Aerolineas Argentinas operated a special charter flight for our group to travel from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia to catch the vessel that would take us to Antarctica. I was still in disbelief that this was actually happening.
Aerolineas Argentinas From Buenos Aires to Ushuaia
Before we left the hotel to be transported to the airport, a breakfast buffet was included in the price of staying for the night at Casa Lucia Meliá Collection in Buenos Aires.
The hot items — such as bacon — as well as assorted breads, pastries, and sweet condiments — were arranged at one station…
…while assorted yogurts, fruits, cold meats, cheeses, and savory condiments were located at another station. People mistook the cubes of butter for cheese when they bit into them. I did not photograph the third station that was located inside of Cantina restaurant itself, which offered more assorted fruits, olives, and different kinds of juices. I must have drank at least four glasses of the grapefruit juice, which I particularly enjoyed.
We eventually arrived at Ezeiza International Airport — which is also known as Ministro Pistarini International Airport — for the charter flight to Ushuaia. After passing through the security checkpoint, we arrived at Gate 24 for the flight.
As we had a couple of hours to kill until the flight, the core group of people continued to form. Jilda and Kathy were the women who we first met at the airport when we arrived in Buenos Aires. We met Debbie — whose blog is called Senior Travel Adventures and wrote this article about our experience — prior to arriving at Casa Lucia Meliá Collection. Jim eventually joined the nucleus of this group as well. Bobby and Robin would come along later, as would Tony and Terry, Barbara, and other people. We still keep in touch today. If they give me permission, I will impart more information about them.
I admittedly am not a friendly or gregarious person; but this slowly expanding collection of amazing characters — I mean that in the nicest way possible — was growing very quickly on me. I cannot pinpoint the exact reasons why we hit it off so well; but being with them was so much fun — and I never got tired or annoyed of them. One thing we all did have in common was that we were all venturing to fulfill the dream of a lifetime: visiting and setting foot on the continent of Antarctica.
I advised anyone who was traveling with us to include their Delta Air Lines SkyMiles membership number when checking in for the flight, as Aerolineas Argentinas is a member of the SkyTeam alliance. This was a charter flight; so no guarantee was given as to whether anyone would receive credit — but it came down to the employee who checked in each passenger: one of them happily entered the membership number to our ticket; while the other flat out denied doing so.
For some reason, many people who were traveling together were not seated together; so a change of seats had to be requested when checking in for the flight. I originally was assigned a middle seat towards the back of the airplane; so I was able to get a window seat closer to the front of the airplane.
Anyone who was successful and had elite status boarded with SkyPriority. You should have heard the squeals of delight when some of the people checked their accounts later on in the trip and discovered that SkyMiles were added to their membership accounts!
When time to board the airplane arrived, we had to be transported by buses to the airplane itself. So much for SkyPriority…
…although the early boarding did give me the opportunity to photograph the interior of the bus before anyone else — for whatever that is worth.
I suppose it also gave me the opportunity to photograph our ride to Ushuaia: a Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplane that was operated by Aerolineas Argentinas.
Okay. I admit it. I got greedy. This photograph did not work — but I tried.
The seats in the economy class cabin were comfortable enough — but they were ordinary and nothing special.
I had ample leg room.
As with all Boeing 737 airplanes, each row had six seats — three on each side of the aisle.
The overhead storage bins contained plenty of room for baggage.
The Passenger Service Unit above the row of seats was equipped with lights, somewhat reasonably powered air vents that can be adjusted, and one small blue flight attendant call button for three seats instead of one for each seat.
A Universal Serial Bus Type A port was located on the side of each armrest — which came in quite handy for me to use my portable electronic device, as no in-flight entertainment was offered.
The meal that was served for a late breakfast was more like a snack: a package with two toast crackers, strawberry marmalade, granola, strawberry yogurt, and an indistinguishable muffin. I was personally not thrilled with it; but it was sustenance for the flight of three hours and ten minutes.
Final Boarding Call
I have not been a passenger aboard an airplane that was operated by Aerolineas Argentinas since I traveled between Buenos Aires and Iguana Falls years ago; and like that flight, this flight was fine but nothing special or extraordinary.
What was extraordinary was that we were getting one major step closer to Antarctica…
Photograph ©2025 by Brian Cohen.
