Flight connections

[celestial-navigation]

Slightly related to the airport transfer thread - What are experiences/recommendations for how long to leave between landing from your international flight in Buenos Aires and taking off to fly to Ushuaia to make sure you get to the boat on time?
My flight from Paris lands at 08.50 at EZE and then the connection takes off at 14.00 from AEP. I'm allowing one hour to deplane and collect bags, one to clear customs and 30mins to transfer, which still means I get to AEP at 11.30 giving me 2hr30 before the flight departs (Aerolineas Argentinas is the airline if that makes a difference).
I'd rather not spend a night in BA if possible simply because I'm traveling on my own and am not such a fan of huge cities without company and if there is something that goes wrong with the Ushuaia flight the next day my options are that much reduced to rectify the problem.
In an ideal world, that would get me to Ushuaia on the 16th, and my boat doesn't sail until the 18th so hopefully that if something does go wrong there's time to fix.
Am I being overly optimistic in how long it'll take me to transfer from one plane to the next in BA?

[travellinghappy]

Dear celestial-navigation,
I'm leaving almost exactly the same amount of slack time for my trip.
Arrive EZE 0915 and leave AEP 1420 on 28Jan. Tour starts on 29Jan and boat leaves on 30Jan.
I reckon there's enough slack built into my itinerary - not much, but enough. I've done the transfer in BA before and it took a couple of hours, so fingers crossed 5 hours will alow for a small delay and still be enough.

When are travelling? I'll let you know if I miss the boat!

[celestial-navigation]

Whew, that's reassuring to know! My travel agent (who doesn't want to book the flights for me and said I should do it myself!!) doesn't think I'll have enough time so I'm glad to hear of someone who has successfully done it in less time.

I'm not going until next November, but wanted to get in there early with flights for the best prices so will wait with bated breath to hear if you made it, and I hope there'll be no issues.

[ExplorerWannaBe]

When I did my research, I noted a number of tales of problems with the transfer and people advising an overnight in BA with a morning flight to Ushuaia to make sure you had the most options in case of delay. BA is pretty good city to overnight in but of course it DOES add to your trip costs.

If you want to try doing it all in one shot, I would plan on getting to Ushuaia a day earlier than needed just to make sure you make it in. On my trip, we had about a half dozen passengers booked on the afternoon flight into Ushuaia for the official Joining Night who ended up spending the night in BA airport and getting a morning flight in on departure day. I think 4 or 5 passengers didn't get their bags in with their flights and ended up getting them delivered to the boat on departure day and even 1 crew member who managed to get to the boat just an hour before they loosed the lines.

Everyone made it but it was close so you can spare yourself some anxiety with planning an extra day in Ushuaia (unlike many other G Adventures, there is NO "catching up with the tour at the next stop" no matter what the reason). If everything goes as planned, you have the day to explore Tierra del Fuego, visit glaciers or just recover from the travel.

[ktgrl1980]

Hey celestial-navigation...
I'm also booked for November this year.. The tour starts 17th nov...
I'm looking to arrive on the 16th also...
It's the Antarctica in depth... Is this the one you have booked on???
I can't wait... I've been wanting to head to Antarctica for years.. My 7th continent!!!!

[travellinghappy]

My theory for booking these flights (aside from the fact that I have limited vacation time) was that if all went well, 5 hours SHOULD be plenty of time to cross from EZE to AEP and allow for some delays. I'd then arrive a day before the tour starts, which in itself is a day before the boat leaves.
If there were big delays or bad weather, then I could have upto two nights in Buenos Aires and still make the boat. I also paid for a flight ticket that was fully flexible so that it could be changed if necessary.
In an ideal world I'd have 3 or 4 days in BA and the same again in Ushuaia. Aside from the time cushion that offers, it's a long way to go and I really would like make the most of the trip. Unfortunately that time luxury is just not available to me!