To ARG via Sao Paulo Airport. Is a Visa Required When Using 2 Seperately Booked Tickets.

[Carnal Urges]

Guess the search skills aren't good as most likely this has been asked.

To ARG via Sao Paulo Airport. Is a Visa Required When Using 2 Seperately Booked Tickets.

It's quite clear when you book a flight all in one go, such as with Aerolineas to BA, one transaction & one payment, including a layover in Sao Paulo, that you do not need a Brazilian visa as you're in the airport and will not be staying in Brazil. I get this.

But what's the case if say you find a good deal on a direct ticket to Sao Paulo, on one airline, let's say, one way and then later you book a separate ticket from SP to BA.

Would these be ok for not needing a visa? You'd still be having the same type of layover.

It makes sense that they would see your continuing destination ticket onto ARG.

I just wondered if there'd be any stink as you didn't buy the ticket to your final destination all in one sitting, like they're somehow separate from each other from a technicality standpoint.

Hope the question makes sense.

As a second question instead of making a new thread, is it correct to assume, when hunting flight deals, that Sao Paulo might offer more of the better deals, being a larger hub?

Or is EZE just as equal. Or are there nearby airports that spring up deals as well?

Thanks.

[Gato Hunter]

If your coming from sao Paulo you might want to look at flying into AEP. Its much nicer and easier.

A while ago you did not need an argentine visa if you entered via AEP, I don't know if this is still the case though.

[Carnal Urges]

Just to clarify.

The destination from outside south america would be to BA.

Back to the original post question, wondering if a Brasilian visa would be required if you were laying over there and using 2 separate tickets booked at 2 different times.

Your longhaul flight into Sao Paulo bought through one airline and the remaining leg to BA bought from another airline, a short time after.

I guess though, now that I think of it, when checking flight deals, the systems usually find all the legs and provide them for you anyway in one purchase. So possibly it's a moot point.

Still asking about the second part of the question though, good airports to fly into for better deals.

Thanks.

[Stan Da Man]

Just to clarify.

The destination from outside south america would be to BA.

Back to the original post question, wondering if a Brasilian visa would be required if you were laying over there and using 2 separate tickets booked at 2 different times.

Your longhaul flight into Sao Paulo bought through one airline and the remaining leg to BA bought from another airline, a short time after.

I guess though, now that I think of it, when checking flight deals, the systems usually find all the legs and provide them for you anyway in one purchase. So possibly it's a moot point.

Still asking about the second part of the question though, good airports to fly into for better deals.

Thanks.I'm not sure I understand the question, but here goes: I believe you would require a Brazilian Visa, though I'm not positive. As soon as you come off the plane, you're routed through Customs where you'll need your Brazilian Visa to proceed further. Actually, if you're flying from the US, most of the check-in personnel are trained to look for your Brazilian Visa before even letting you on the final leg that stops in Brazil. I think that's because they don't want to have to cart you back for free if you're rejected by the Brazilians. That may not be what you were asking, so I apologize if I misunderstood. It's possible there are special procedures for a situation like this, but every time I've flown into Sao Paulo you go straight to Customs. You do not pass Go and get the option to go anywhere else. Unlike Argentina, Brazil is pretty strict with visas and who they let in if you're coming from the United States. Unless they put you in a holding pen somewhere at the airport and escorted you to your outbound flight, how would they ensure that you got onto the flight to Argentina? Again, I'm certainly not positive, but I think you would need a visa.

Also, if you can get past that hurdle, and if you do try to book a leg to Argentina from Brazil, I would recommend that you book the trip on either Gol or TAM. I tried Aerolineas Argentina into AEP last month. They canceled three flights the same day and wouldn't refund anything. And, it wasn't because of the volcano. One of their gate agents literally got into a fistfight with an Argie who was trying to fly back to Buenos Aires with his baby. It was chaos. I don't believe any of the other small airlines are much better flying into Argentina. TAM and Gol seem to know what they're doing. I've flown both many times and never had a problem. They're the Southwest of Brazil. No frills, but they get you where you need to go.

Good luck, and my apologies if this isn't what you were asking.

[Joe 23]

A combination of a not-so-relaible airline and an airport which lacks capacity is not a very recommendable one.

Because I travel a lot myself and also receive many visitors from outside Argentina, I often check the flight status of both airports.

As Stan says, AR's international flights in and out of AEP are VERY often delayed and / or cancelled.

Even if with a bit of luck you reach AEP, the arrival lobby prior to immigrations is so small that it can only accomodate passengers of any one aircraft.

If two or three international flights land within 15 or 20 minutes, the lobby gets flooded with people and you see about a hundred or two passengers having to wait outside the buliding.

These are more than enough to make me avoid AEP and come in via EZE.

Except for peak hours, the journey from EZE to centro is only about half an hour, which means a difference of only about 15 minutes compared to the ride from AEP.

This is nothing if you think of the possible delay of two hours or more when you fly into AEP which is a sub-standard airport in my opinion.

[Carnal Urges]

Thanks guys.

Yeah, sorry if the question is confusing, I'll lay out a scenario example in a moment.

Totally understand about Aerolienas Argentinas and AEP.

I actually did the RT of AEP to SP. Guess I was lucky as there were no problems on that trip, but well aware of other people's stories, and when returning from Brasil, there was chaos at AEP, people in an uproar, no surprises there. (For that trip, got the visa at the consulate in BA. The lady was VERY nasty. Only got the shortest stay visa as well)

I used AEP another time too, but within AR, heading to the bottom of the earth. No issues there either. Maybe there would have been on the return leg, but I took the bus back instead.

Aside from that, for sure I hear what you guys are saying.

About layovers in a visa-required country.

Did this before somewhere in Asia, honestly I don't remember the countries.

What I do remember is when flying into the layover country maybe it was one of the Chinese cities, someone on the plane said a visa is required. Didn't think it'd be an issue as I was heading on, only catching a connecting flight.

So I wondered if it'd be an issue in Brasil.

Ok here are 2 scenarios:

Scenario 1:

(Mostly I have not really wondered about this one, but now I am considering what Stan mentioned)

You're at your flat in Miami and find a nice deal on one of the travel sites when you punch in Miami to BA. It shows a 2 hour layover in Sao Paulo. Your bag will be checked all the way through to BA. You don't have to go through Customs in Brasil to claim your bag. You just go to your connecting gate, staying in the confines of the airport, sort of neutral territory.

So you pay for this ticket online and get the confirmation for this one booking all in one swoop.

While checking in at Miami, the agent should see your continuing flight to BA, treat your journey as one package, and that should be enough not to raise a question about needing a Brasilian visa.

There must be several that come to BA via Sao Paulo as a layover in the airport and not have to do the visa thing for Brasil.

Or maybe most are coming into BA.

Scenario 2:

(This was the original one I was wondering about, the meat of the original posting)

You're at your flat in Miami and can't really find any nice deals at all into BA even considering the results you get showing a brief layover in Sao Paolo.

So onto plan B. You check all flights Miami to SP and find a decent deal.

You pay for this ticket.

Couple hours later you get back to business and find a decent deal for SP to BA. You pay for this ticket.

Now see what I mean? You have two separate bookings.

Just wondering if this is treated any different because it's not like an airline's or travel company's package booking but instead, you piecing the trip together.

What other airports that are large enough to offer decent options for flying in?

Is Santiago an option?

Haven't begun yet checking flights. Just thought to ask beforehand.

Thanks.

[Easy Go]

It shouldn't be a problem provided:

1. You don't accidentally walkout of the international transfer side of the airport.

2. The two carriers have an interline agreement so that your bags can be checked through by showing your second ticket when you check your bags. If not, you'd have to clear immigration to collect and recheck your bag and you'd normally need a visa to do that. Or limit yourself to carry-on luggage.

3. You don't do something silly like not notice that your second leg is from a different airport (SP, like BA, has two). Don't laugh, it happens.

4. All the flights operate on-time. If you misconnect, don't have a visa, and the next flight you can get is the next day, you are stuck in the terminal until you leave. The second carrier will normally protect you on another flight after you no-show for your connection but it might get ugly.

That said, every extra complication increases the odds of something getting screwed up. I'd need to be saving a big chunk of change before booking it that way.

[Carnal Urges]

Easy Go, thanks! Very helpful and makes total sense.

Basically in conclusion, possible? Most likely. But practical? I'm seeing no.

Yeah, too many things to get thrown off, not worth it. Like you said, would have to be saving a lot of cash to make it worth it.

I think I'll just stick to either a straight booking with one main carrier, or direct to BA, or maybe another airport (Lima, Santiago?).

I remember entering Chile from AR by road and possibly giving money which might have been a visa, not sure.

Peru didn't require one. May still be the case.

Do you think generally those other airports might offer better deals? I'll be checking the sites soon, just wondering what other's have found out.

Plan to come on a one-way ticket (unless there is a better deal for RT) , and even if laying over in Chile or Peru, I think the checkin counter for the start of the flight, will still see BA as the final destination and request to see an ongoing ticket. Suppose, just buy one to URG or nearby and make a side trip out of it.

Thanks.

[Easy Go]

Airfares are impossible to predict but I've not heard of any city in South America that has unusually cheap fares so my guess is that the strategy is unlikely to be worth pursuing unless a great opportunity just drops in your lap.

I looked at some October fares and MIA-EZE was about $1100 while a one way was about $900 so even if you have to pay a $300 change fee (which is not unusual) , you could still come out ahead with a are / t.