Originally Posted by ak
If you had arrived after the check-in areas had been setup, you wouldn't have been exposed to the "circus". It would have been the same as checking-in for an AA flight from any other international destination -- first the security agent (who retrieves a paper copy of the itinerary if the passenger is travelling on an electronic ticket) followed by the check-in agent.
Why did you arrive at the airport at 4:30 pm for a 9:25 pm departure? I am simply curious.
I wasn't aware that this was SOP, and I do travel to "international" destination (by the U.S. Government's definition of "international," not AA's). I travel frequently to Mexico and the Caribbean and have never witnessed this type of "circus." I did not witness it at SCL during my last visit last summer.
I arrived at 4:25pm because I had finished what I needed to do in the city and was pushed out of my hotel. I figured that I could spend some time browsing the duty free shops and most of the time at the AC, which I expected to be fantastic. But what a disappointment! The EZE AC's offerings are pretty limited compared to the offerings at SCL! No ice cream, no soup, no little sandwiches, very limited non-booze selection (it looked like Coke, Tonic Water, Dasani, and Sprite). No showers. WiFi kept dropping out (but luckily I had an ethernet cable with me). Rather small club considering that it handles at least double the number of pax each day that SCL handles.