Southernwinds - Any Good?
 

Has anybody flown Southernwinds from Argentina? They are a new GlobalPass partner.

They are a good quality airline - have flown them domestically within Argentina. I believe they also fly from EZE to MAD and MIA. All-leather seating and above average legroom are some of the perks. They also participate in AAdvantage.

Is it a one class airline?

I don't know how good they are but I have seen a picture that shows one of their aircraft embedded into a terminal building when the aircraft was parked without being chocked and the parking brakes released.

Has anyone managed to get an award ticket on Southerwinds? Just curious as I'm going to attempt to book a friend an award ticket from Cordoba to Miami. It's either that or a tough 3 segment trip to Orlando on Taca.

I tried but GP must book this directly with the airline. I was told this airline has different redemtion levels than other airlines and also has seasonal fare levels. I have been waiting a week to find out how many miles it will take to go from Buenos Aires to Iguazu.

cyberg,
Idon't know if prices have gone up over the past year--but I found internal Argentina flights to be ridiculously cheap. I think it was under $100 from Buenos Aires to Iguazu. For that price I wouldn't hassle with getting an award ticket out of GP!

Enjoy your trip whatever you decide. I really enjoyed my month in Argentina (courtesy of LP).

Stephlac,

I have found fares that are as cheap as you speak of but they are only available to residents of Argentina. Were you able to get one of these tickets when you were there. Did you book locally.

Hi cyberg,
Yes, I booked the tickets locally through a travel agent that happened to be owned by the hotel I was staying in. I didn't have any trouble booking or using the tickets. I flew all over Argentina and spent a pittance. Actually, now that I think of it all of the travel agents were advertising cheap fares and packages. In fact I was considering flying to South Africa (being in the southern hemisphere already!) but didn't have the time to make it worthwhile.

I wonder if they have instituted some kind of two-tiered pricing for locals and foreigners since the devaluation? I was there relatively soon after the devaluation. I haven't heard anything about this, though. Please let us know if you can find any more about this. I'd also be curious about your ability to get internal Argentina tickets out of GP. Please post!

Thanks,
Stephen

LP/GP responded this morning to my email request made yesterday for award seats on Southerwinds from Cordoba, AR to Miami. Quite an impressive turnaround. I have to call them to confirm the itinerary and make arrangements for paying fees and delivery.

Good job. Hopefully the remaining pieces of the process will go as smoothly.

I received yesterday my award tickets for next month on Southern Winds. This is for travel commencing on July 14th, so all is cool to get them to the party in Argentina (ticket is for a friend flying to the US).

Latinpass/Globalpass handled the matter extremely well. They were booked in T class for 60,000 miles, which is economy. I asked for business class if available as it was only 20,000 miles more, but ah well. The taxes came to $48.90, this for Argentina origination. The package was delivered via UPS. The ticket itself was issued on Souther Winds stock.

The only problem with itineraries on SW is that if you are continuing beyond Buenos Aries you need to connect from EZE to Aeroparque for the domestic portion.

To Miami and Madrid they are three-class. Standard Economy with a class-leading 35-inch pitch, a premium economy (Surf Class) that features true business class seats (not spruced up economy seats with legrests) with economy class service and 45-inch pitch, and a true business class service with 60-inch pitch and almost full-flat seats.