LAN flight BsAs to Mendoza
 

Booked a roundtrip flight from AEP to Mendoza in a couple of weeks. Purchased the ticket through American (code share) to get AAdvantage miles and credit card bonus points. All I received is an e-ticket confrmation via email. It does not appear that we have assigned seats. Do we just need to show up at the airport with the e-ticket printout, or should we try to get online and get seat assignments and print boarding passes prior to the flights? Also, how early do we need to arrive at AEP for the flights - we depart at 5:50 pm? Do we need to be concerned about luggage weight limits (will have one carryon each, nothing to check). Any other tips for flying LAN?

Aeroparque & LAN
 

Are you in Bs.As.? Might be worth calling LAN's office. I've never had any luck getting seats ahead of time when combining AA and LAN, but your case is different.

I'd leave plenty of time at Aeroparque. When I was there in November, it was a madhouse. Check-in lines of 60-70 people. They've done some construction since then, so things might be better, but I wouldn't risk it.

We do not arrive in BsAs until the day before the flight to Mendoza. Sounds like we need to leave plenty of time to get there early and check in for the flight - will 1 /2 - 2 hours be sufficient?

I booked LAN from AEP to MDZ on Orbitz. Get the LAN booking code and you can get seat assignments online. Or, you can call LAN, which has a toll free number in the U.S.

A few lower fare classes don't always permit advance seat assignment.

Just out of curiousity, what fare did you get AEP-MDZ?

We went through AEP three times in the last month on our Argentina trip - the airport is well-organised now. There's no priority checkin for people with OW status but there is a priority checkin for people who have checked in on LAN.com, and that queue was consistently much faster. So definitely checkin online if you can (don't know how you'd do that on an AA booking) since that will ease your way through. There was only a security queue one out of the three times we went through and that delay was only a few minutes on that occasion. Nonetheless, it's an unfamiliar airport and Argentine logistics can sometimes be interesting. I'd have said 1.5 hours if you check in online and have your boarding passes, otherwise 2 hours.

We paid $402.40 USD per person round trip, which was $1 less than the best price available through the LAN website. Will try to check in online, but will also arrive at least 2 hours early to be on the safe side. Missed a flight at CDG in Paris several years ago and learned a hard lesson about wasting a vacation day (a very long story about how everything that could go wrong did go wrong, begining with needing exact change for the airport bus for which fares had been raised the week before...).

I just did a bunch of flights with LAN, coming and going out of AEP. Just check-in at the airport, you'll be fine. I try to arrive about 2 hours ahead of time to AEP (mostly out of worry regarding traffic) but have never stood in line for check-in or security as a result.

Didn't mean to be overly dramatic
 

I wanted to clarify about my experience last November. Even when the check-in lines were maddeningly long, they came through the line making sure nobody missed their flight. When it got close to my departure time, I was moved to the front of the line and made my flight without too much trouble.

Is there usually lots of traffic when getting to or from AEP? I have only been there 4 times but I have never had any hint of traffic. I guess I have been lucky.

But yea. Just show up on time and try to confirm a seat. I have never been able to book a seat before getting to AEP.

Main concern on getting to Aeroparque are demonstrations or strikes. Normal traffic usually isn't too bad.

Depending on the day / time of day ... sometimes getting from the other side of the Plaza de Mayo (such as San Telmo) can get pretty nasty until you get to (approximately) where the Sheraton is.