Arriving at EZE, connecting to AEP
 

I'm scheduled on a American Airlines JFK-EZE flight that gets in at 9:35am on a Friday morning. We're sitting in the middle of the coach section on the 777. I'm considering making a LAN airlines reservation for 1:35pm flight to Iguazu that same day.

Have I allowed enough time to clear immigration, pick up luggage, go through customs, hail a cab to AEP, check-in, go through security, and make my flight? How much of a buffer zone do I have in case my flight arrives late?

Have done this in Nov/Dec. 2006:
Walk to immigration ............ 15 min
Immigration........................ 40 min
Baggage............................ 15 min
Customs............................ 10 min
Get ARS from ATM............... 10 min
To taxi.............................. 5 min
To city.............................. 45 min .... to AEP same or a little more.

You have plenty of time, even if the plane is late.
I took a (old/lousy) taxi from the booth outside the terminal building. Next time I would get a (better) car/taxi (?) from the companies inside the terminal.
If you can, visit also the Brazilian side of the falls, it's nice too!

Being a local what USAFAN says is quite right.
Once you leave customs and the doors open, get a car from Manuel Tienda Leon, they are the most famous and respected company.
Don`t worry, and enjoy it!

For getting your local currency, I suggest you exchange a few USDs at the Banco de la Nacion Argentina. Please, do not use the Global Exchange booth that is available at the baggage claim area, as their rates are highway robbery. If you dont need pesos (in case you are going straight to Chile), then please note that Manuel Tienda Leon will gladly accept USDs.

Yes, use Banco de La Nacion!
 

I second that.. The local bank rates in the street are at about 3.08 to 3.12 and the last time I was at EZE (last week in Jan to pick up my wife) Global exchange was buying the US$ for about 2.82 (a whopping 26 ARP cent profit per dollar), though they claim not to charge commission or fees (because it's built into their fees).

The Banco de La Nacion is just behind the vendor booths as soon as you walk out of the security area. Simply make a right after exting the white doors and a u-turn when you finish walking through the reception area (basically walking back beside the white booths.

Any taxi company inside the booths will accept US$, just be sure to do your own calculation on their exchange rate.

Also, for those of you renting apartments in Buenos Aires, please note that most of the upscale supermarkets will take USD cash, and will even offer you a respectable exchange rate. This is a good way to break USD 100 bills and get Peso change. We shop at the Jumbo hipermarket in Palermo and sometimes pay in USD.

Plenty of time. Some of the car services thake credit card also, so you don't have to worry about changing at the airport.

One additional tip... if your incoming flight happens to be delayed, if upon deplaning you are faced with a huge immigration cue, make sure to advance to the special line for crew and diplomats and explain the situation, they will accomodate you.

I also noticed that the Coto supermarket chain was accepting euro notes.

One thing to make sure of is that foreign notes need to be in good shape -no tears or defacement.

John

Been there, done that---plenty of time. You can grab an affordable Manuel Tienda shuttle right there if you dont' get a chance to nail it online.

Do only LAN and Aerolineas Argentinas fly AEP-IGR? It appears no one departs from EZE.

Maybe someone has a suggestion for what I'm trying to do. I have a business award with a stopover in GIG, connecting to EZE with a stopover, and then flying back to the States. Before leaving I want to visit Iguassu.

• Plan A: When I arrive in EZE, connect to AEP-IGR. This won't work because there's only 45 minutes before the last flight out.
• Plan B: After visiting Buenos Aires, go to Iguassu on my last 2 days. Fly home going IGR-AEP/EZE-JFK. I'll have a long layover and should be OK.
• Plan C: Make it an open jaw. Buy GIG-IGR nonstop on TAM. Cross with my luggage and stay on the Argentina side. After 2 days, depart IGU-EZE on LAN.
• Plan D: Same as C but connect through GRU or CWB

Plan B seems the easiest

Plan C minimizes travel. However I don't know how much trouble it is to get from IGU to, for example, the Sheraton on the Argentina side. It sounds easy, but I'm unsure. This would cost me $200 more than the other options (between 2 passengers).

Plan D: Same price as B, but saves no travel time. (I'm also giving up a business segment by doing this)

To update:

My AA SFO-JFK flight was on time. The JFK-EZE plane mech'ed and was replaced by an inbound 777 from LHR. We ended up departing around 2.5 hrs late and touched down at EZE at 11:30am. We went through immigration and customs, exchanged money at Global Exchange (yes, I know they have horrible rates but we were in a rush!), and took a remise to AEP.

We arrived at AEP around 1:20pm for a 1:35pm LAN flight. Needless to say, we did not make that flight. We bought a walkup fare to AEP-IGR on Aerolineas Argentinas for $117USD that departs 1 hr later. Then we got a refund for the AEP-IGR portion of our LAN roundtrip ticket (less $30).

So we got to IGR on the same day. On the way back IGR-AEP, we had lots of problems at LAN checkin counter because of the refund for the AEP-IGR segment. The agent had to go to the back office for more directions, and finally after around 20 minutes or so, she issued boarding passes (with the same ticket number).

The lessons I learned:
1. leave tons of time between connections in case something goes wrong
2. refundable tickets are nice if you can afford them
3. travel insurance is especially helpful if you book connecting flights on two separate airlines (it will cover my $30 non-refundable fee).
4. run run run, even though you think you can't make it (well, this was only because my EZE-MIA arrived 2 hrs late and I had to make it through immigration, customs, security in less than one hour to make my MIA-SFO flight).