The strike began last Saturday when some Aerolineas Argentinas´ employees were attacked by passengers who were angry due to frequent flight delays and cancellations.
Jorge Daniel Barchi.
Buenos Aires.
esterosdelibera
1
esterosdelibera
Previous report:
Posted: Saturday, June 09-07
I tried to leave Buenos Aires on Thursday... As a pilot I understand that the weather was terrible and with reduced radar coverage an issue for aircraft to land... Here are the facts as at 22:30 hours on Saturday night.
1. We left our hotel on Thursday morning at 07.30 hours to fly to El Calafate at 08.50am... As with most of the flights with Aerolineas Argentinas the departure board said 'Delayed' In our case until 11.00hrs... As this time approached, the board changed again to say 'Delayed'... After asking staff what was happening it turn out that our plane like others was not even at Jorge Newbery... It was difficult to obtain the right info from anyone. Nobody would make a decision... i.e. It took them hours to decide to cancel the flights. On Thursday, one did not need to be an Einstein to see that the fog was not going to clear as there was no wind.
2. After queuing for hours in the Aerolineas Argentinas sales queue, I met this guy that translated for me... The only flight leaving was a flight to Iguazu in 10 minutes, we change all our plans and decided on the spot to fly to Iguazu instead (We were not planning on doing this until next week). We arrived after dark.
3. LAN is opering as normal... I guess because the A320 is better equiped for poor weather than the Aerolineas Argentinas MD11's.
4. Anyway after 2 days in amazing Iguazu, we attempted to fly back with Aerolineas Argentinas this afternoon... 17.00 hours flight was cancelled, so we bought tickets on LAN... Somebody please tell me why the cost is double for non Argentinians (Surely this is illegal???).
5. NOW THE KILLER BLOW.... As at 17.30 hours until we left at 20.30 hours and probably continuing as I write this posting, Aerolineas Argentinas is now on strike... Why, well from what I can work out the ground crew were stressed about all the complaints and disgruntled passengers...
6. There are no Aerolineas Argentinas staff working in the departure area, there are only security guards at the counters... When we landed with LAN I saw around 20 MD11 Aerolineas Argentinas planes sitting on the Tarmac.
7. People are angry, we witnessed a near riot at the Aerolineas Argentinas sales office... which had 2 staff and around 100 people waiting... We gave up and checked into our hotel... I will deal with the refund when I get home.
8. We are going to attempt to get to Patagonia in the morning... If not, we will return to the hotel and go to plan F or whatever letter we are up to now? We are only in Argentina for 2 weeks.
9. Now the positive... As non Spanish speakers I have to say in all my years of travelling all over the world I have never met such a polite, kind and helpful group of people... Thank you. The amount of fantastic people that we have met in queue's and at the airport that have translated, been polite to us and so, so kind far outways the dissapointment with Aerolineas Argentinas...
Final word.... Aerolineas Argentinas is a National Disgrace, I accept that the weather was bad on Thursday and Friday and beyond anyone's control, but to go on strike now is beyond belief... However, the people we have met, just want me to return again next year and give it another shot!
Jorge Daniel Barchi.
Buenos Aires.
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