Karmalaw, you were right. If my memory serves me correctly, you warned people NOT to take taxis from the Jorge Newbury Airport in a few posts on varied forum topics.
Let me start off by saying that the majority of taxi drivers we encountered during our 12 nights in BA were kind and fair. I speak some Spanish so I always made an effort to try to speak to the taxi drivers, just to make small talk. Some were more receptive than others, but overall, they were all professional.
We had to go to back and forth from Newbury twice, once for our side trip to Bariloche and the other for our trip to Iguazu. We had no problem with grabbing a cab from the curbside during our first flight out. The cab driver gave us some brochures and booklets on BA and was almost overly nice. So by the end of our long trip, we started getting too comfortable. I think that after all the good experiences we had with cabs, we let our guards down. The funny thing is that as we arrived back to Newbury from Iguazu towards the end of our stay in Argentina, I made a comment to my husband that I didn't understand what all the fuss was about and how lucky we had been with taxis. My husband quickly pointing out that I had just jinxed us, considering that we were not in the clear yet.
Sure enough, the cab that we jumped into at the curb had a crooked, dishonest driver. The Meter was going at triple or quadruple speed. It was really almost comical how fast the meter was running: it would blink off for a split second every time the number increased. By the end of the cab ride, the meter read that we owed the cab driver 45 pesos. Our ride to the airport from the same hotel(Art Suites) had cost us exactly 18 pesos.
I was a little nervous, but TA had prepared me well. I simply told him in Spanish that I knew what it cost to go back and forth from the airport and that 45 pesos was ridiculous. I also told him that his meter was running too fast. I handed him 22 pesos (which in retrospect was way too generous for a guy who had tried to cheat me, but i also didn't know if the guy was crazy and how he would react) and I got out of the taxi quickly. The funny thing about the whole thing? He just sat there and shrugged his shoulders. He didn't even have anything to say for himself. He probably tries the same con with every turista that gets in his cab and just hopes for a good percentage of people who will just pay him what he asks.
So, please, if you are going to take the cabs curbside (which is still a much cheaper option than the remises) than just be very cautious and keep your eye on the meter. And learn how to say "I'm not paying you that inflated fare. You're a pathetic loser and you should be ashamed of yourself" in Spanish. Sorry, but it makes me mad. And it's not even the money, it's more the fact that trying to cheat people is so shady.
