Welcome to my trip report on FlyBondi!
My ride: LV-KEF (Photo: Fernando Ariel Torre)
Introduction
Flying with Flybondi has been in my mind since my last trip to South America. At that time I had to decide between this airline and BOA (Boliviana de Aviacion) and I chose the latter because for the same price, I could do 2 flights instead of one so that means I have to fly this airline on my next trip and that next trip is this. However I had to sacrifice some inconvenience for this flight and that is flying out of EZE, my preference is to fly out of AEP airport and the second inconvenience is the flight timing but since it is what it is, I am here to share my experience.
Before I start, I like to take this short moment to pay my respects to the victims that died in the senseless mass shooting that happened on the 14th December 2025 at Bondi beach, Sydney Australia.
So without further ado, let's begin this trip report!
About Flybondi
This Argentinean airline is quite unknown to the general public in Asia so let me give you some information about this airline. This is one of the 3 airlines you can fly within Argentina. The other 2 are LATAM and Jetsmart.
This airline is a ultra low-cost airline founded in September 2016. The headquarter is based in Buenos Aires and its operating bases are in both AEP and EZE airport. Currently this airline is operating a single wet leased Airbus A320 and 14 Boeing 737-800 series and recently the airline shocked the aviation world especially in South America by announcing the fleet renewal and expansion by ordering from Airbus, the A220-300 and not surprisingly from Boeing, the Boeing 737 MAX 10. The order consists of 15 A220-300 with 5 on options and 10 Boeing 737 MAX 10 with 5 on options, this aircraft ordered are to support growth and expand into new markets according to the CEO. Delivery of the first A220 is slated to begin in 2027 while for the 737 MAX 10, the first is believed to enter the fleet in the same year. The future of this airline certainly looks bright.
This is the current network of Flybondi (December 2025)
Map: Flybondi's website
At this moment, the airline has leased aircraft and there is one A320 operating, the odd ball in the fleet. I suppose the airline may have been using this lease period to evaluate the type before deciding on the 737 MAX 10 but I believe the delivery date played a big role to Flybondi's Boeing order.
Flybondi's fleet (December 2025 update)
14 Boeing 737-800 - 189 Economy Class Seats
(only 3 are owned)
1 Airbus A320 (Wet leased from Avion Express) - 180 Economy Class Seats
My booking
I had to use a 3rd party company (Trip.com) to make this booking. Once that is done, I was able to manage my booking on this airline's website and took control from there. As I didn't want to miss the view, I went ahead to pay for the seat selection with the airline and had no issues with the payment.
The website layout is straight forward, quite easy to navigate.
Web check-in is available and one advantage about completing this is you may be able to skip the long queue at the airport.
During my short stay at Buenos Aires
I had a beef pasta at one of the local restaurants, trying out the local beer of course.
One of the many monuments in Buenos Aires.
These photos are the shopping district near my hotel.
On the day of departure
I left the Grand King Hotel around 0340 hour and it cost me around ARS30,200 (S$26.91, US$20.84 and 15.64 UK pounds) for the 42 minutes ride to the EZE airport.
Welcome to EZE International Airport!
I went over to check-in row A to check in.
These are the list of flights departing at this early hour of the day.
This is the check-in counters for Flybondi.
Fortunately, I joined the shorter queue and received the boarding pass and checked in my luggage within 5 minutes.
Once that was done, I made my way to the domestic departure hall.
I sorted out a few things over here before I went in.
Domestic Airside
Security check took a while to clear due to the numerous number of flights happening at that time.
Not a good time to fly off at this hour.
These are all bus gates which means more time is required for all the passengers to get on board.
There was hardly any place to rest.
As most of the announcements are in Spanish, I had to be aware of what's going on.
My flight departure was not the earliest, there were a few flights departing before mine.
This was the assigned gate of my flight.
Notice the overcrowded situation at this part of the terminal. There were some local Vbloggers complaing about this not too long ago.
After spending half an hour in this crowded domestic departure airside, boarding fortunately took place on time.
I did a check on what aircraft I was flying on, the honour went to LV-KJF.
I wondered why this aircraft landed at EZE airport instead of AEP the day before.
Finally, I was on the bus. I hope the airport management can do something about the overcrowded situation in the domestic departure hall.
Can you see how crowded it is inside the terminal building?
I was fortunately to come across Aerolineas Argentinas A330-200 with Lionel Messi's tail livery. (LV-FVH)
This is the original livery, unfortunately, this livery was removed after the world cup was over, but the tail livery was left untouched.
(Photo: Gilbert Hechema)
I was blessed with good weather on this day.
My ride: LV-KJF
Flight route: EZE-USH
Miles: 1,460
Average Flight Time: 3 hours 15 minutes
Airlines operating on this route: LATAM, Flybondi and Jetsmart
My seat: 7A (Photo: Seatmap)
Date of departure: 3rd December 2025
Airline: Flybondi
Flight: FO5030
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
Registration: LV-KJF
Terminal: C
Seat: 7A
Gate: 27B
Load: 100%
Flight Time: 3 hours 28 minutes
Actual Flight Time: 3 hours 20 minutes
Schedule Departure: 0610
Boarding (By Bus): 0515
Pushed Back: 0609
Take Off: 0625
Schedule Arrival: 0955
Actual Arrival: 0945
Departure Runway: 11
Departure Weather: Clear
Arrival Runway: 25
Arrival Weather: Partially Cloudy
My flight experience
Getting away from the overcrowded terminal was a relief and once on the bus we had a bit of tour around the tarmac, capturing some interesting traffic along the way. My first experience on Argentinean domestic flight didn't start on the right foot but fortunately things changed for the better during the flight.
Once every one settled down, we were on our way. This is the 2nd longest domestic flight in Argentinean route map (AEP/EZE to USH), the longest route goes to Cordoba to Ushuaia and Flybondi has recently started flights on this route, the average flight time of this route is around 3 hours 40 minutes.
After take off, we had good weather with a few bumps along the way, it was certainly a good day for flying. I kept myself busy with my music and videos so the flight time went past quite quickly.
As this is an ultra low cost carrier, beverages and meals are only available upon purchase and no inflight entertainment service. Basically you pay for the ride and anything else that is available depending on your needs.
We were greeted with beautiful view along the way especially during our descent into Ushuaia, it was certainly breathtaking. We landed about 4 minutes ahead of schedule and reached the gate not long after. For this aircraft and the set of friendly crew, they would continue their journey to El Calafate.
Since my check-in time was in the afternoon, I hanged around at the airport for a few hours before heading over to the city centre. More on this in my next blog post.
Economy Class Cabin
This aircraft features 189 seats arranged in a 3-3 configuration with standard legroom space of around 30 inches except for the emergency rows which offer slightly better legroom space. This cabin configuration is slightly different from the other operators that I usually fly with is that the cabin workspace is slightly larger and take up the first row of the right side of the cabin, therefore there is no seat 1D to 1F. For the right side, the first row is seat 2D to 2F instead.
These seats are the old generation but they offer comfort. No Inflight Entertainment on this aircraft and for the inflight meal and beverage service, it is based on the BOB style (Buy On Board).
This is row 1A to 1C.
This is row 2D to 2F (first row for the right side of the cabin).
The old Boeing cabin interior - not a surprise since this aircraft was about 19 years old at the time of departure.
Notice something? The safety instruction card is pasted on every seatback. Ryanair is the first airline to introduce this. Not a good idea in my opinion.
The legroom space was not good for my knees but I managed to endure it, thanks to the beautiful view I saw during the flight.
I was hoping to get the whole row to myself but my hope was dashed not long after I settled down.
The airline chooses not to use headrest cover.
Time to disembark.
Notice the first row? Ryanair has safety cards for passengers sitting on that row but not this airline, it is pasted on the partition wall.
Overall I find this seat comfortable but for the legroom space, that's a different story.
More photos of the seat
The standard seat has 30 inches of legroom space.
Safety card is pasted on the back of each seat.
The older generation seat
Foldable tray table
Foldable tray table has sufficient space to have a laptop placed on it.
The view from my seat
Another look of the seat from the top view with one of the seats in front being reclined.
After 3 hours plus stucked in this seat, I was definitely ready to go.
If only the first few rows in front have slightly better legroom space.
One last look of the cabin before I disembarked.
My Own Inflight Entertainment
A selection of movies from Youtube
Anyone else listens to BOA music? I am certainly a big fan of her.
Inflight food is based on the buy on board service and there is no inflight menu for it. Even though it was a 3 hours plus flight, I decided to grab my breakfast at Ushuaia.
Window view photos
This is Jetsmart, the airline that will fly me back to Buenos Aires, EZE.
This yellow engine cowling reminds me of an airline - Icelandair!
We taxied to runway 11 for departure.
It is indeed an excellent day for flying.
Jetsmart Airbus A321neo was behind us.
Off we go!
See you in a few days time, Buenos Aires!
Flying through the city area
We had to make a turn at some point flying towards the south-east direction.
Unfortunately my side was facing the sun.
Two and a half hours later, we started our descent and were greeted with these views below.
That is why you need a window seat when you are flying on the EZE/AEP - USH route.
This is certainly one of my favourite views.
Thanks to mother nature for this beautiful weather!
We were very close to touching down.
We were on final approach onto runway 25.
We touched down smoothly on the runway, thanks to the PIC (Pilot-in-command)'s skills.
At this point, we had slow down to taxi speed.
We were greeted with the high mountains.
Beautiful isn't it? I glad I picked the right side because if I sat on the right side, we would be able to see the town and the airport view but with the wrong sun direction.
Aerolineas Argentina's Boeing 737 MAX 8 with the Ushuaia background.
This is where we were parking. For this airport, all aircraft parking at the gates have access to the jetway.
Here we are! Welcome to Ushuaia!
The old and new winglets of the Boeing 737-800 series.
Aerolineas Argentinas' livery is certainly one of my favourites out there.
My Flight Summary
The total time from the departure gate to the arrival gate is 3 hours 40 minutes, this is why I love this app so much, the details is amazing.
If you are flying in the morning to Ushuaia, I recommend choosing the window seat by the left side, flying in the afternoon or evening, the right window seat would be better.
Welcome to Ushuaia Airport!
It didn't take long for my luggage to come out.
This is the land side of Ushuaia airport.
Somehow the interior reminds me of IKEA (Swedish Furniture store).
Upstairs lead you to the departure hall.
This is the view outside of the airport.
This looks pretty cool, right? The shelter between the car park and the airport.
More photos of this airport in my next trip report.
During my stay at the airport, I decided to grab a cup of cuppacino and a cookie and it cost me about S$15 (Around ARS 16,000 peos) - expensive.
Stay tuned for my return flight to Buenos Aires EZE from this airport. Hope you find the information useful.
My ratings
Airline Website/Mobile App: 3.5/5
Check-in Experience (EZE): 3.5/5
Inflight Service: 4/5
Seat Comfort: 3/5
Inflight Entertainment: 0/5
Cabin Ambiance: 4/5
Seat Condition: 5/5
Cleanliness: 5/5
InFlight Meal/Beverage: 0/5
Punctuality: 5/5
Overall Rating: 34/50
Percentage: 68%
Conclusion
It was a pleasant experience flying with this airline and also dealing with the airline's web check in process. Browsing through the website, the airline's function and interface may be basic but its easy to navigate and no issues at all unlike its competitor. (I will mention this in my next blog post). However, the experience at EZE airport (not the airline's fault) is far from pleasant. With so many flights taking off very early of the day, the overcrowded airside for the domestic flights makes it unpleasant and with the announcement made only in Spanish, it made things more challenging for me but I was standing near my flight's gate so I was aware of what is going on. Other than that, the flight was pleasant and it went past quite fast as I was kept entertained by my own device. The cabin crew were cheerful despite the early hours, English announcements were made so I was aware of the flight information and the safety instructions so this gives the airline another thumbs up. Will I fly this airline again? Definitely and this time I would try to book direct with the airline.
The reason why I went with Trip.com for booking this flight back then is when I tried booking with the airline directly, none of my credit cards were accepted. However things have changed now, I am able to book direct with LATAM and for the seat selection with Flybondi, I was able to pay for it with my current card.
So which low cost carrier do I prefer in Argentina? Stay tuned for the answer in my next trip report with Jetsmart Argentina A320ceo from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires airport.
Hope you enjoy this trip report.
For my previous blog post: My Hotel Review of Grand King Hotel at Buenos aires, click here
Next blog: My return flight to Buenos Aires EZE Airport with Jetsmart A320ceo, coming up next!
Have a good one!
Charles
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