Yes I've read before that you don't have to pay the fee if transiting within a certain time.....although I've yet to see written proof of this.
Trouble the OP has is convincing UA of this......their only concern is that you meet their boarding requirements for the EZE flight. Travelling on separate tickets won't help either.

Please keep us informed on how this goes.... it will be interesting to see what the airlines do, I have little hope that the authorities would show flexibility but perhaps Im wrong... (???)

Just an update in my observation (as someone who has paid his fee already within the first months of collection at Ezeiza)...

I flew into EZE via LHR from BLQ on my US passport today, and was expecting BA to check my documents either in BLQ or LHR, given the recent requirement that the reciprocity fee be paid prior to arrival. No one ever did on this trip. AA most certainly did our of JFK the last couple times I've flown down from there, so it surprised me that BA didn't seem to have a check in place before boarding.

Then, during the flight down from London last night, cabin crew actually made an announcement that if there were any Australian, Canadian or US passengers who had not already paid the Argentine reciprocity fee, could they please make themselves known to crew so that British Airways ground staff at Ezeiza could meet them. This announcement seemed to suggest to me that there must certainly be some way of the airline dealing with passengers still needing to pay the fee upon arrival at Ezeiza, but it also surprised me that BA seems to be addressing such passengers only once they're in flight, rather than doing a document check prior to boarding.

Obviously, none of this directly affected me, but I was almost curious enough to ask the cabin crew just what they need to do with passengers who require proof of fee payment in order to enter Argentina, but who don't have it by the time they are already sitting on the 13-14 hour flight from London...

Very interesting indeed... thanks for posting this. I too have to wonder how BA deals with this.... perhaps its cheaper for BA to pay the fee for some pax that "forgets" rather than have to face deportation costs because they failed to check docs properly at LHR....?????

My recent (i.e., less than an hour ago) LAN check-in had a link to pay the Argentina fee, even though I wasn't checking in for any segments to Argentina (but the trip contains EZE later in the itinerary).

Presumably all that would be necessary is for BA to facilitate passengers' access to a computer with an internet connection to make the payment and print a receipt before proceeding to immigration.

BA could bring a laptop with a cellular connection and and portable printer or perhaps they might just take the passengers' information/credit card number and process it themselves.

On my last two flights from the US, UA has checked for the payment both at (physical) check-in at SFO, and again at the departure gate at EWR.

Paper fee, ink surcharge,etc - I'm sure BA can turn a real-life captive audience into a profit centre

Just a follow up to my observation in June, updated with the experience of my arrival last Monday on the BA245...

Once again, no document checks anywhere along the way (not in LHR, not in NCE), and somewhere in the vicinity of an hour or two before landing (or maybe earlier - I don't remember precisely), the CSD comes on to announce that he's just "received a message" from the Ezeiza ground staff, that any passengers from Australia, Canada and "America" who have not yet paid the "100 dollar fee" to enter Argentina, will need to do so immediately on disembarking the aircraft. He said it a couple times in a couple different ways, and kind of stumbled with the details (including getting the amount wrong, as it is of course not 100 dollars).

The whole way of dealing with it struck me as rather odd - indeed the way he prefaced it as having just received a text from Ezeiza made it sound as though it somehow might have been completely and totally unexpected (which by now it certainly should not be). This flight also has at least one Buenos Aires based cabin crew member (who was delightful and remembered us from a previous flight), and it sort of surprised me that they'd have a CSD who clearly didn't know much about the fee explain rather than have the crew member who would have operated this flight dozens of times since the advance-payment requirement came into being make the announcement. :)

There were a number of BA ground staff at the top of the jetway, and I would guess they are the ones who would have been there to assist any disembarking passenger who had not paid the fee (although they were not saying anything to that effect - any passenger(s) who had forgotten to pay in the first place would have had to remember upon seeing them, I suppose).

All in all, rather bizarre (and I've now observed something like this 2 out of 2 times on the BA245). I wonder if any other operators handle in the same way, or if BA is on their own with this one. :confused:

I suppose as it's a reciprocity fee rather than an actual visa then as long as there is a facility provided on arrival for those who have to pay it then BA probably don't view it as being serious enough to check all pax especially those who are connecting at T5.
If that facility should become unavailable then I'm sure they would change procedures.

I was in Argentina last August 2012. When we landed, I paid some fee but I don't remember how much. It was over $100. I now have a sheet of paper glued in my passport with a activation date and an expiration date almost 10 years later. No where does it say entry visa or reciprocity fee or even mention Argentina. It just has the dates, my name, USA, a bar code and my passport number. Is this the reciprocity fee? Anyone have a clue?

If you paid the fee in 2012 then you are good to go.....

Yes it is. You were probably stamped into Argentina on the opposite page, which might be evidence you will need to argue with a GA that the white sticker is proof that you have already paid the reciprocity fee.

ADDED: Some refer to these plain white stickers from last year as coming from the "blank" period. For some discussion of this, go to the main sticky thread in this forum that discusses the reciprocity fee, especially IIRC posts #38, #45, and #59.

How many days in advance of arrival does one have to have paid their reciprocity fee? I am awaiting the arrival of my UK passport but if it doesn't arrive before my departure, then I will have to use my Canadian passport and pay the reciprocity fee. I hope to wait until the last minute.

AFAIK just long enough to have the printout of the receipt with barcode before you try to check a bag or otherwise first show travel documents to a GA or other airline employee. I guess you could risk doing this in an airport airside lounge or business center if you're not checking a bag.

However, do not assume that the website will work from every computer. It seems to like IE and dislike most other browsers. There could also be printer problems.

Thanks for this advice since I run a Mac and only have Safari and Firefox. May have to see if any friends have IE or hope that my UK passport arrives in time.