Chile Forum

What is the deal?

The prices on LAN Chile are different from LAN Peru, LAN US, and probably vary on every other country site they have available - for the same trip, obviously....

Is the best idea to just go to one of the LAN ticket offices around town?

This also is making my head spin:
The cost to fly one way from Santiago to Cuzco is over $700.
But the cost to fly roundtrip Santiago to Lima, and roundtrip Lima to Cuzco, is about half the price!



I'm looking to start my trip in Cuzco/Machu Picchu, then go visit some friends in Lima, but if I need to go there first for a night in order to save $300+, I guess I will!

Lunkey wrote:What is the deal?

The prices on LAN Chile are different from LAN Peru, LAN US, and probably vary on every other country site they have available - for the same trip, obviously....

I am in no way justifying the logic of LAN''s revenue management but those same flights you see on different LAN sites are not the same fare bucket. FOR SOME REASON, only the LAN Chile version of their website sells the cheapest fare buckets. I'd say gouging of the extranjeros outside of Chile but then this thread would stray off topic with textbook or authoritative lectures why it is so and even good for us

Lunkey wrote:Is the best idea to just go to one of the LAN ticket offices around town?

Best deal are LAN Chile website Internet deals. Look for their weekly specials or purchase 21 days in advance. If you go to their office for one of those LAN Chile website deals, all they will do is point you to one of their client computer terminals so you can book that great deal yourself ON THE INTERNET, IN THEIR OFFICE

Lunkey wrote:This also is making my head spin:
The cost to fly one way from Santiago to Cuzco is over $700.
But the cost to fly roundtrip Santiago to Lima, and roundtrip Lima to Cuzco, is about half the price!

Ever hear of throwaway ticketing? BOOK, DITCH, DON'T TELL

What is happening here is fare buckets again. One-ways are only sold in the higher fare buckets but are very flexible when it comes to changes (because they are in a higher fare bucket).

interesting. but riddle me this:

a roundtrip ticket from lima to cuzco is cheaper on LAN Peru than it is on LAN Chile.

Lunkey wrote:interesting. but riddle me this:

a roundtrip ticket from lima to cuzco is cheaper on LAN Peru than it is on LAN Chile.

If you see a deal, book it, if you can.

The exception is LAN Argentina where cheaper flights for citizens or official residents are mandated by law and theoretically cannot be booked or used by extranjeros.

Tis is actually common actice among many airlines...British Airways and Air canada have this same thing going on...Sometimes with BA when I call them to account on it at the booking desk in the airport, they are happy to adjust the price to a cheaper one you have seen, maybe try the same thumbscrews in LAN although in my experiences in Chile...finding the guy with the key to unlock the guy with the code to relase the guy with the book of telephone numbers to call the guy who can actually make a desicion is the challange.

LAN price their tickets base on what people can pay, a round trip ticket from Santiago to La Serena is about 340 bucks if purchased from the state, and 140 if you do it at the office in Chile.

I tried going thrue the Chilean site, but just when I was about to pay for it their ecommerce detected my US I.P. and that was that.

Bummer

You have to connect in Lima from Santiago so just book the legs separately. If I remember correctly Cuzco is not an international airport, there are flights to several other town in Peru, like Arequipa and Puerto Maldonado. But Lima is the only International airport in Peru. You don't have to spend a night if you can get to Lima early enough to connect. But get out of Cuzco on the earliest possible flight, they often cancel the afternoon flights because the altitude and air pressure can make the air to thin too allow takeoff. I have been canceled twice out of Cuzco and ended up taking a bus to Arequipa.

I checked and Lima is the only International air port in Peru. Chile only has three, and that is pretty limited, there are a few international flights to Bolivia out of Iquique and Punta Arenas service the Antarctic and Falkland islands, that it.
Route maps
http://www.lan.com/info_viajes/mapa_de_ ... es-pe.html

I have a feeling LAN Chile controls everything going out pretty well. Any roundtrip ticket from Santiago to Denver is more expensive than a roundtrip from Denver to Santiago.

On another travel note, Travelocity took me the other day to their new Travelocity Latinoamérica. All in Spanish. I haven't looked at much but found it interesting.

well it takes money to save money, as an long time travel agent we used to solve that problem by doing "Back to Back" trips to places you fly frequently so that all but the first trip originates in the lesser fare outbound leg. Am I making sense .
Anyway it is not a plot by Lan, all foreign airlines set the fares out of their home countries.

I disagree.

Intentionally only offering the highest fare buckets for Chile domestic flights and blocking access to the lower ones to outsiders so they cannot book them on the home country site when there are no legal reasons (like residency ala Argentina) to block them, IS A PLOT.

American Airlines does not do differential fare buckets aa.com vs americanairlines.cl.

Also, a warning to mileage program members. Have you seen what LAN did to their FF program without warning? Lots of pissed customers that will probably be switching to AA's mileage program. Check out the thread on the FlyerTalk board.

I once thought of switching to LAN FF program for miles but my already accumulated knowledge of Chile corporate customer service and the lack of transparency to their program vs AA's discouraged me. Good decision as it turns out. Now only if AA can stay out of bankruptcy……

I was talking only about international fares and my experience only. I , for example could purchase a roundtrip fare from Boston to Munich for $450 on Continental but if I tried to purchase the same ticket for a family member to travel from Munich to Boston on CO it might be $700 because that is what Lufthansa was charging. I agree the different fares whether for residents tourists etc are nonsense.

BTW eeuu you are the ONLY person I know who manages to use AA mileage, other than for an occasional upgrade, I don't even bother collecting it any more. Though to be fair all the airlines have made it really really hard, even with Copa/CO I would need to book six to eight months ahead now for freebie, and it use to be if there was an available seat I could use mileage on short notice .