FAQ
General FAQs
In principle, yes, we will include transportation options that cross borders, but they must meet our quality standards before we include them.
That is intentional. SAB is a curated collection of higher-quality or luxury bus services in South America. If you are looking for a wider selection, check out our parent site andestransit.com
We accept payments by Credit Card and PayPal. Reservations are only secured with a full payment for the service in advance.
Your ticket is usually sent within six hours, if your trip is within 30 days from your date of purchase.
Exceptions may be if your reservation is with a provider who has some seasonal restrictions, technical outages, or other reasons for delay. In these cases, we will inform you of the progress and an expected date or time on which you can expect to receive your ticket.
Public Transport FAQ (Bus/Train/Ferry)
Departure locations are included in your ticket package, as they could change from day to day, or we could have a more precise location based on the date of travel or a company that knows the gate at the time the reservation is placed.
You can, but it is unlikely you will succeed at getting a spot in a VIP cabin, as those fill up quickly. It’s also more risky and time-consuming. Bus stations are often far from the core of town, so you have to go way out of your way just to get a ticket, taking away time you would probably rather spend sightseeing. Plus, once you get to the bus station, travelers often get overwhelmed by shouting vendors trying to pull them in various directions and eventually into something they didn’t really intend. If they do make it to the right place, the information about routes is often colloquialized and has to be further interpreted to see if it’s what they want, and then at the last moment they find all the seats are sold out.
Bottom line, the bus station is always a possibility, but for less experienced travelers who don’t have a lot of time to waste, it’s not worth the effort.
Yes, we include reservations for ferry transport if it has a high quality and safety standard. Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay are examples.
Trains are a more complicated project. Many train systems since the pandemic have gone into rapid decline or ceased operations. Others are more designed for commuting and are not what we consider tourist-class transportation. Nonetheless, we will continue to curate train routes as they become available, are reservable, and meet our standards.
It depends on the bus company and route. Some only allow one to three days in advance, while others any time within the same calendar month, and a few are even more generous than that.
Also bear in mind that the default of what we sell here are VIP seats, but VIP cabins on buses fill up farther in advance than regular coach seats. So, if you are two or more persons and are expecting VIP seats, try to place your reservation 30 days in advance for the best possible outcome.
15 kg is the norm across Latin America, but it is not as formally applied as you would expect perhaps from an airline. Bus operators only might take notice if you have baggage exceeding 30kg, and only then might ask you to pay an extra small fee to carry the excess weight, but this is rare. In general, if you’re carrying a modest and normal amount of luggage, don’t worry about it.
Avoid traveling the day before major holidays. Traveling on the holiday itself is pretty easy, because most locals are already at where they wanted to be. Also try to avoid the day before people are supposed to be back at work after a holiday break, because again will be on the bus at the same time trying to get back home.
In general, Fridays and Sundays are busier than other days of the week.
Private Shuttle FAQ
Yes. Our private transportation page has a form for reserving common routes in private transport. If you don’t find your route on that form, at the bottom you will find a link to define your custom request. If we have a provider who can make the trip you want, we’ll provide you with an estimate and invoice to make the reservation.
Yes, a private bus is the same to us as a private shuttle, just bigger, so first you can check on our private transportation page if we have available vehicle sizes for your group for a particular route. If you don’t find something there, you can fill out the custom request at the bottom of the page.
As long as there’s availability, 48 hours in advance, but we recommend between three and seven days.
20 kg is the standard per person. In the private transportation calculator, you can indicate the estimated quantity and size of luggage so we can dispatch an appropriately sized vehicle for your trip.
Yes! Just let us know the time and flight number so we can monitor it if it’s early or late.
Yes, on the private transportation page, just select the Airport Transfers tab to see a list of airports we have shuttle drivers servicing and the respective city districts or neighborhoods they will go to near each airport.
