Flying low cost with Flybondi to Iguazú

✈️ Exclusive Benefits for Readers

Verified codes to save on your next trip.

Nuevo flight report, new airline and this time we fly low cost with Flybondi to Iguazú.

During a vacation in Buenos Aires, I took advantage of the low costs of the tickets Domestic in Argentina gracias a lo que allá llaman «la revolución de los aviones» con 8 domestic scheduled airlines operating in this country of almost 49 millions of inhabitants.

Specifically, I had seen the destination Iguazú to know its incredible falls, lugar turístico mundialmente conocido y no es por «sacar pica» a los lectores de Ecuador, but this flight of almost 2 hours of round trip including taxes it cost me nothing more and nothing less than just $25 dollars per person.

This cost, we envy him in Ecuador, where a flight of this equivalent duration that would be the Galapagos does not cost less than $180 on sale, but we already know that fares in Ecuador are high.

Here I will tell you about the experience of flying with the first low cost airline in Argentina, which was generally acceptable, but in punctuality and customer service, left a lot to be desired.

ticket purchase

The Flybondi website is highly worked and refined, so their flight search systems, reservation and purchase work perfectly and are very user friendly.

The purchase process on the airline's website works as follows:

1. Selection of destination and number of passengers.
2. Selection of dates.
3. Rate Selection (a single rate option).
4. Selection of additional services.
5. Complete passenger data.
6. Payment.

There is no option to just book the flight and you must pay immediately to secure the fare.. The website accepts all types of national and international credit cards, In my case I used an Ecuador card and the payment was made without problems.

Additional services

As we anticipate from the title of this report, Flybondi is a low-cost airline and charges for all additional services that are not included in the base fare.

We can highlight the following additional:

• cabin baggage (sports bag or carry-on).
• Luggage in hold 12 kilos.
• Luggage in hold 20 kilos.
• Purchase of 5 extra kilos.
• Sports or musical team.
• priority boarding.
• Coffee or tea paid in advance.
• Prepay for airport check-in service.
• Mascot on board. Airport transfer.
• Seat selection.

The costs of each service vary, but if they are purchased in advance on the website, they have a discount of 50%, but for example transporting a pet has a cost of 1.799 Argentine pesos that at today's exchange rate are about $47 Dollars.

Luggage

With the single Flybondi rate, only a personal accessory such as a backpack is included, briefcase or purse up to 6 kilos of weight at no extra cost, any additional luggage, It has a cost that can be consulted on the airline's website.

The dimensions that they can have are:

• Additional carry-on bag up to 9 kilos de 45cm x 25cm x 55cm.
• Luggage in hold up to 12 kilos up 158 linear centimeters.
• Luggage in hold up to 20 kilos up 158 linear centimeters.

In my case I did not pay for additional services or extra suitcase in the hold or cabin, since I was only 3 days in Iguazú, I traveled light all in a backpack.

Check-In

In this airline the web check-in process opens 48 hours before flight departure time, and the same as the purchase process, Doing it is very simple and it also allows you to select seats, paying of course.

Once the web check-in is finished, the boarding pass will arrive by mail, which is nothing more than a PDF file with a QR code, which can be presented with the cell phone or printing it. If it were the case that none of the other 2 options is feasible for you, you can print it at the airport for an additional cost.

Airport and Boarding

The El Palomar International Airport it's a small terminal, which I will talk more about in a future post that I am preparing, but here only Flybondi operates for now, so the processes are very fast.

Go through security filters, if you have all the documentation and boarding pass ready, does not take more than 5 minutes and you will not need to contact the airline at any time.

Regrettably, on the day of my flight, Flybondi suffered long delays on all its flights due to maintenance on one of its planes, from what i heard in the halls, what caused my flight to take off with 7 hours delay from El Palomar.

Despite this delay and the fact that many other flights also had significant delays, the rest of the passengers that were noticeable were not notified or did not read the itinerary change notification email that they did send for my flight, at no time did they complain or claim and the airline did not speak through the loudspeakers apologizing or informing about the delay.

The boarding process is slower than other airlines, since first a traffic person checks your assigned seat and then another checks your boarding pass, what they are 2 steps that could be done in one.

According to the row automatically assigned by the system or by you, you will board through the front or back door, This is because Flybondi does not use sleeves and is always approached by stairs., which speeds up the process and reduces turn around times.

Itinerary

Flybondi flies once a day between El Palomar and Puerto Iguzú, Argentine side, with his fleet 5 boeing aircraft 737-800.

The flight was to take off from El Palomar at 14:38, but it took off exactly 5 hours later and landed at 16:28.

Scheduled for a duration of 1 hour with 50 minutes, the return flight from Iguazú took off on the itinerary at 17:00 and landed back in Buenos Aires at 18:50.

On board

The flight number was FO5100 and we were able to learn how Flybondi has managed to capture so much market and transport more than 500 thousand passengers.

inside the plane, the crew is very strict with security measures, but at the same time a very friendly atmosphere is felt and the safety announcements and flight details are always made with some funny phrase or details that make people laugh and even applaud, very similar to Wingo.

Food service is pretty basic., There is no menu where the different options of products for sale are shown, as is the case with LATAM Market or how do they say, all airlines. The crew simply announces that they have cold drinks, hot drinks and snacks for sale, later if someone is interested in the products they tell you what they have available.

The costs are very standard and similar to what any of the products offered at an airport would cost and start from 50 cents up, where you can buy the products separately or in combo, which is cheaper.

Inside the plane there is no entertainment, no upper screens, no magazines, all to lower costs and reduce the takeoff weight of the plane, that in the end, generates fuel savings for the airline and allows you to keep your prices low.

The flights, both going and returning, They had a significant occupation always higher than the 80%.

From El Palomar I flew in the Boeing 737-800 Next Gen license plate LV-HQY with MSN serial number 34406, which has 13 years since its first flight and is powered by 2 CFM56-7B26 engines.

Configured in a single class with capacity for 187 passengers, fly on Flybondi since May 2018, It previously flew new from the factory on Turkish Airlines and its exterior and interior condition is quite well maintained..

As the flight continued at night due to the delay, I didn't take many more photos of that stretch, but it is from the plane on the platform:

Return flight

Dejo algunas imágenes y vídeo que quedaron del vuelo de regreso en el Boeing 737-800NG matrícula LV-HKR número de serie MSN 32614 With almost 17 years since his first flight for American Trans Air.

Something that drew a lot of attention on the return flight was the announcement by the cabin manager asking who were the passengers who were flying for the first time in their lives., It was amazing to see how some 40 passengers raised their hand, which brought applause from the whole plane.

I leave you a video of the flight back to Buenos Aires recorded with the GoPro:

Conclution

As usual, flying in a low cost does not have to be a negative experience, if you know the rules and conditions of flying with them. In this specific case, the experience was normal to any current airline, but the delay, the lack of communication and attention to the user generated that what could be a good thing, Do not be like that.

The delay of 5 hours it took important hours away from knowing Iguazú, I had to change taxi hours, hotels and cancel a tour, but worst of all and this leaves me with doubts about the Argentine regulation, It is that there has not been any type of compensation and that all the passengers have taken the delay as something very normal, not an apology, just an email notifying the change.

Flying on any low-cost or traditional airline can be expensive, anyone can have delays or cancellations, it's all in how the airline treats the passenger and reports on the situations.

¿Recomiendo volar con Flybondi? Why not, you can save a lot of money, but don't expect great service or concern for the customer, except an apology if there is a delay of 5 hours.

Additional data

• Not having any kind of entertainment, I recommend taking your cell phone or tablet with headphones to watch previously downloaded movies or series.
• Due to the distance between El Palomar and the center of Buenos Aires, I recommend going out 2 hours 30 minutes before flight departure, but only if they previously checked-in online.
• They can bring your own food on board like potatoes, sandwich or similar plus a drink in case you don't want to spend on the plane.

✈️ Exclusive Benefits for Readers

Search here for hotels ALL over the world at the best price.