You will pay if you do SCL-AEP (international) but if you do SCL-MDZ-AEP you don't have to pay anything because you will do immigration on MDZ.

Okay, but just out of curiousity...

So SCL-MDZ-AEP, with just a connection in MDZ, (but not a stopover ) would not incur the fee? Simply connecting in MDZ would avoid the fee, as opposed to a direct flight? Why would a foreigner ever not connect first then?

Is it not conceivable that some people on the MDZ-AEP flight would be people just connecting in MDZ (from SCL as a starting point).

And some people on that same flight would just be people flying direct MDZ-AEP (without SCL as a starting point). How do they determine who will pay the fee from the passengers deboarding the same plane.

:rolleyes:

If there was a "direct" flight, MDZ would be the first point of entry into Argentina. Your MDZ/AEP flight is domestic. They cannot segregate that flight into AEP domestic arrivals and AEP international arrivals when it gets to AEP. While there would be a conceivable customs formality @ AEP with such a setup if they didn't do it @MDZ (with segregated luggage) there's no way that everyone wouldn't get off @MDZ and be processed into Argentina. (Chile, in fact, had (maybe still does) such a setup on a flight that started @ LBP and then stopped at IQQ or ARI, before heading further south.)

Their bigger problem with your impossible scenario is that they couldn't determine who was already in Argentina and was a domestic arrival (and didn't even need a passport) and who was first entering Argentina when disembarking the same plane.

Am i correct to assume (for the reciprocity fee) that your first port of entry into Argentina (at MDZ) is what is relevant, even if that entry point is just a connection? And the final destination (AEP) is not the relevant part.

Answering the following question would most likely help me understand the situation:
So SCL-AEP direct would incur a fee. But SCL-MDZ (no stop)-AEP would not incur a fee,? And SCL-MDZ(stop)-AEP would also not incur a fee?

Appreciate the patience.

If MDZ is your first port of entry into Argentina, you clear immigrations and customs at MDZ both foreigners and Argentina residents or citizens. No way around it. Any subsequent flight from MDZ to any other point in Argentina is a domestic flight which you would need to check-in for after you exit customs. Since MDZ is not setup to collect the fee (like all other entry points into Argentina outside of international flights into AEP or EZE), congrats!