[from Pete Kofod, 30 March 2011]
I flew Aerosur roundtrip from Miami, through Santa Cruz, Bolivia, to Salta, & returned the same way I came. The experience was largely without incident. Aerosur is a smaller airline, compared to other national carriers like American, Aerolineas, and LAN. To the best of my understanding, their only US destination is Miami, and I believe they serve the route 4-5 times per week. The flight is a red-eye in both directions, leaves around 11 PM, and lands 5:30 the following morning.
The only drawback was the 9 hour layover in Santa Cruz (both times), but the Internet was fast, the food good, and the atmosphere very relaxed, so I only considered it a minor inconvenience. The airport has modern regional airport feel to it with a gentle stream of business people and backpackers passing through the terminal throughout the day.
It is clear that the US DEA heavily subsidizes law enforcement in Bolivia. On my return to the US, my carryon bags were inspected with the ardor typically reserved for forensic scientists with OCD. This level of personalized attention was extended to everyone flying in to the US, not just yours truly. The poor chap next to me had his bag of trail mix opened and sampled. Ah yes, the War on Drugs. We may not be winning, but we can sure blow a bunch of money in the process.
Aerosur's website is a hopeless mess. It goes down continuously, and when by chance it happens to be available to the public, it provides no useful information. In the days leading up to my travel, I found myself hoping that the level of effort put to website management was not reflective of Aerosur's commitment to keeping its fleet safely maintained. Thankfully, my fears were unfounded. On my flight down, there were many Brazilians on board. Apparently it is cheaper to fly from Miami through Santa Cruz to Sao Paulo than to catch the direct flight.
I booked my reservation through travelocity, but later found the best prices at cheapOair (yes, that is the name of the company). Miami - Salta roundtrip is $750 or about $200 less than I paid. Because Aerosur doesn't fly to/from Miami every day, I entered a travel window of +/- 3 days for both departure and return to make sure the flight showed up in the search listing.
The onboard service was OK. The flight attendants were competent and polite. The meal was good, but certainly not memorable. Apparently, the service delivery model is to feed you and put you to sleep, so bring a DVD player if you want to watch a movie. I, for one, was exhausted from a week of revelry in Cafayate, so I succumbed to Morpheus' advances shortly after dinner.
On balance, I find the Aerosur option far more attractive than flying through Buenos Aires and will probably do it again, even with the whole family (my kids are 10 and 13). Candelaria indicated that Aerosur honors its Latin American relationship to punctuality and as such may not be an ideal choice for first time visitors arriving from the US or Canada. That said, the ability to check luggage from Miami directly to Salta, not having to deal with the Ezeiza-Aeroparque transfer, and shaving about four hours of flight time makes it my choice for the time being.
As a final note of interest, the Aerosur magazine showed a flight from Santa Cruz to Tucuman. I was unable to find the flight anywhere else, including on their dysfunctional website, though I will keep my eyes peeled for it.
One more observation: the immigrations desk at Salta airport does not charge US/Canadians/Brits the reciprocal visa fee. When I landed with the Tessaris, the immigration official just stamped their passport and waved them through. As Canadians they are supposed to pay every time, yet there wasn't even a booth to collect the fee like there is in Ezeiza. Sometimes inefficiency plays in your favor!
