planes getting spa breaks
 

I have always wondered why the South America planes get such a long day turnaround ..arrive 7am and leave 945pm....

Do the South America flights need a spa break? Is there a special eye gel under those orange engine covers?????

I am familiar with most of the turnaround schedules of DL on the east/west/east/west routes on domestic and international flights. I would think the SA routes must be costing DL and all the airlines who run that route alot for the hohum time lost in the SA runway parking lots....

Am I missing something?

Hi Dede... Ive always wondered the same. My only guess is that maybe PM connections & feeder flights are not as abundant in North America...? It seems like the US carriers want their birds back from South America early in the morning... again, this is just a wild guess on my part.

Either that or maybe its a crew issue...? If they had immediate turn-around, wouldnt they have to have an additional crew in EZE...? Again, another wild guess on my part.

Sorry Gaucho100k....clicked too fast.....

Good point about the flight crews mandatory time off and there is little fluidity on those deep SA routes from eastern USA...perhaps better with other carriers than DL....Not up to snuff on it all...Need to read FT more, I guess...

Thinking about you and soon to arrive Gaucho101K?^:D

LAN says they can award AA miles for my MIA to EZE flight. The business class costs for the two are about the same. I guess if neither the AA nor LAN direct flights to EZE are upgraded seats then I am comparing old vs old. I don't care quite as much about the cost or the miles, I am hoping to just pick the most enjoyable ride down to EZE.

Copa MIA to EZE
 

Can anyone explain how COPA's 737 service in J, mia to panama, to eze during the day can possibly be equal to or as some claim better than AA's 777 service non stop to eze.
It is still a 737, with " equivalent to CO's domestic first, ( no big deal) with a stopover all during the day.

and yes i read the 'trip report" it really doesnt sound good at all.

I've taken CM's CE service to EZE (Originating at LAX, I think), and it was decent, but nothing to brag about. It was a 50k award a few years back. The service returning was quite horrible, however. Arrived at the airport in EZE for my trip back to the US. They said, "Oh, we don't fly to LAX today". Wanted to add an additional day onto the flight. Since I had to work, it wasn't a real option. They put me on the AA flight in the evening. I show up that night, and AA won't accept the CM voucher since it's fill out for the wrong fare class for AA.

A real nightmare.

I have never heard that claim, but I would think that is ludicrous even though I have never been on an American Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft.

I think MONITOR in post 1828 ( which you responded to by posting a link to your trip report) says that he picked COPA over AA because of excellent reviews ( by you) and to "arrive fresh" certainly seems like a claim by monitor that COPA business in a 73 is better than AA's 777

Sadly, I never finished that trip report.

I think that nytango is reading some things into my post that simply were not there. All that I was saying was that the flights were daytime and, in general, I arrive fresher from an all day flight than I do from an all-night flight. In no way was I claiming that the CM service was superior to the AA, altho I have been greatly unimpressed with the AA 767 C class seating and service over the years.

Additionally, there is a not insubstantial group that does not like to take redeyes and I was simply mentioning that for them this would appear to be an alternative. I am not of that group since I take the overnighters six or eight times a year (always in business or first), but I thought that I would try this 1) as a novelty and 2) because it was peachy easy to land an award ticket for my exact dates on the routing MIA-SCL and EZE-MIA.

And since I know Canarsie quite well and since neither of us ever feels a need to take the most deluxe service available, I had no qualms about booking the CM service because he had found it to be completely acceptable. If I do strongly disagree with him after my trip (which is highly unlikely), you will notice such disagreement in this thread or on the one he started on the CO board.

Now I am more confused.
1)You are saying that by taking a 15+ hour flight Mia at 8:30am arrive EZE 1040pm with connection in PTY in a 737 w/ domestic first equivalent one can arrive more "refreshed" than by taking an 8 hour non stop arriving at 6am. (remember this "red eye" as you call it encounters no time difference)
2) and you are now adding a stop in SCL
Have fun and I am sure when you finally get to your hotel hopefully at between midnight and 2am you will be very refreshed.

Please note I have very good reasons to be upset and unhappy with AA on this route (US- EZE) but I still wouldnt consider your routing. Actually to the point of giving up AAstatus and switching to CO. My last flight in J two weeks ago were a nightmare.

Need some suggestions regarding our trip in Feb 08
 

Today I booked a South America / Antarctica 16 day cruise that sails on Feb 19, roundtrip EZE.

This is our first trip to South America. We are very excited, needless to say.

I have spent the whole evening going thru the thread from Page 80... whew!

Questions for the experts here:

1) We naturally prefer to arrive at least a day early, to make sure we would not miss the ship. Though it seems all AA flights arrive EZE in the morning. Initially we plan to use AA miles for premium cabin seats, but now because we each have some AA $$$ credit we need to burn, well above coach class but not enough for premium cabin, we would just buy the coach tickets and see if we can upgrade...

I read someone posted about the flight from DFW on 763 is better... Ironically MIA/DFW/EZE is better priced than MIA/EZE direct... Even MIA/JFK/EZE is cheaper than MIA/EZE, despite added cost for a connection airport. Strange pricing by AA. The only problem I see is the long layover at DFW. What would you guys think, take the direct MIA/EZE or fly backward to connect at either DFW or JFK?

2) How many days we should allocate to explore EZE, given we dont have time constraint? Is it better to do it Pre- cruise, since we would prefer to arrive early anyway?

I could use pts to stay at US chain hotels, but rather prefer to try the good local hotels in mid price range in good neighborhoods. We would really appreciate some recommendations for local hotels. Also is Puerto Madero a good area to stay at because I just realize there is a Holiday Inn Express offers excellent point stay value.

3) The cruise will visit Montevideo as a port of call. Therefore we dont need to do a side trip for that. Given this, is it Colonia still worth a daytrip?

4) We do not plan to go Iquazu Falls given the time of the year. However, we are curious about Salta.

I look at LAN website, it has EZE to Salta at Meno Flexibilidad fare of 394 + 69.4 tax = $463.40 - Tarifa: Valores en Pesos Argentinos. so it is approx $154 USD?

Many pages ago some posters mentioned about they rented cars and drove to Salta and the surrending environs. I am not sure if they started from Buenos Aires for their driving trip. Is this a feasible option? If so, it would give us opportunities to experience more of the country.

I can think of many more questions later, but for the time being, thank you very much for the thread and look forwards to everyone's input.

Holiday Inn Express " Puerto Madero" Not really in Puerto Madero, it is in Centro ( business district) not my choice location. I prefer Recoleta, or Palermo or even Puerto Madero itself but not Centro..

Flights. Not suprising about prices being lower mia dfw or jfk eze.
Jfk is very difficult to score upgrade Dfw better and Mia usually easiest as there are two flights day at least both 777's

How long is the layover and how much is price differential and is the "low" fare an upgradeable fare.. (beware of Q fares not upgradeable).

Since this is FT are miles important to you as dfw or jfk will add many miles.

The Holiday Inn Express Puerto Madero's location is not that bad. It's walkable to the heart of restaurants in Puerto Madero in less than 15 minutes, even if there's traffic slowing down the crossing of the roads. And a taxi from there to Puerto Madero proper is less than AR$7/US$2.5 if really lazy or not feeling comfortable about the walk at night/early morning.