I just booked a round trip ticket on aerolineas.com.ar from Buenos Aires to Iguazu (AEP-IGR) but having some difficulties paying for the ticket via the website. Anyone have any TA recommendations that can ticket this itinerary for me? Finally, how do I know that I didn't accidentally book a local fare versus a foreigner fare? I booked July 2-4th and it came to $260. Same price I get on ITA but not even close to what I am getting on pretty much any other OTA.

Yes looks as if you were trying to book a Resident fare. Pretty hard not to know that as you have to click "accept" after reading the conditions.
My guess is it only accepts payment from an Argentine issued card and that's why the payment hasn't gone through.

Any reason why you didn't book using the US site?

Looks like you're right.

I did use the regular Argentinian site thinking I'd get a better rate as is the case in some countries where there are no resident fare restrictions and you do get a better price using local language site. Didn't realize that I may have booked a restricted fare until after I booked it and googled it. I was still unsure if I was booking a foreign fare because during booking process it does ask my country and I did choose US. Plus the fact that ITA lists the same price, I assumed that it was the normal price for anyone. especially since LAN's price is same and can be booked on US OTAs but schedule doesn't work for me.

However, I just checked the US site for AR and the correct fare for me is $440.00

Ohh and since I don't speak spanish I was using chrome's translate feature but it didn't translate every page including that one.

You used to be able to book the cheaper fares through Despegar.com but it seems that they no longer do it.

There is always a risk when flying on a resident fare that you will be asked to show your DNI (Argentine ID) card either at check-in or at the gate to show proof of identity. If you can't then you'll be denied boarding.

I am US citizen only and booked a flight from IGR to AEP on Aerolinas Argentinas using despegar. Is it possible that my ticket will not be valid? For the record when I go the Aerolinas website and put in my info it says that it is confirmed but for some odd reason although at first my credit card had been charged by aerolinas, now the charge is not there.

Using Aerolineas is a really different experience. I have many stories. Here is the one that is closest.

A year ago I went to bariloche. My argentine friends bought my ticket from AEP to bariloche. On the way back they asked for my ID I handed over my US passport being a boludo and they noticed I had the resident fare. Not only did they cancel my ticket but I could not buy a full fare first ticket that day. I ended up staying overnight and paying a ridiculous amount to get back the next day.

Moral of the story is don't mess with the resident fares. You may or may not get away with it. I speak passable Castellano for the first ten sentences jaja!

I suggest you call your Bank and see what happened. If the charge was first posted and then it was credited back, chances are that the Despegar.com website figured out that someone with a non-Argentine credit card was purchasing a resident only fare, and the chances of this being done by someone that can use those fares are slim....

In any event, if you are able to get the charge through and you get a ticket confirmation, the bottom line is that you are rolling the dice. You may get away with this, but it must also be said that if you get a check-in agent that wants to look into the details of your fare, you risk being asked to cough up a fare difference, or could be denied boarding.... its a Pandora Box. There is no scientific way of knowing what the odds are for this working... the more optimistic ones will tell you there is a very small chance of you getting caught, others will opine otherwise.

Rather than place the odds, I think that you need to ask yourself if you are open to the potential fallout of getting caught.... if you are OK with the possible consecuences, then go for it. If you think that getting caught has the potential to cause relevant disruptions to your schedule then perhaps you need to do the math on the potential additional costs that could be involved, and if the entire situation is not enough to put a serious dent in your holiday experience.

I think its a good idea to make an informed decision...

If you care to come back and report what you will do and how it goes, that would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Gaucho100K

Sorry for what happened... but thank you for reporting your story.

It puts a real case on the table for others to see and assist them in their decision. Thanks for being so candid about the outcome, and kudos to you for taking it with the right perspective... I see reactions to things like this that are all over the place (and many of them are simply wrong and not justified), but you seem to have taken the high road and should be commended for it... ^

Aside from the risk of booking a resident only flight what do you guys think about the fact the Aerolinas had charged my cc when I booked through despegar but the charge later fell off for some reason. On their web site my flight seems to still be confirmed.

Confirmed doesn't mean it's ticketed though.....you need to have a ticket number for that.

The charge was probably just a authorisation/pending charge similar to the ones hotels put on your card when you check-in.

Did you see my post above....? And of course the follow up by His Excellency just before this post....

If you think you still have a seat, I suggest you call Aerolineas and see what a Telephone Rep tells you about your reservation situation.... I would also ask them if they show the status as ticketed, but if your bank is telling you that your card has no current valid charge then you already know what happened.

One thing I have noticed.......

It is sometimes possible for 'outsiders' to get the same resident fare if you book early enough on some routes. Once those fares are gone and my guess is there are very few of them then you will be forced to pay into a higher fare bucket while residents can still book the cheaper fare.

Things are going to get worse...just recently been announced that domestic fares will rise 10-30%.

I just called aerolinas and my ticket which was charged to my cc when I booked with despegar and then the charge fell off, is fully confimed and ticketed. So wierd. Wondering what to do now as this seems to be literally a free ticket. As far as the resident fare buisness I am flying from Puerto Iguazu if that makes a difference as I hear they are nicer there and I will not be checking luggage.

Correct. My observation has been that fare increases as it comes closer and the flight is progressively filled up. I booked my ticket with Expedia on my last trip to Argentina in August 2011 for travel in February 2012.

As I booked so far in advance, I needed some flexibility and difference between the fully flexible economy fare and AR's Club Economy was <5%. I booked Club Economy.

Please also note the baggage allowance for economy class is only 15kgs (5kgs for cabin bag) when flying AR domestically within Argentina. That was another reason for me to book Club Economy with 30kgs allowance.