Hello everyone! Welcome to my latest flight report.
By mid-2021 I found a good deal for domestic flights inside Argentina. I never flew with Jetsmart before, but I had read good reviews. The tickets I found was under 100 USD for a 3.5 hours flight (the longest domestic flight) with checked luggage and seat selection. A great deal.
So, let’s start with the report…
On the day of the flight, I arrived AEP at 00.30 on a shuttle from my city, which is a 4-hour drive. Because of it I almost didn’t sleep at all that night and I snoozed during the flight.

I hadn’t been here since 2019 when I flew LATAM Argentina (which doesn’t exist anymore) to Iguazu. The terminal area hasn’t changed a lot since then.

I had almost 2 hours to kill before they open the counter, so I found a nice comfortable seat near the counters (during the day the agents use this seat). So, all the time people came by asking me things, and I responded that I was just a passenger lol.
At 2.30 a line started forming on Jetsmart counters, there were 3 o 4 flights from this company at this time, so there were many people. But the agents hadn’t still arrived. Finally, at 3 am they came and they started receiving passengers. Many people seemed confused on which size of baggage they could bring on the cabin, some were arguing.

After dispatching my luggage, I went to the upper floor which is departures. The security check was smooth, and I still had almost an hour to start boarding.

Today´s flights

Now at AEP its mostly Aerolineas Argentinas. On my last time here, there were at least 6 domestic airlines operating here. Now there are only 3 of them.

Many people were sleeping, or trying to…like me lol.

At 4 am they started boarding the aircraft. They put you the number of boarding group on your boarding pass. Gate 11 doesn’t have a jetway. There is a stair that leads to the tarmac. There was a bus waiting to take us to a remote spot.


I love stairs boarding; you can spot the whole aircraft. It was the 3-year-old A320 LV-IVO (a.k.a. the Cardenal).
Inside the plane was ok. Pretty clean and pretty packed. I didn’t expect much comfort. But it shocked me that the seats do not recline. Not even a cm. I can deal with this…it’s not terrible for short flights. But for a 4 am flight it sucks!



On the back of the seat there was a QR code for the link to the buy on-board menu. You could buy hot and cold drinks, sandwiches, pastries. The prices were ok.
At 4.45 am the crew introduced themselves and gave the flight information. They all seemed very cheerful. And at 5 am we took off.
Had some nice views of Buenos Aires downtown area



When we reached cruise altitude I leaned on the window and slept.
I woke up when we were flying parallel to Tierra del Fuego Island, near Rio Grande city. We still had 30 minutes to arrive. The captain announced our descend.
Amazing views



Finally, we took off at 8.15 in USH. I could spot some strange wide bodies aircrafts. In Ushuaia it was the peak of cruise season, so there were many charter flights to bring staff and passengers.



Again, we disembarked through stairs and got inside the Terminal to retrieve our luggage.



The airport is small but very nice. It has wooden interiors which gives it an Alpine vibe.


The luggage came quickly and I took a shuttle to the city where my friend was waiting for me.

Now a short tourism bonus
The view from my room to the Beagle Channel. I could also see planes descending to the airport some days.

Les Éclaireurs lighthouse

Downtown Ushuaia

Emerald lagoon

Inside Vinciguerra Glacier ice caves, a great experience

Vinciguerra Glacier and Forrest

Making snowballs near Le Martial Glacier, it was soo cool to see snow in February. To me it´s always the hottest month of the summer.

Hola Viajero90!
Nice to see a report to Ushuaia; I've always wanted to go! Looks so beautiful. Good to hear you got a good deal on the flight as I've been hearing internal flights within Argentina are notoriously expensive with so little competition these days. It is crazy to think that several airlines have disappeared in Argentina in recent years like LATAM Argentina, which you mention, Norwegian Argentina and Avianca Argentina...I'm sure I'm missing others.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi! Thanks for your comment.
Yes indeed, the argentinean market lost many competitors, and also the inflation rate is very high. So prices keep climbing, but from time to time you can find some deals.
Cheers
Me pongo verde de envidiaaaa!!! lol Muero por hacer este tramo!! De hecho, hace un tiempo estuve viendo los precios y encontré que AR abusa. La alternativa era volar hasta Río Grande (ridículamente más barato) y seguir a Ushuaia por tierra. Pero si ahora está JetSmart... creo que podría aguantar sus asientos con un cojincito cervical. XD
AEP está tal como lo dejé hace años también. jajajj
Me acabas de dar una excelente idea. La próxima vez me voy a sentar a esperar afuera... a ver si me tiran plata! (Si no me agarra un taxista de esos tan malas pulgas que se ponen ahí) XD
Veo que allá tampoco creen en el soterrado de los cables! En mi ciudad (y en todas las ciudades de Chile) también estropean la vista.
Me quedé "pa'entro," como decimos aquí. O sea, sin palabras. Bellísimos paisajes! Sobrecogedor.
Muchísimas gracias por compartir esta bella experiencia!!
Hola! Me alegro que te haya gustado el reporte.
Ahora que estan Jetsmart y Flybondi aparecen algunas ofertas para volar a USH, depende de la epoca del año.
Es un destino increible! Cuando fui a la Patagonia Austral chilena (Punta Arenas y Puerto Natales) en 2017 pense en cruzarme a Ushuaia pero no hubo tiempo. Era un gran pendiente.
Saludos
Nice report on JetSmart Viajero90. Funny thing the seats in the A320.
Saludos
Fernando
Hola! I´m glad you liked it.
Yeah, on this flight my back missed regular airline seats!
Saludos!!