Frustrations over travel delays and flight cancellations, plus the fact that foreigners pay double what locals do to fly, could dent a tourism boom in Argentina, a consumer rights group said.

Briton Tara Sabi complained she paid USD$447 for a round-trip flight from the capital Buenos Aires to the Tierra del Fuego tourist destination Ushuaia, while Argentina residents pay USD$237 for the same flight.

"Why should I have to pay double for the same service?" she said.

Congress tried to eliminate the differential fares in a new consumer rights law, but the government struck out the article of the law that applied to airlines.

"A lot of times people say they won't be coming back, because of the fares and even more, because of delays," said Diego Benitez, president of the Tourism Rights Association which measures complaints from tourists.

Airlines created the two-tier rates six years ago after an economic crisis and a currency devaluation made flights very expensive for Argentineans.

The currency devaluation also resulted in Argentina's biggest tourism boom ever by making the country relatively cheap for visitors drawn to famous Iguazu Falls, restaurants serving tender steaks or soccer games in the fabled Bombonera Stadium.

But with the economy in its sixth year of robust growth, driven by high prices for agricultural exports, Benitez said the lower prices for Argentina residents and citizens are no longer justified.

"Tourism is filling the country's coffers and it seems unfair that we would be the target of this discriminative practice," Sabi said.

Price differences in tourism -- such as preferential prices for citizens to get into parks, museums and monuments -- are not uncommon around the world. But Argentina has tried to stamp it out.

The Consumer Defense Law recently passed in Congress outlawed any fare discrimination for tourists, at least in monuments, national parks, hotels and restaurants. But when the government published the law in the Official Gazette, the article pertaining to airlines was struck.

"It is striking that only airlines were spared," opposition Congresswoman Maria Virginia Linares said. "The only political reading you can give it is that we affected someone's interests."

Aerolineas Argentinas, which has 80 percent of the domestic passenger market, did not respond to requests for comment.

Ross Peetoom of Holland, visiting South America for the first time, felt slightly disenchanted.

"Argentina is a great country but I feel everyone is trying to take advantage of me, including well established businesses such as airlines," he said.