Connecting in EZE (staying in transit)
 

Hey FTlers

I'll arrive in EZE on flight AC92 on June 11th and will connect to AF415. If AC is on time, I'll have two and a half hours.

Well, actually, the question is in two parts:

1) Will they check-in my luggage all the way from SCL?
2) Do I get a BP for AF415 in SCL already, or do I find a Transfer Desk somewhere in EZE and will two and a half hours be enough to connect?

If you arrive on time, you are more than ok... 2.5 hours is more than enough even if you dont have through bpass and you have to collect bags and re-check. In principle, if you remain in transit EZE will not force you to immigration and there is an internal transfer desk that should be able to accomodate you.

Quick question, what is the segment you are flying out from EZE... and, sorry for the dumb question, but if AF = Air France...?

It may help if you posted your complete one leg journey with the segments so I can reconcile what you are asking exactly. Upto now, Im guessing you are incoming on an Air Canada flight to EZE and are connecting to Santiago de Chile on an Air France flight... so I have to assume its an Air France flight from Paris that has a stop in EZE and continues to SCL.... again, Im guessing here.

Sorry to not be of more immediate help.

Cheers Gaucho

My complete itinerary is as follows:

11JUN AC92 SCL - EZE (Air Canada)
Departing SCL at 11:35, arriving EZE at 14:35

connecting to

11JUN AF415 EZE - CDG (Air France)
Departing EZE at 17:05, arriving CDG at 11:00

connecting to

12JUN AF990 CDG - JNB (Air France)
Departing CDG at 23:15, arriving JNB at 9:35

I'm new to this, but have a similar question so thought I should join this thread. Correct me if I'm in the wrong place.
I also am connecting in EZE from JFK on Aerolineas Argentina. I am changing planes at EZE to go on to Calafate also on AR. I am meeting someone in EZE who will be joining me on the Calafate connection.
As I am unfamiliar with EZE and am traveling on an airline known for its delays I have several questions about connecting:

I as I understand it, the arrivals and departures are in different terminals, are they close by?
Will I have to go through immigration in BA or in Calafate?
Do cell phones work in this airport?

Thanks for your help.

Cell phones work, as long as your home carrier offers roaming service in Argentina, you will be OK. Domestic departures will be in the other Terminal, but they are very close by. From your post Im assuming you are on a single ticket issued by AR, so if they have issues they will have no choice but to accomodate you.

I understand you will have to go through immigration in EZE, not sure about customs. I suggest you ask ground staff on the issue of your bags once you are on the ground in EZE (even if they are checked through).

I'm connecting in EZE (LA int'l in/out). Can I stay in transit? BTW, is smoking still allowed airside/in lounges at EZE?

Thanks

JFK-EZE on DL + EZE-MVD on AA
 

I'm flying JFK-EZE on DL and then want to get on the AA flight EZE-MVD.

• Is it possible for me to remain airside in EZE?
• Do I need to go through passport control and immigration in EZE?
• Is one hour sufficient to change from the inbound DL to the outbound AA flight?
• Do I need to change terminals in EZE?

- No
- Yes
- Try to be the first to step out of the plane
- EZE is a small airport. From one terminal to the other is a 5 min walk

Cheers

Sorry to digress... but if you have an in transit connection, I dont see why you would not be allowed to stay airside. Furthermore, since you are not going to enter Argentina, there is technically no need for you to clear immigration and customs... unless they now are doing a MercoSur entry in which case this may/would apply. Remember, MVD = Montevideo, Uruguay.

Every time I arrive from North America, there is an airline agent asking about connecting flights to Uruguay... such as the case mentioned here, and all the time folks with such connections are not sent to immigration.

Heramato, maybe you have some new information on this and would care to elaborate... but its my understanding that there is no need to leave the sterile area to make this connection.

Just make sure DL checks your baggage all the way through to MVD. Otherwise you will have to go through customs, reclaim your luggage, and check in with AA pay your departure tax, clear security etc etc etc.

Sam

So I guess the trick would be to get my AA boarding pass from DL or print it out in NYC via aa.com before I depart JFK. That way when I land in EZE, I can simply look for the gate agent, ask for the AA flight's gate, and head that way. I won't have any checked bags, so that part (at least), should be OK.

Do you know if the AA flight to MVD leaves from the same terminal (or sterile area) as the DL flight arrives at?

Indeed... I was assuming the OP was clear on the checking through of bags, but as Sam correctly points out, if you dont (or cant) check the bags through, then you will at least have to do immigration. Im not clear on the issue of only doing immigration, claiming bags and instead of leaving through customs going to another airline desk... in theory this may save you a possible additional departure tax... but, you will have to reconfirm this with airline staff of your connecting carrier. They certainly have the power to escort you through the secure area and avoid your exit of the secure area, although I cant say if they would be willing to do so - or if according to airport regulations you would be allowed to do so.

Bottom line... even if you cant check your bags throught, if you arrive on time I would suggest you try to contact someone from your connecting carrier before going through immigrations, this may save you some hassle and have someone assist you with your transition to your final flight.

Yes.... AA and DL both operate in the same terminal, unless there is some major operational issue on the ground at EZE, they both operate next to each other so provided you get someone from DL to know you are there.... you should be taken care of. Please see my above post for details.

Gaucho100K, you are right. I just missed the MVD part and thought flospi was flying domestic. :confused:

Just curious if the OP (or anyone else) knows if AA has a counter to handle check-in in the transit area? I plan to fly SCL-EZE on LAN then EZE-MIA on AA. AA agents usually do not show up at the gate until one hour prior to departure. Thanks!

Go to the AA lounge. They'll issue your BP.

I bump this thread, hoping for some current information abount international transiting in EZE.
Currently I have two separate bookings which give me - if both flights are punctual - only like 20 mins. before the gate closes for an int./int. transfer in EZE.
I am travelling only with hand luggage and expect to have an online board pass for the connecting flight. Arriving with LH510 in F, continuing with KL701 in J (being Sky Plat).
Reasons why I thought this was a well, not good but at least acceptable idea is because LH510 is early/punctual, KL701 is often delayed and that I do not need to go through immigration.

Now with the int. departures terminal, I would need to walk from terminal A to this new int. departure terminal, which is supposedly only short walk.

Has anyone recent experience with int./int. transit in EZE? There is a transit security screening, right? What is your experience when walking from int. arrivals terminal to int. departure terminal?

There are no more lettered "terminals.". It is probably no more than 10 minutes from the furthest arrival gate to transit security and then back up to int'l departures.

Connecting airline will probably offload you for not being at gate a prescribed pre-departure time, and they'll probably be paging you again and again for doc check.

Where does the Doc check take place? Right at the gate? And is it necessary in each case? KL required me to provide all passport details in the booking, hence they should basically know whether I fulfil the entry requirements to Chile (no visa required for my citizenship). I expect to arrive with a mobile boarding pass.

Do I understand correctly that you see the transit security as bottleneck? Is there a fast track?
Assuming we arrive on time with LH510 and KL701 departs on time, there is 45-50 mins. Offloading should in my view only happen shortly before gate closing time, or is your experience that they offload people much earlier?

I doubt any airline would fly you to Chile without having physically reviewed your passport. I've been paged at the gate for various reasons (such as connecting on another airline and they've not seen my passport, or proof of onward travel if my ticket doesn't show onward travel). I don't think transit security is a bottleneck, although I've never taken that route.

If everything is on time, I still think you're hosed. Others may differ. I'd not risk this on separate tickets.

Thanks for your view, with which I do not completely disagree. Many things would need to turn out in my favor for making this connection.

But I'm having a hard time believing they would close the gate while we are standing like 2 meters there at the document check booth (travelling in J).
So either we are at the gate before gate closing time and then they can do the check right away, or we are late anyways and the gate is closed irrespectively whether the document check has been made or not.

I do have a backup connection, but the KL flight is much more favored for several reasons.

Per the KL website:

What time is last boarding?

Boarding closes around 15 minutes before scheduled departure.
Remember that KL does not know that you're even at the airport.

15 mins is even better, I calculated with 30 mins :-)

KL should know when checking in online. In my view, this is the same with any other pax that does OLCI at home and then goes straight to the gate.
According to the KL Plat hotline, OLCI for KL701 (only the segment EZE-SCL ticketed) should work. And I did not find any contradicting information so far.

Edit: KL Hotline says document check takes place either at (landside) check in or, when already being in transit at departing airport, at the gate. We'll see.

Different thought: would a VIP service be of help to make that transfer? Googled some of the offers, most of them offer either arrival or departure services, but some also transit service (but the transit service seems to be meant as combination of arrival and departure service, not the "rush support" I am looking for).

Nevertheless, I'll check it out. Does anyone have experience?

I'm not sure the VIP service covers your scenario. If you are a Skyteam Platinum, could you call KL and ask them to make a note on your booking so that staff at the gate wait for you? I've seen that work in the past. KL will definitely want to do a passport check at the gate in my experience but this shouldn't take more than a second.

I am also of the opinion that this is too tight, but please let us know how it worked in the end!

Agree that the VIP services I checked so far seem useless and rip you off quite good...
What I believe is most important is a fast track/dedicated/private line at the transfer security. Does anyone know, whether there is such a fast track? What I have not done so far is sending an eMail to AA2000 to see if they are able to help. Especially if we run only a few minutes late, it would greatly pay off to have somebody that can call the gate announcing us hurrying there.

I will definitely check if the Plat hotline is willing/able to make a note into the booking mentioning our short connecting time.

A minor but nevertheless positive aspect is that when making a mock booking for tomorrows flight (having provided all relevant information in the booking), I was able to complete the OLCI and receive the final BP, not just a checking confirmation or a document saying to pick up the BP at an agent. That means to me that if there is a passport/document check, it will happen at the gate, which should not be a showstopper.

Another question: when looking at the arrival and departure gates of LH510 and KL701, I see that both arrive and depart in "Terminal IA".
My understanding was that int'l departures is from the new international departures terminal while for arrivals there is an arrival terminal. So far, I imagined that as being two connected but separate buildings.
Considering both arrive and depart in "Terminal IA", does that mean that you stay within the same building but depart from a different level? That helps me to orient myself, whether I look for elevators/escalators or long hallways.
Unfortunately, I find only outdated maps of EZE (ifly.com for example).

Will definitely report whether we made the connection or not. Some elements are not in our hands, but I remain optimistic. If needed, I'll revert to my superpower of polite line pushing :)

I have never changed planes at EZE so I don't know if there is a fast-track access although I fear it is unlikely, I've seen the area and it is just a small corridor. You could probably check with AA2000 if their "fast pass" also applies to international transfers (note that it's not included with SkyPriority). I understand that all pax going from SCL to AMS will go through the connections security check at EZE, so you better leave the plane among the first!

No airside connection from domestic to international.

arrive domestic. Leave secure area. Walk to international terminal go through boarding pass scanner and then security. Then proceed to passport control. Then into the international terminal.

To follow up on whether the connection worked or not...
Flew it yesterday/today.
LH510 left FRA kinda on time and we arrived in EZE at 07:36 am local time (07:55 scheduled arrival). Then approx. 20 Minutes of taxi & airbridge manoevering. So we left the LH510 at 07:55 sharp. KL701 was marked on time, i.e. gate closure expected to be 08:25.

While inflight on LH510, I asked the purser, whether there is anything LH could do, helping us to make that connection. She sent our flight details and the details of the KL flight (different ticket, different alliance!) to the First Class Service team, asking for ground support in EZE. Before landing, she informed me a dedicated LH rep would pick us up. Very nice, but turned out to be rather useless...

Speeding towards transit security (LH rep couldn't/didn't want to match our speed), just to see that it was completely empty.
Passport check took 3 minutes, the security control 1 minute and then another few minutes walk to gate 10. Boarding hasn't had started and we were actually first in boarding zone 1.

All in all, it took 10 minutes from exiting LH510 until arriving at the gate of KL701. Quite happy that it worked out so well. Important was that LH510 left FRA on time, we flew F (deboarding as very first pax) and that the transfer security was empty.