Bohemian1

In my experience, a surprising number of border officials in the US and Canada are very aware of the term Mileage Run.

I think we can thank some of the FT pioneers for that.

yeeg

Next week I will just say I'm doing it for my mental health.

pmblinn

For years now, my stock answer to "Purpose of visit?" has been "Airline status." Whether they understand or are confused, 90+% of the time they just wave me through.

YOWgary

Yeah, she was trying to figure out if you might be engaged in one of the... other reasons a person might conceivably fly to South America and then fly home right away.

expert7700

if they have to *ask* if you have checked luggage, it doesn't seem to be the most foolproof system to screen a pax.
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TTC900Rocket

Has the new terminal come online yet? I flew to EZE (on COPA) in 2017, and some criss-crossing had to be done in the terminals to get from check-in to security, passport controls, etc.

expert7700

As I entered GRU Banco Safra, a younger couple behind me said "he is probably doing a MR" (yellow FT tag). When I engaged and we discussed routings, his wife said "see he's crazy like you too".

​​​​​​Later he told me his wife apologized for any offense in calling me crazy. He had already assured her that I probably took it as a compliment though, which I did.

So here's a shout out to @benny2012 (who I invited to FT). Enjoy your combo MR, stay in EZE, and upcoming upgraded Aeroplan status.

​​​​​​For anyone else staying in EZE, he gave a tip which may be worth you looking into: Seek out a a much better 2x + exchange rate from CAD or USD to local currency than what the government set. New Canadian/US $100's notes are in demand and are apparently used by a few countries to offset local inflation.

WaytoomuchEurope

Caveat: you will not find a "legitimate" person to do an exchange. The only options I could find were money-changers on the street and I wasn't prepared to do that as I don't know the Argentinian Peso enough to know if I was getting counterfeit bills or not.

I went prepared with crisp US $100s and $50s but in the end I returned with almost all of it as nobody legitimate would touch it.

expert7700

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Yeah, doesn't sound like such a good arbitrage deal after all. Beside, on a FT mileage run, even leaving the airport in general is fairly uncommon.

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TheViperOne

Well my EZE trip is getting cut short. Left last night from YUL. Arrived at GRU this morning to find out the EZE leg was canceled due to no crew. I was turning around at EZE and coming straight back so I decided to just chill at GRU until tonight’s flight back to YUL. Hopefully that one doesn’t get canceled.

sucks - gonna lose out on some of those sweet sweet SQM from GRU to EZE and back.

hopefully nobody else from FT was planning to get to EZE today and had your plans ruined! Stay safe everyone

yeeg

Grab an Uber and head downtown to Bovinu'S Augusta Grill e Beer. The 25km trip will cost about $20 cad outbound and a bit less return to the airport. Its reasonable safe to walk in the downtown core as long as you stay out of the alleys. The Museum of Art Sao Paulo is down the street as well.

YOWgary

At the very least, I'd write in and ask to have the full AQD for the whole trip credited to the legs you did fly.

WaytoomuchEurope

I'm going to guess the poster doesn't have a visa to enter Brazil given that they were just transiting to EZE for a quick turnaround...

yeeg

No need for visa or reciprocity fee in brazil.

WaytoomuchEurope

Since when? (EDIT: Google tells me it was dropped in June 2019. Cool.) I've travelled to Brazil many times for work and needed a visa each time. Granted, it's an e-Visa and easy to obtain, but required all the same.

But I haven't gone to Brazil (except to transit last to EZE last week) since before COVID so I'm out of touch.