Aerolíneas Argentinas
Flight # AR 1413
Mendoza-MDZ to Buenos Aires-AEP
Dept 11:25 am
Arrv 1:01 pm

Mendoza is quite a small, mostly domestic, airport. They have a few international flights, but mainly just to Santiago, Chile-SCL, just on the other side of the mountains. Our hotel advised us that arriving appx 1 hour before departure is more than enough time to check-in with bags when traveling to Buenos Aires.

BOOKING

We booked this segment as part of a larger Delta SkyMiles award ticket. Finding and adding Aerolíneas Argentinas award space to a Delta award reservation can be a bit tricky, so check out our guides here: Booking an Awesome Argentina Itinerary with Delta SkyMiles + Other SkyTeam Partners and All about our South American trip to Chile and Argentina: Santiago, Mendoza and Buenos Aires.

CHECK-IN

We arrived right at 10:25 am, one hour in advance, and made our way up to the Aerolíneas Argentinas check-in counter. There were only about 3 people in line with plenty of agents available to help. We handed over our passports and checked our 3 bags without any trouble.

BOARDING

There seem to be very few gates and waiting areas, so they had us wait until the small post-security gate was clear. Once we got on the other side of security, the waiting area was virtually empty:

Boarding, from what I could gather, started with rows 22-15 and then everyone else. This makes total sense: let those in the very back board first which, in theory, should speed up the boarding process.

SEAT

Our aircraft was a Boeing 737-700, in a 3 x 3 configuration with appx 22 rows of 6 across in economy + a 1st class cabin with 2 rows of 2 x 2:

We made it to our seats near the back of the plane:

The plane is noticeably older but still in fine shape with cloth seats. The pitch of the seats seemed quite small. It seemed like tighter legroom than most domestic Delta flights, probably more in line with AirAsia or Spirit Airlines.

The plane was only about 1/2 to 2/3 full with lots of empty seats. This might explain why they had already canceled a few of the flights before us in the morning: cancel one and just move those passengers to the later flight.

Seated by the window and ready to take off!

After a quick safety demonstration, we were airborne!

MEAL SERVICE

The drink and snack service was started promptly upon reaching cruising altitude so as to try and serve everyone on the relatively short flight.

While no choice was given, we were handed snack boxes with mini alfajores, cheese crackers, and another small pastry.

If nothing else, the boxes were cool and celebrated the history of flight and the airline

After a short flight, we began our descent into Buenos Aires.

Touchdown at Aeroparque Jorge Newbery, Buenos Aires!

After deplaning, we rushed off to baggage claim and then into the city to start our few days in Buenos Aires!