maal99

It's a much better value with Avios than any other miles/points but the cash ticket doesn't look so bad. I hadn't even looked at PPT. I never even thought that one would exist at all! Thanks for the heads-up.

dc10forlife

At 30,000 miles roundtrip on American for what would otherwise be a $1400+ flight, I think its probably one of the better redemption opportunities these days with American (economy award wise).

FaBSy

Has anyone tried to book award seats to IPC? I am not able to even enter the airport in the award search...
Anyone knows a trick for that?

OpenSky

Dream on

Since travel rebounded, LATAM is about a stingy with award seats as you can imagine.
Also since they left one world they are in no obligation to release a certain number of seats at all.

sdsearch

Did you not see this thread:

Cancellation of flights to/from Easter Island (IPC) [merged thread]

???

Easter Island is shut down for all conventional travel due to Covid concerns. There are very few medical facilities on this island so they can't risk a "surge" there. And so it's not clear when it's going to open up for flights. They keep delaying and delaying. Details keep getting posted in that thread. So follow that thread, because you're not going to see award flights until you see paid flights , which don't yet exit.

Semphyra

The route SCL - IPC is back again since August 4th after the government finally opened travel to Isla de Pascua for tourists. But since demand is so high so far, I am no surprised LATAM is not releasing inventory for partner airlines

behuman

With only flights on Fridays, Sundays and Mondays until end 2022 things will not get better. Saw business class fares up to EUR 5400 for two people on LATAM European website, but bought with funds from my LATAM wallet on the Chilean website for CLP 1 542 412, a bargain fully refundable.

Anybody guesses why this reduced frequency ?

sdsearch

Multiple possible reasons.

For example, they could be short on full-time staff at IPC airport, and the only staff they can get is part-time on those days.

Or they could be short staffed on the airline itself, either flight crews or airplane service or who knows what kinds of staffing.

Or they could think that Chile is going to cancel IPC tourism again once a new Covid variant "surges", and they figure it's easier to cancel flights 3 days a week than to cancel flights 7 days a week.

The point is, why commit to high-frequency when there has been a history of Chile opening then closing then opening then closing IPC over and over again? I don't see the point of doing high frequency until you can prove that you can do some frequency. on an ongoing basis, in practice.

Semphyra

Also I wouldn't be surprised if there is a soft capacity limit of tourists imposed by the government. And since they don't have an smaller aircraft that can fly to IPC, the only alternative is to have a lower frequency

soy

Rookie question, how frequent was SCL-IPC pre-covid ?

Looking at award to SCL next fall, and happy enough to pay $ to fly to IPC, however if they stay at 2x to IPC per week, it will make logistics way tougher

Eastbay1K

Historically, I believe it was generally 3x/week. I also recall that about a decade ago, LA was to start LIM/IPC service, which was either very short lived, or died prior to birth.

sdsearch

SCL-IPC right before Covid (when I booked the flight that was later cancelled due to Covid) was more than 1 per day a few days of the week, so perhaps 8 or 9 or 10 a week.

It's PPT-IPC which was just a few days of the week.

whackedspinach

Does anyone know the best way to book SCL-IPC-SCL with points/miles right now? It seems it is no longer possible to book through AA even though their award chart says otherwise.

I know booking cash is still an option, just wondering if there was a better way. We also want to do SCL to one of the Patagonia airports (not sure which) round trip, so if there's anything I should know about potentially combining those trips, I would appreciate any tips!

sdsearch

You can book LATAM flights with Alaska miles or with Delta miles, as far as US-based airlines go. The mileage requirements and the availability might be very different between the two.

whackedspinach

For anyone looking in the future, I found that:

• American's award chart calls out this route specifically as 17,500 economy / 30,000 business. However this is outdated and it can no longer be booked though American.
• I had to call Delta to get pricing. It was 25,000 economy and 50,000 business.
• Alaska Airlines the only website I have been able to see award availability. 22,500 in economy and 35,000 business. I tried to make SCL a stopover on this flight but it isn't possible (I think its another region).