Just to give yet another angle on SCL lounge situation, this is what happened when I flew into SCL from JFK on LA531 in Oct. I was on a F award ticket.I had a 23 hour transfer (int'l to int'l) so I was claiming my luggage as I was staying overnight in Santiago.

I knew there wasn't an arrivals lounge a la AA, BA. It was my first time in SCL so I wanted to grab a shower and check my hotel email confirmation before heading into town.

I asked the stewardess about going to the Neruda Lounge and she passed me onto Ground Services. They were very helpful but it was still a bit of a palaver.

She escorted me to immigration where I had to leave my passport at a kiosk. I couldn't go thru to baggage claim but she assured me my suitcase would be safe. Not sure why I had to deposit the passport. Perhaps I was going to a different legal zone within the airport. I can't recall exactly but to get to the lounge I had to go to a specific floor e.g. 2nd, walk then take another lift to another floor e.g. 3rd. Definitely not straightforward.

Lounge itself was fine if smaller than I imagined. About the same level as AA CDG's lounges. Followed the same mazy route back down, thru immigration to find no case in baggage claim. Cue mild panic attack. It turned out that LA staff had it put aside for me. Not sure if this was due to ground services requesting this or just because it hadn't been claimed.

So LA were very accommodating even though using the lounge technically wasn't allowed. F ticket, EXP status may have helped. However, the logistics of getting there could be a lot easier and I could have done without the kerfuffle of dropping off my passport.