[Patagonia Deserted]

Aerolineas Argentinas was taken private by the Argentinean government and, ever since, has put its passengers' satisfaction as its last priority. Recently, a volcano erupted in the Andes and it had to reroute all its scheduled flights to Bariloche to an airport 300 km further south in Esquel. They offered passengers free transfers between Esquel and Bariloche. But only because they have competition at Bariloche airport in the shape of Lan Chile. The airport at Esquel has now closed for runway repairs and Aerolineas is routing passengers through Bariloche airport. However, they are not providing transfers between the two airports, nor offering compensation. They have no competition at Esquel airport.

What recourse do any of the passengers have? Surely, if the airline reroutes the flight, it has a responsibility to transport passengers to their original destination?

[raimundo]

I was faced with this same scenario in December. So I took a bus from El Calafate to Bariloche via Rio Gallegos (28 hours!). I was not offered any compensation nor assistance. But how about complaining to the hostess about someone smoking on the flight home from Buenos Aires to Australia, only to discover that it was the hostess herself who had been smoking prior to serving customers! A crass and disgusting airline!