It's Day 1 of our Argentine adventure, and already we've hit some snags. (For example, I am writing this post from a Hilton in Houston, Texas, but that is another story.)
Things started off well enough this morning. We did Christmas with the Moroni's in Millbrae, got some awesome gifts, and were dropped at the airport 2+ hours in advance. So far, so good.
When we got to the check-in kiosk, we were told that we needed a physical receipt for our $160 (each!) reciprocity fee before we could board the plane.
What is the Argentina reciprocity fee?
Because we're the United States and we can, we charge visitors a fee to enter the country. Some places, like Argentina, have said, "well hey, you charge us a fee, we'll charge you right back." And that's why it costs money for Americans to enter Argentina.
The kicker was, while I had heard of this "reciprocity fee" in some of the travel books, no one made a big deal of getting this taken care of in advance. There was no "DON"T TRY TO LEAVE WITHOUT IT" note, like there is about getting your shots if you're going to the jungle. I assumed it was like Mexico, where you just get hit with fines when you arrive/depart the airport.
But apparently the Argentina reciprocity fee is no joke. And while they call it a fee, it's more like a visa, and it takes 24 hours to process. You can only apply online, and the airlines need a physical, printed barcode that demonstrates your payment was accepted, and your application was reviewed and approved before you can even THINK about going to Argentina.
As another NOT friendly United Airlines employee told me, "It's Christmas, so who knows if anyone will be there for days to approve your application."
Hysteria sets in
While I didn't immediately freak out, after going to 3 different United Airline kiosks and being told there was no way we were leaving the country today, I started to panic. While Dan tried to complete the form and pay the fee from his iPhone, I ran back and forth between the International and domestic terminals, just trying to find a printer, or someone who could at least give me some good news about how this worked.
Even after Dan was able to pay the fee on his iPhone, there was still no telling if Argentina would approve our pass on such short notice--especially since it is Christmas. (This is a down side of traveling on Christmas, for future reference.)
Internally, I kept saying, "there is no way we will have to go back home," but I was pretty damn worried. By some miracle, about 30 minutes before boarding, we were able to make contact with someone on the Argentina side who could approve our fee, and send me the barcode. We got it scanned, got our passes, and got through security with about 15 minutes to spare before the gate closed.
Now on to Houston!
