Originally Posted by
Ilove2fly
iahphx... I am planning a June trip to Easter Island with a stop over in LIM on the return. Indeed, the LIM -> IPC non-stop is gone. Because SCL is the Chilean city I will land, I will to pay $140 per person, even though I am only transiting, right? Do I need a visa to visit Easter Island?
So your first point of entry into Chile (including Easter Island) is SCL? If so, yes, if you're an American, you have to pay the $140. It's not a "visa" -- it's a "reciprocity" fee charged to the nationals of countries which charge Chileans for visas. If you don't enter Chile at SCL (which is tricky to avoid) you don't have to pay the fee.
That, of course, was the beauty of flying LIM-IPC, even if you wanted to visit SCL at the end (IPC-SCL is domestic, no fee collected). Of course, with the flight pulled (at least temporarily) that option has vanished. The only way now for an American to directly get to Easter Island without paying the fee is to fly there from Tahiti. I'd love to do it that way but, as we all know, it ain't easy.
Your other choice is to "sneak" into Chile by land. Like take a bus from Mendoza, and then fly to IPC from SCL. Not easy, either -- and most of Chile's neighbors now have "reciprocity" fees, too.
