Argentina’s ultra-low-cost airline Flybondi was consistently among the top 10 worst airlines in terms of cancellations over the weekend following a spike of nixed flights. According to the Herald’s sister publication Ambito, 12,000 travelers were left furious, waiting, and scrambling to re-plan their trips as 70 flights were canceled on Saturday and Sunday.

“Flybondi is garbage. Avoid traveling with them at all costs,” said José María Souza, who traveled to Buenos Aires for the Copa Libertadores final on Saturday. He told the Herald that after rescheduling the 10:40 p.m. flight twice, it finally took off at 2 a.m. It was meant to arrive at Aeroparque but instead landed in Ezeiza, a detour that adds about an hour of extra commute time for passengers to reach the city center.

At the time of writing on Monday, Flybondi ranked ninth in the list of international airline cancellations according to airline tracker Flight Aware and sixth in delayed flights. Its inglorious peak reached third and fourth place for cancellations and delays, respectively, on Friday. The total number of cancellations last week reached 154.

According to online flight tracker Aeropuertos Argentina, 11 of the 17 Flybondi arrivals to Aeroparque Jorge Newbery Airport (AEP, known as Aeroparque) on Monday, December 2, were either delayed or canceled. That included one flight from Sunday that still hadn’t departed. Four out of 10 of the company’s Aeroparque departures were delayed. Meanwhile, over at Ezeiza International Airport (EZE), nine of Flybondi’s scheduled 13 arrivals were delayed or diverted. Two of the three departures were delayed.

Flybondi did not respond to the Herald’s requests for comment.

This isn’t the first time Flybondi has been under fire for canceled flights and delays. Victoria Stevens, from the United States, had four of her Flybondi flights canceled within a week back in September for Buenos Aires, Iguazu, and Mendoza. She ended up rebooking three different flights, six tickets in total. 

“They have too many flights and not enough people, so they end up under or overbooking,” Stevens told the Herald. “I was told flat out by a customer service guy that the company doesn’t care about their customer’s experience, so just book another flight and get your money back for the canceled one.”

Amidst all of the cancellations, Stevens purchased a ticket from national carrier Aerolíneas Argentinas as a backup plan but didn’t end up using it. She lost about USD$100 when she returned the ticket. According to Flight Aware data, Aerolíneas also had a substantial percentage of delays (23% of flights) but zero cancellations.

Founded in 2016, Flybondi was Argentina’s first low-cost airline, but the market is changing amid government pushes to privatize the aeronautical industry. President Javier Milei’s administration has promoted an “open skies” policy to allow more foreign airlines to enter the Argentine market by removing a legal requirement that mandated that at least half of flights within Argentina had to be operated by Aerolíneas Argentinas. Meanwhile, new regulations that passed in July open the door for more low-cost carriers, with four new international airlines being authorized last week to start operating in Argentina. 

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