VERY confused about strange "never before" time change in Argentina???
 

So I ticketed my IAD-EZE flight on UA back in March of this year for travel in Feb of next year. Until a few days back, UA 847 was scheduled to leave IAD at 9:45pm and arriving EZE at 10:25am. Giving myself ample time I booked a domestic Aerolineas Argentinas 2:00pm flight from AEP across town (giving myself 3 hours and 25 minutes to get through immigration and shuttle across town).

Today I looked up the rez on the website. To my complete disbelief, UA 847 now arrives at 11:25am. I called UA and the agent was confused too... since a connection or stopover would cause a lot more than just a 1 hour difference. A time change was the only obvious explanation. She talked to her supervisor who said that Argentina had recently decided to change their time starting next year.
Really???!!!!

Then I looked at the Aerolineas website and my second flight still shows a 2pm departure.

Questions:

1. Is this the first time ever that Argentina is doing daylight savings? Otherwise wouldn't UA already have already known back in March when I originally ticketed?

2. Is 2:35 hours enough to jump between airports after passing through immigration at EZE (Assuming flight may be delayed)?

3. Can I save time by checking in online or does Aerolineas not allow this? Can Aerolineas cross reference my UA record to see that I am connecting?

4. THIS HAS TO AFFECT EVERY PASSENGER WHO IS CONNECTING IN ARGENTINA AND WAS ONLY MADE AWARE OF THIS TIME CHANGE IN THE LAST WEEK - BECAUSE ALL OTHER AIRLINES WILL STILL LEAVE THEIR ORIGIN CITIES AT THEIR ORIGINAL TIMES AND ARRIVE AN HOUR LATER. IS THERE ANYONE ELSE FACING THIS SITUATION?

Didn't see an Aerolineas forum so this was the next logical place to post.

Thanks

According to this article, the change was approved on Dec 28, and implemented today. That's just 2 days from approval to implementation

Argentine Congress OKs Time Change to Save Energy

ARGENTINA: December 28, 2007

BUENOS AIRES - Argentina's Congress approved a daylight savings measure late on Wednesday, part of a broader government plan to conserve energy as demand for power surges amid brisk economic growth.


Under the new law, which both houses of Congress passed the same day, the time in Argentina will jump forward an hour starting on Sunday. The clocks will turn back on March 16.

Argentine Congress OKs time change to save energy.

I assume you haven't been to EZE... I've only been there once, on UA847 2 yrs ago. Then, immigration was pretty quick, I'd guess less than 40 minutes from pulling to the gate to looking for my car driver. BUT- I don't check baggage so no idea how long that usually takes.

Traffic to downtown Buenos Aires can be smooth flowing, or pretty damn jammed up. 40 minutes would be ideal without traffic to get to where AEP is in the city.

So, 2:35 might be enough, might not be. Good luck.

Is this on the same PNR? If so, you could probably get your flights adjusted if you're worried.

Wow. UA was fast to make the changes!

When the US implemented the new DST dates, airlines were in an uproar because it would really mess up scheduling. I guess this is much worse given the short notice...

+1 for UA IT! ^^

My guess is not the IT people - it is probably the schedule people.

Fair enough. I'll give them one more ^ if I hear about pro-active flight adjustment as needed given this time change.

OP here - Thanks for the responses. Yes I have traveled to Argentina regularly in the past that's why I was concerned since 2:35 does not seem like a lot of time especially if there is a delay. Although my last trip was 2+ years ago. And no, my UA and AR flights are on completely separate reservations/tickets which do not talk to each other at all. That's why this is so messed up.

I have to believe that thousands of other international passengers would be affected - maybe they just haven't figured it out yet? How can Aerolineas keep their same schedules? Wouldn't they have to adjust too?

"National time zones" are in fashion in South America these days....:rolleyes:

Venezuela Resets Official Time By 30 Minutes

I first found out about the time change few days ago from this thread which started on 21 DEC:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=770694

According to this website:
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldcloc...=51&syear=2000
March 2000 was the last time Buenos Aires had DST.

I travel to Buenos Aires on the average every other month and almost always on UA 847. There is always traffic from EZE to AEP around noon time. The only exception based on my experience is during Argentine holidays, and may be on Saturdays and Sundays too.

All US carriers to EZE kept their deparuture and arrival time in US airports, thus pushing back their arrival and departure time in EZE by one hour. Aerolineas did not change your flight out of AEP because it is a domestic flight and the destination probably is in DST too.

Domestic schedules on AR are unaffected by the change to DST. But because of slot times, they have adjusted their arrival/departures times to international destinations as outlined here (in Spanish):

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/974752

John