Unknown refund from Aerolineas Argentinas

[acinod]

I booked some flight out of Buenos Aires with Aerolineas and immediately got a 'refund' of roughly half the amount.

The email confirmation says I paid in full and my booking is ready so I have no idea why I would my credit card would get a credit transaction for a partial amount.

Any ideas what's going on here? Should I contact Aerolineas? I'm just worried my flight might be compromised in some way I'm not aware of.

 

[Mattg]

Weird. I wonder if it's anything to do with the Argentinian currency exchange rate?

 

[SYD]

Weird. I wonder if it's anything to do with the Argentinian currency exchange rate?

Or don’t that have some “citizen” v “foreigner” fares? Does that still happen?

 

[acinod]

Weird. I wonder if it's anything to do with the Argentinian currency exchange rate?

OK it doesn't seem to be specific to this airline. I just booked another flight on flyBondi with ARS and got refunded the equivalent of around 47% in USD (converted back to AUD by my credit card). The previous refund I got was also 47% of the amount.

 

[Mattg]

OK it doesn't seem to be specific to this airline. I just booked another flight on flyBondi with ARS and got refunded the equivalent of around 47% in USD (converted back to AUD by my credit card). The previous refund I got was also 47% of the amount.

Sounds like approximately the difference between the "official" USD/ARS exchange rate and the Dólar Blue rate.

 

[SYD]

Sounds like approximately the difference between the "official" USD/ARS exchange rate and the Dólar Blue rate.

There’s been some recent coverage of something along those lines but I can’t find the article (possibly on Loyalty Lobby a month or so ago).

Also, apparently paying for hotels with an OS CC you don’t pay the 21% VAT.

 

[acinod]

Yeah I think that's right. It's a refund to account for the 2 different exchange rates.

Tourist foreign dollar exchange rate - Argentina

What's the news about tourist card payments at the dollar blue rate? All you need to know about the foreign tourist dollar in Argentina.

secretsofbuenosaires.com

 

[wandering_fred]

Payments for products/services in ARS paid through "overseas" credit cards (MC.VISA maybe AMEX) are now getting rebates to reflect the "blue dollar rate"
VISA accouncement on ARS charges
Argentina is one of my favorites for wandering
Fred

 

[DD1432]

I booked some flight out of Buenos Aires with Aerolineas and immediately got a 'refund' of roughly half the amount.

The email confirmation says I paid in full and my booking is ready so I have no idea why I would my credit card would get a credit transaction for a partial amount.

Any ideas what's going on here? Should I contact Aerolineas? I'm just worried my flight might be compromised in some way I'm not aware of.

I have exactly the same "problem". I have no clue what to do now... Do you have more information now?

 

[CaptJCool]

Tourist foreign dollar exchange rate - Argentina

What's the news about tourist card payments at the dollar blue rate? All you need to know about the foreign tourist dollar in Argentina.

secretsofbuenosaires.com

'Foreign tourist dollar': everything you need to know about the preferential exchange rate - Buenos Aires Herald

Payments made in Argentina with foreign credit cards are processed at the MEP dollar rate. Here are the details.

buenosairesherald.com

probably there's nothing needed to be done

 

[muppet]

I booked some flight out of Buenos Aires with Aerolineas and immediately got a 'refund' of roughly half the amount.

The email confirmation says I paid in full and my booking is ready so I have no idea why I would my credit card would get a credit transaction for a partial amount.

Any ideas what's going on here? Should I contact Aerolineas? I'm just worried my flight might be compromised in some way I'm not aware of.

@acinod, how did you go about booking the flights in ARS without entering a DNI or resident information?

I can’t make any bookings go through without resident details, and obviously the other versions of AR’s website are much higher prices in USD.

 

[CaptJCool]

Worthless banknotes and spending money while you have it: This is what life is like with 100pc inflation

How did a country, once among the wealthiest in the world and uncomfortably similar to Australia, totally lose control of its economy?

www.abc.net.au

this kinda puts it in perspective

 

[SYD]

Worthless banknotes and spending money while you have it: This is what life is like with 100pc inflation

How did a country, once among the wealthiest in the world and uncomfortably similar to Australia, totally lose control of its economy?

www.abc.net.au

this kinda puts it in perspective

My first visit to BA was in late 2001 when the Peso was pegged 1:1 to the USD. That was tough when we were getting $0.47 to the AUD! But a steak and wine still seemed relatively cheap.

About a year later, they were the last Sth American economy to decouple from the USD but they left it way too late. Overnight, the value of people’s mortgages doubled and there was rioting in the streets…

 

[Vit]

I booked some flight out of Buenos Aires with Aerolineas and immediately got a 'refund' of roughly half the amount.

The email confirmation says I paid in full and my booking is ready so I have no idea why I would my credit card would get a credit transaction for a partial amount.

Any ideas what's going on here? Should I contact Aerolineas? I'm just worried my flight might be compromised in some way I'm not aware of.

Hi, may I ask how did this play out? Same thing happened to me recently. Not sure what to make of it and I found out there are other people who have had this happen to them.

 

[Horatio]

Hi, may I ask how did this play out? Same thing happened to me recently. Not sure what to make of it and I found out there are other people who have had this happen to them.

Hi Vit - welcome to AFF.

It almost certainly played out fine.This system has been in place for a couple of years now. Posts 8 and 10 have all the information you need.

One of the articles explains how with Mastercard, the difference between the official and the tourist dollar rate is paid as a refund. But with VISA, you're charged the preferential tourist rate at POS. We were in Argentina last year and occasionally used our VISA card. Every transaction went without a hitch.