Country Article / Postcards

Beware of Southern Winds

Date: 04/15/2007

Dear International Living Reader,

As I write, it’s been three hours since my plane landed at Argentina’s Cordoba airport. Since it was the last flight of the night, the only people left at the airport are security guards and cleaning staff. It’s rapidly approaching midnight and I’m still outside "Arrivals" awaiting a taxi. I can’t find a phone-book to call the hotel--and the number given me doesn’t work.

Saturday nights here are usually problematic. Cordoba’s city taxis are so busy that it’s unprofitable for them to make the 10-mile airport run. But I wouldn’t be in this position if my original afternoon flight hadn’t disappeared...

Not realizing that a drugs scandal was about to rock Argentina, I’d booked internal flights through the country’s budget airline, Southern Winds--round-trips from Buenos Aires to Iguazu...to Salta...to Cordoba. Even before leaving Ireland, they’d messed me about with a total of 12 flight changes. The flight to Salta was completely canceled. As I’d already made an appointment with a realtor and translator, I had to rebook with Aerolineas Argentina. And they certainly don’t charge budget prices.

Once I’d arrived in Argentina, things deteriorated rapidly. The Iguazu flight got switched from early morning to late evening. Instead of almost two days to explore the Falls, I was left with one. And I almost missed the return flight to Buenos Aires: despite providing cell-phone and hotel numbers, nobody bothered to notify me that the flight had been rescheduled to leave 90 minutes early.

Southern Winds’ Salta-Buenos Aires return flight was also canceled, but thankfully American Falcon had space for stranded passengers. Reaching Buenos Aires, it was no great surprise to find that my Cordoba flight had also bit the dust. I ranted like a madwoman until the desk supervisor gave a clerk a fistful of pesos and dispatched him to Aerolineas Argentina’s counter. No, not an invoice or a chit--bank notes. Aerolineas only had space on their last flight…the flight that Cordoba taxis are too busy to meet.

Reports in the Buenos Aires Herald and International Herald Tribune confirmed what I’d already heard from locals about drug-running, cover-ups, striking workers, and looming bankruptcy. After journalists broke the story about four unaccompanied suitcases containing 60 kilos of cocaine arriving off a Southern Winds flight at Madrid, the airline lost its $2-million government subsidy. If you’ve already booked flights with the airline, be prepared for major hassle.

Steenie Harvey
For International Living