Chile and Argentina Reciprocity Fees for Dummies

Chile - Collected for int'l arrivals flying into SCL ONLY. No other ports of entry currently collect the fee. If you are int'l-int'l transit, you do not pay the fee. If you arrive into the country any other way, you do not pay the fee. If you haven't paid the fee, you do not pay the fee on exit. The fee $ and duration depends on your passport. If you have a US passport, it is good for the remaining life of your passport. If you leave the airport, or "enter Chile" for any reason, even if you have an international transit, you pay.

Argentina - UPDATED - Online Prepayment prior to arriving in Argentina required. Effective 7 January 2013, effective for ALL entries into Argentina (previously AEP and EZE air arrivals only).

These are not visas, they are fees. If these countries require you to get a visa, this topic is not for you.

Great thread.... if Im reading the above correctly, you are saying that pax arriving by Cruise to Buenos Aires will not be required to pay the Reciprocity Fee...??

Thanks.

If you arrive in the country any other way, you do not pay the fee. If you arrive in the country any other way, you do not pay the fee. If you arrive in the country any other way, you do not pay the fee. Chile gets the fee for those starting the cruise on the right side (flying southbound) of the continent, and Argentina gets the fees from those starting on the "other side."

So.... when do you pay the fee....?

There is this local that fronts as a wine shop that will gladly collect it for you, and give you some sort of factura.

Indeed... this can be arranged !!!!

Oh Reciprocity Fee Sensei..... what happens for folks that arrive at EZE and have international connections...?

Sorry, but I'm still confused as to what happens if one is flying from Argentina to a Chilean city other than Santiago, but connecting at the Santiago airport. In my case, I'm flying from Buenos Aires to Calama, Chile on LAN, with a connection in Santiago. I will not leave the Santiago airport and I plan to check my luggage all the way through to Calama. So will I still have to pay the reciprocity fee for Chile (having already paid one for my 3 days in Buenos Aires)? Thank you.

Yes. You enter Chile at SCL. You are an international arrival. You are not connecting to an international destination. You will have immigration/customs at SCL. You will drop off your bags for your domestic connection.

So where do you go if you land at EZE late morning and your international connection (to LIM) doesn't leave until evening (almost 9 hours between arrival and departure)? We can get access to the Admiral Club (and perhaps also the RCC), but do you have to officially enter the country in order to do so? I've heard that the AC is no great shakes: do they have wifi or their own computers available? We'd prefer not to have to pay the reciprocity fee for such a short time, and it might be boring but ok to pass 8+ hours in the AC.

Just go to international connections - a quick security check then back up into the gate area. Enjoy your time in the AC. People have slit their wrists with less torture, but compared to the gate area, it is opulent splendor. They have wi fi and some computers.

If you have an Amex card, then you can also slum it at the Centurion lounges......

Oh well, I didn't expect it to be fun, but it probably beats schlepping our way into town for just a few hours and muchos $$$. This year it's a Peru trip. In the next couple of years we plan to do some proper travel in Argentina (and preferably land somewhere other than EZE or AEP). When you go to do the security check at international connections, do you actually enter the country for a few hours or do you need to go right back to the secure "sterile" area?
I'm a bit worried about our luggage being at the mercy of EZE's handlers for close to 9 hours. It's probably not as bad as MIA or JFK, yet I hear that theft/pilfering can be a problem in some So. Am. airports. How good/bad is EZE?

Which flavor of Amex? Is Gold enough? Is the Centurion lounge substantially better than the AC, IB, or RCC lounges?

No you'll stay in the sterile area airside. The chances of avoiding flying into Argentina in the future and avoiding the reciprocity fee in a cost-effective manner are effectively zero. With a nine hour layover you'll be crawling the walls if you stay airside ... Also there are no places to eat (unless you count the coffee bar and what passes for food in the airline lounges.)

Your luggage should be safe as long as you don't pack any valuables (anything electronic, jewelry etc.).

If you will be definitely returning to Argentina and are going to be hit with the fee, you might consider paying it now and going into the city for lunch. But note that you have $280 for the fees, $60+ for RT taxi, and then whatever little you spend in the city. On the other hand, more than 2 hours in that airport borders on the miserable, unless you like being doused in duty-free perfume samples by stiletto-heeled attractive salespeople for hours on end. Occasionally, you can get a duty free booze sample.

For that kind of money, I'd almost be tempted to fly to SCL (a decent airport) and have quality lounge drink and snacks, and then return to EZE for the connection.

Just know that by hour 3, when you are ready to slit your wrists with something that was allowed past security, that it will then be too late to reasonably go into the city. (Assuming a mid-evening departure, you should be back @ EZE no later than 2.5 hours prior to flight time - others may disagree with this conservative assessment.)

Ouch! Are the lounges really that bad? Do they at least have comfy chairs? I thought we could spend some time doing work and catching up with emails before going to the Peruvian jungle the next day and dropping off the grid for 9 days...

I'm not sure how we'll return to Argentina in a couple of years (whether by land across from Chile, or connecting from SCL to MDZ) or if we'll take longer to fly there again, but, even if Mr honu will have to pay a reciprocity fee at that stage, at least we would have a whole visit, instead of just a few hours in town. Interesting idea flying to SCL to hang out at the lounge there, but I think that, after our 14-hr flight from SYD and prior to EZE-LIM-PEM, we'll be happy to be on land and chill for a while, and not to drag ourselves into town and back to EZE for just a few hours. I can enter Argentina without a fee (dual citizen with 1 ok passport for the purpose), so, worse come to worse, I might be able to go get some tucker on the other side and bring it back in, but I hope that the AC might offer something edible when they act as a quasi-QF Club for the flight that returns to SYD at 13:50 (they do so at HNL, anyway). If wifi is available and the lounge has an area free of blaring televisions, we'll be bored and tired but we'll survive. I certainly would have preferred flying SYD-AKL-SCL on LAN and connect to LIM-PEM from there, but the only availability we found for this 1W AAward was on the non-stop SYD-EZE on QF. Oh well, I hope I'm not being too much of an optimist... In any case, thanks for all the tips, and I've been warned.

The best thing at EZE in the AC is the warm beer in the dusty cans. Awesome. The RCC isn't too bad- well it is, but the staff are super nice and funny.

To answer a post above, the Gold card is enough to get you into the Centurion Dump.

Thanks for the replies. So we'll have a choice of four horrible lounges for our 8+ hrs at EZE... Perfect! After spending approx. 2 hrs of our lives in depressing lounge X, and just as we start feeling like drowning our boredom and despair in warm, dusty beer (why is that the alcohol of choice in an Argentinian lounge?!?), we can move on and explore the misery of waiting in lounge Y, then on to lounge Z, etc. Sounds like a plan.

More enlightened countries would have something like Pisco to make a sour out of. But Argentina, at least at EZE lounges will provide you each with a choice of US$3 wines. You'll also have a choice of medium to lower shelf alcohols. Often, I don't make it even 2 hours in a lounge. I have access to 3 (4 if IB would be open) and in my typical 2 hour stay, I visit all 3. Before you know it, you'll be making olives, cheese and chips salad. AA on occasion has soup. That is, with Faux News channel blaring in the background. The most interesting thing in the lounges are the "Cheetos on Steroids" in the Sala de las Americas. But the tripulantes amargos at the front door of that lounge even deflate the snacks. At least the RCC and AC usually have pleasant desk agents.

Yikes! Blaring faux news - now that's the deal killer... do all 3-4 lounges subject you to that? I can stomach tripulantes amargos y cerveza polvorienta, pero no faux news! We can do without fancy wines, food, or entertainment for a few hours. All we need is chairs, wifi, and a quiet spot to work, read, and chill. Are the bathrooms the only place where you can find a spot like that? BTW, I noticed that the blaring television is an unfortunate near-obligatory feature of ACs (and perhaps other US-based lounges?). Last time I transited through NRT, CNN (I think that's what it was) boomed and echoed in a cavernous and empty AC, and there was nowhere you could get away from it, so we escaped as quickly as we could to the Sakura lounge (much nicer anyway). Do they ever switch channel to some local news in Spanish, at least? Or better yet, turn the box off?

The RCC has no TVs and free wifi.

Isn't there a small TV room on the left side? Or am I suffering hallucinations?

I also recall this room.

As long as the TV can be avoided (low volume, room to the side), we can make do. Thanks for all the info, everybody, and I will try to post if/when I survive the ordeal...