On Friday I shared my brilliant plan to fly Aerolineas Argentinas’ Club Condor Class to Sydney via Buenos Aires. After all, who wouldn’t want to fly a business class product featuring up to four different movies in stereo, and 12 audio channels with varied genders. I mean, does it get better than that? I sure as heck didn’t think so, and apparently neither did you guys based on the feedback you left me in the comments section:
- “To call a spade a spade, f*** that. I fly MIA/EZE about 6 times a year. Once on Aerolineas, never again. Not even if Madonna was the purser and performed her Oscar winning song You Must Love Me while sitting on my lap.”
- “Not even for free. Total piece of crap airline.”
- “I made one flight with Aerolineas Argentinas (it was and will remain my LAST flight with them).”
- “I don’t think you should do it unless you are in the mood to torture yourself.”
- “Don’t risk it! They go on more strikes than Iberia. Now…If you plan on doing multiple shots before departing, it may not be that bad at all. If anything come to Lima
“ - “As someone who is married to an argentine, aerolineas is the joke and disgrace of the nation. The flights are sometimes reported as 13% on time, if and only if they take off. The flight attendants don’t tuck in their shirts or shave (women included) and don’t expect a smile or customer service anywhere. I’d avoid that if I were you. But secretly deep down, I’d love to read about it with a snarky comment thread that only you could do “
- “Didn’t Aerolineas Argentinas become nationalized by the Argentine government (read: stolen from the original owners)? If so, it is like the government running an airline (think post office).”
- “Yup, Aerolineas Argentina is owned by the bankrupt Argentine government headed by the Eva Peron wannabe nut case President CFK.”
So if I’m interpreting the above feedback correctly, what you guys are trying to say is that Aerolineas Argentinas is too bad not to try, right?
I’m about ready to pull the trigger on this, though I can’t seem to crack the most important part of this puzzle. As I covered in the last post, the real selling point of Aerolineas Aregentinas is their onboard fax machine:
You will be able to make satellite phone calls through an individual telephone from your seat, paying with your credit card, to a cost of U$S 7.50 per minute. If you wish to send a fax, you will be to request it to the crew to a cost of u$s 7.50 per page.
I’ve drunk blogged/Tweeted from 35,000 feet, though I’ve never drunk faxed. And for that matter, given that there are no power ports and only four movies on the 15hr50min flight, faxing might just be the most entertaining activity onboard.
The problem is that I can’t seem to get more information on this damn fax machine. I tried calling Aerolineas Argentinas to ask for more information on which aircraft featured fax machines and how the process worked, though they seem as unfamiliar with this feature as they do with a flight operating on-time.
So I’m hoping some of you have more info on the fax machine, as this is the deciding factor between me booking this itinerary or not.
Does anyone know if all their Airbus A340s feature fax machines? What are the chances that the fax machine on my flight is “broken” after I try to send the first fax? What about the third? Sixth? Do they accept incoming faxes, so that you guys can fax me during the flight to keep me entertained? At what point will I cause a diversion to Antarctica?
I guess I’m trying to figure out just how much fun I can realistically have with this. Hourly blog post updates via fax, anyone?
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