Transit through Argentina
 

Hi all,

Hope this is the correct place to be posting this!

For convoluted reasons I'm flying London to Sao Paolo, via Buenos Aires; have a 6 hour layover at EZE before my flight to Sao Paolo.

I'm also eyeing the diminishing number of free pages of my passport vs. the stack of bookings I have between now and January with caution, and wondering if I need to execute a speedy renewal.

Is it possible to stay airside the whole time I'm in EZE and avoid my passport getting stamped?

Thanks in advance!

In my experience transit passengers are usually segregated when you come off the airbridge. Exiting passengers to the left transit to the right.

Great - thank you!

The Argentine stamp isnt very big.... there is no rule against multiple stamps in your passport so my guess is you will be fine even if you leave the sterile area. Six hours in EZE, thats very close to extreme tourture, the lounges are horrid.

If I were you, I would have my bags checked through and grab a cab, and had into town for a nice meal, and then return to the airport. Yes, it will be an investment in the transportation but if you are able to spend the extra cash I would go for this.... if you can, hire a car by the hour and have the same driver wait for you and take you back.... ;)

My advice might be similar, or it might not.

What is the hour of your arrival/departure? Depending on the time of day, I'd recommend you return to EZE 2 hours prior to your flight, even if you are checked in. Also, your arrival formalities could last between 15 minutes and an hour depending on crowds.

Are you on one ticket or two? If on two, there will definitely be a departure tax on the connecting ticket. If on one, I don't know if it is charged, and if you go landside and then try and get back out to the gates (and if it isn't charged on connecting flights), you'll have to arrange to get it paid, otherwise you'll have an issue when the BP is scanned just prior to your departure formalities. (Does anyone here know the answer to this Q?)

So, your meal will end up costing approx. US$80 (RT taxi) + possibly US$29, plus the cost of meal. Plus, you'll have 2 more passport stamps ;)

If you stay at EZE, you will have a quick transit security, and no migracion formalities. This means you'll be @ EZE a long long time, which is a horrible place to be. I don't know if perhaps a better selection of a place to eat has opened in the new C gates.

6 hours is a bit of an awkward length of time to be gallivanting from EZE. As you'll have to make sure you get back in time to clear security/immigration and take into account any traffic hold ups I'm not so sure it's worth the hassle or expense to be honest.
It depends which lounge you have access to.......they aren't great but the only really horrible one I've been in was the Amex one. The United and Admirals Club ones are perfectly okay. I haven't been in the IB lounge so can't comment.
EZE isn't the worst airport in the world to be spending six hours in you can still find a quiet corner somewhere if you don't want to spend all your time in a lounge and people watching is always fun while having a coffee.

There have been some construction lounge mix-ups so old advice might no longer be accurate re: IB and AA. IB has moved to the other side of A, close to H Stern. AA is now in C (probably an old scrap of B, and likely the old AR lounge).

The new AR/SkyTeam lounge at EZE isn't bad, but it wouldn't be great for so many hours either. The AmEx lounge is great if you have the Centurion card, good with their Plat card, and otherwise not so good.

I land at 7.35am, depart 1.50pm, all on one ticket. In other circumstances I would be up for a quick dash into BA as I've never visited, but getting my passport renewed is going to be more complicated than it's worth.

I once spent 7 hours in St Louis airport (IRROP, not through choice)... So I'm sure I'll cope. Thank you for the feedback!

Wow.... you have a Centurion Card...???? :eek:

OK, you seem to have set your mind to staying at the airport and thats fine. I guess Im not understanding just how little real estate you have left in your passport because I cant see why two stamps will make a difference. Immigration is notorious for leaving blank space in used pages so I seem to always find a used page with plenty of room for new stamps..... (???) In any event, as long as you have the right attitude, your BA Gold Card will get you into a lounge so you should be able to survive the layover.

Cheers,
Gaucho100K

After I get the visas I'm going to need between now and January - no completely blank pages left. But yes, there is space for smaller stamps on a few other pages; I'd just rather minimise the hassle during a very busy travel period for me. It's going to need renewing sooner rather than later, I'm trying to make that as 'later' as possible. :)

Cant you just order new pages in your current passport? or do they not do that anymore?

Can't be done for UK passports (now at least, I'm not sure Whether it could in the past). Choice is a renewal or apply for a 2nd passport. Both are additional complications in life, that to me would make sense to avoid where possible until I am at home for any extended period of time.

Thank you all for the feedback! I'll let you know if I discover a nice haven in EZE.

Even worse is 9 hours in an AC in ORD/JFK/DFW.

You cant be serious.... :rolleyes:

EZE is a lousy airport with no decent dining options, at best you have overpriced and horrid snacks, the shopping is pathetic at best, the lounges are at best basic. All the above airports you quote are far better in all of the aspects I note, I simply cannot understand in what way you find any of the noted three airports to be worse than Ezeiza.

At least in EZE they don't charge for food in the lounges that there are.
The shopping in NYC is overpriced compared to SFO duty free (and that's only within America)
In EZE I never did any duty free though as I bought my stuff in the city and claimed tax refund.

The prior post was 9 hours "in an AC" - and for that, perhaps the EZE AC better than the others, because in EZE, the chips, olives, and cheese and cracker bits are unlimited, and complimentary, with your visit. This is not to mention the vat of canned fruit cocktail. It is almost a buffet that your grandmother would have loved, should Clifton's be closed. :o

Food being the key word... what they serve at the EZE louges is hardly "food".... its more like high dosage of salt, sugars, trans fats and a variety of preservatives & food colorings - all packaged as "foods". I dunno, I guess Im very picky with what I eat. I love my junk food, but there is the real thing junk food and then you have the industrial processed crap.... in my view, you get only the latter at EZE. Free or not.... I wont touch the stuff. Just my 2 cents.

You do have to admit that the refined carbs in the crackers are better than getting said carbs from Bud Light/Coca Cola.

Food in 75% of airport Biz lounges around the world consist of nibbles and shouldn't be relied upon to feed your hunger. As long as they have coffee, booze and cheese then I'm happy.
EZE lounges are a bit Jekyll and Hyde.....during the day they are quiet and peaceful (what I expect most in a lounge) but in the evening can be horribly busy and no matter what food they served will not be pleasant places to be in. The TAM lounge at GRU is a fine example of this....ghastly place.

Give me a simple quiet lounge than a crowded food fest of a lounge any day.

Another option (although one that would involve you getting your passport stamped - but honestly, don't most Latin American passport stampers just stamp over existing stamps anyway?) would be to leave the airport and take the #8 bus from the parking lot to the nearby town of Ezeiza (about five minutes away) for lunch. You can grab the bus or a local taxi back to EZE. It's not a particularly exciting town by any stretch of the imagination, but there's a nice little plaza with some restaurants, and you can breathe some fresh air rather than be stuck in a terrible airport for an entire day.

I can't imagine voluntarily hanging out at EZE for six hours. At least in the town you can eat something that's more likely to be healthy, fresh, and not cost airport prices.

They did that on my HK passport when I entered Mexico over a few UAE stamps.
(My Canadian one has 35 pages used and more than a year of validity.)