge from Sammy.. I find scl a very uninteresting place even after quite a few visits.
ONE (only) visit to Ushuaia was great ; we hired wheels and drove to Estancia Harberton and then to the Museo Acatushún.
Fantastic day out , a must do….

 

[Flippo]

Just to add on here Ken, I'm sure you've made your decision on the short transit in Santiago but I thought I could let you know, my neighbour works in load control at Qantas in Sydney and says that the 27 never, ever leaves on time. Not 'sometimes but rarely', it never leaves on time and, depending on the delay, they sometimes make it up in the air but not always. Just so you know.
We just came back from Antarctica this week but left from Punta Arenas so can't offer advice on the other flights but concur that Santiago is a most uninspiring city. They've had quite a bit of civil unrest there lately and the city is suffering terribly from it, but having been there four years ago and again this year, I can't see any reason to spend a great amount of time there. Experiences may vary of course.
We also stayed in the Holiday Inn at the airport and I thought it was a great hotel. Best of luck with the planning

 

[Ken1]

Thanks tgh and Flippo for your replies. We're thinking that if we can get a good J fare with NZ we'll go for that and fly direct to EZE, bypassing SCL which means less possible problems with delays going through SCL. Although we would like to earn QFF points we are QFF Bronze and unlikely to get higher since we do not fly for work and up until this trip we've been able to use QFF points for J flights to Europe every year or two since 2011. We haven't flown with NZ before but I've heard that their J product is very good. Over the last 6 months or so, when there have been sales I've seen return fares as low as $3,500 to $5,000, much better than the usual 8 or 9,000 so I'm hoping there will be sales for our dates, and when things get back to normal after the current worldwide problems I would expect there will be sales to encourage people to travel again.

Looking at flights to USH, when I search on the LA website they don't show any flights after 31 December although they do show international flights for dates up until 7 February when I just looked so they must release those flights a lot later than long haul flights. I've found if I enter AEP or EZE the LA site doesn't recognise those codes although it does recognise USH for Ushuaia - you type in Buenos Aires and it goes to BUE, which would cover both airports. We still like the idea of arriving in USH a day earlier than required and staying an extra day after the cruise in case of any possible delays.

 

[ButFli]

Is there a reason why you won't consider Areolineas Argentinas for the flight to Ushuaia? They have a lot more flights on that route than LATAM.

Ushuaia isn't that bad. I wouldn't spend a week there but there are plenty of things to fill a day. There are quite a few half day tour options available for things nearby.

 

[Ken1]

I remember reading a lot of bad reviews for Aerolineas Argentinas when we were planning a South America trip we did in 2014. Having a quick search now I found this Tripadvisor thread with posts from two years to one year ago: LATAM vs Aerolíneas Argentinas - Argentina Forum - Tripadvisor

For LA domestic USH flights I see that they have Light fares with 0 bags, Plus fares with 1 x 23kg bag and Top Fares with 2 x 23kg bags. I will be traveling with photography gear and will want to buy a ticket with a second 23kg bag. I've just had a look at the US Aerolineas Argentinas website and see that they have a lot more daily flights to USH but their Plus fare gives 1 x 15kg bag and the Flex fare gives 2 x 15kg bags and 15kg per bag would not be enough.

Since we plan to fly from SYD in J and will have 2 x 23kg bags (I see that NZ and LA allow 3 x 23kg bags in J) we'll want a similar allowance for tickets we buy to USH. On the baggage info page on the Aerolineas Argentinas website it says "In the event of issuance of tickets connecting with a Regional / International flight, the latter's baggage allowance shall be respected" Equipaje so I assume that means that if you show your international ticket you should be allowed the same allowance as the international flight but I don't know if they would allow this if you had flown internationally with another airline or if it means only flying in with them.

When we did the South America trip in 2014 we flew from LAX to LIM and on to CUZ as part of a QFF One World Award, and purchased regional tickets through LAN with a South America Airpass for CUZ-LIM-SCL, SCL-GIG and AEP-IGR. The conditions of the South America Air Pass were that you would get the same luggage allowance as the international flight if you flew to South America on a One World airline, and we had flown with LA and at all three check-ins they tried to charge me for the second bag but luckliy I had saved the Air Pass conditions to a PDF file that I had on my iPad so eventually they agreed to allow the second bag without charging me, usually after checking with supervisors. I don't know if LA have any similar allowances for international passengers if buying the AEP-USH flights separately to the international flights and with different airlines.

 

[drron]

When we flew to USH we did it as part of a DONE5 so no problems.
But we did enjoy our time in BA and USH-spent 3 nights in each.Certainly was enough to do in both places.
For our cruise the cruise company did organise a charter flight to USH.that turned out to be 6 hours late so glad we travelled independently.