creampuff

I am booked on a LAN flight LA841 departing SCL at 1015am for Easter Island. This flight is in economy. It is a family trip, everybody involved is an AA Platinum (OW Sapphire). There are 2 adults, 1 child, 1 infant.

I have a flexible inbound ticket and we will be arriving on American Airlines AA957 from Miami into Santiago at 0718am, whichever day we choose to arrive. This inbound flight is in biz class; bags will have priority tags on them.

The AA MIA-SCL flight and the LA SCL-IPC flight are NOT on the same ticket.

I am considering making AA MIA-SCL flight the same day as the LA SCL-IPC flight. In other words, arrive at 0718am, connect to Easter Island at 1015am.

Everybody involved are using British passports, so no separate queueing for a visa fee when we arrive.

Is turning up in Santiago on separate tickets with a 2hr 57min connection for a flight to Easter Island a good idea or a bad idea?

If we do this, can we check the bags from Miami all the way to Easter Island or is it necessary to collect them and recheck them?

BlackBerryAddict

There is a risk - if you're AA flight is delayed you might miss the LA flight.

I don't think you can check your bags through - you will have to clear customs and immigration in SCL as you arrive, and recheck your bags for the domestic flight. They do close the check in on the advertised time. If you are too late you might not be allowed to check your bags. I have found that out to my cost.

I'm sure others will be around to advise on Chilean immigration waiting times at that time of the morning - I've never arrived that early in SCL.

creampuff

Okey, thanks.

Do you know how far in advance of the flight Lan closes check-in for Easter Island flights?

BlackBerryAddict

I was trying to remember when I wrote my reply - but I can't remember whether it was 45 minutes or 1 hour. We were late through our own fault, and had some problems in getting on the flight, but made it in the end.

creampuff

Ahh OK, on the LAN website it says Easter Island flights are treated as international for check-in, so you should turn up 2 hours before. But I don't know if that is a suggestion or if they close check in earlier than for domestic flights.

miikkak

Immigration at SCL tends to be fast but luggage delivery can take anything between 30 and 60 minutes. 3 hours is for return is also a bit risky as IPC is world's most remote commercial airport (I dont whether B767s and B787s certified to fly if Papeete airport in Tahiti is closed because of ETOPS restrictions).

ORDSCL

Check out flightaware statistics for AA957. There is some variance there. If the flight is on time I think you're fine. Passport control is quick, if you're in Biz you'll beat at least the crowd from your flight. Maybe you can send one adult to check everyone in and one adult takes the bags to the counter? Is online check-in available to IPC?

I guess it depends on how much risk you're willing to take. Also, that connection time is most likely a valid connection time - even if you're on separate tickets you would be covered. The problem is there aren't that many flights to IPC so still it might ruin your travel plans.

creampuff

I thought that if you are on separate tickets and your inbound flight is delayed and you miss your connection then it is just bad luck?

ORDSCL

This has been discussed in forums around here several times. My understanding is that if you book 2 oneworld flights on separate tickets with a legal connection and things go sour the first carrier has to accommodate.... but do your own research. In any case I wouldn't rely on that... An AA representative in SCL helping you with LAN? On a route served only once per day (or so)? I wouldn't be surprised the whole thing turns into a huge mess... unless someone here has had a positive experience in a similar case.

creampuff

Mmmm, I did research that. Seems AA is supposed to help, but user reports also suggest that AA may or may not do anything.

I'm on a 7 month holiday and I can live with a day delay. What I'm not clear on is if LAN will put me on a flight the next day at no cost to me or if LAN will tell me bad luck, go and buy another ticket.

===

Another thing: is the additional baggage allowance in economy on LAN with OW Sapphire status 15kg?

BlackBerryAddict

If you can live with a day's delay, why not build that in anyway? I obviously don't know what your other plans are, or whether you are spending time in Santiago or elsewhere in Chile after you get back from Easter Island, but you could spend time there, or take the bus down to Valparaiso for a day or two.

expert7700

I just flew this same easter island trip on LAN from SCL two weeks ago!

The check-in desk closes 1hr prior to departure, no exceptions are made as this is treated as an international departure, so the manifest is uploaded for security reasons and closed at that time. If you can get a real boarding pass ahead of time (maybe from your origin airport??), do so! The ones I got from online checkin had a watermark saying must see agent to verify passport). *You board from a domestic gate so be sure to go through the domestic security checkpoint*. this meant we could not experience LAN's brand new airport lounge

My flight was delayed 6 hours due to "ATC Congestion". The flight the day before had flown 3 hours then turned back due to weather on the island, so they took our departure time of 10:15 and we left at 3pm. ATC for easter island requires three HOURS of separation between aircraft since there are no diversion points along the way. I read up about this and talked to the pilots--ATC is so tightly controlled there that no other airline/aircraft is even allowed to name Easter Island as an alternate/diversion point during the time that a LAN aircraft is past the "Point of no return" a bit halfway through the flight until the time it clears the runway.

Easter island was a blast, though we only had from 10pm till 4pm the next day. I chickened out on coming without a hotel reservation in hand, so I booked the Taha Tai hotel as we were boarding. Taha Tai proved to be an excellent choice (the entire LAN crew went there too). I had trouble calling the hotel even with my worldwide tmobile phone. My wife and I just started laughing when I gave in and got a cab, and the driver said the fare would be equivalent to $2.00 USD.

If you rent a vehicle be aware that as of 2 weeks ago there are security stations/roadblocks leading both directions (towards the statues and the beach). They will not allow you to pass without an local/island tour guide. They had a fatal tourist accident recently and they were doing this to prevent any reoccurrence. A second checkpoint eventually relented when they saw my son, took down all info from the car, had us sign saying we would just go as far as the beach and turn back around within 2 hours.

When we went to return the rental car, the employee in town told us to park it at the airport. Anywhere. Unlocked, and set the keys on the dashboard.

creampuff

We have plans in Miami, where we are flying in from so must arrive in Santiago either the day of our flight to Easter Island or the day before. Everybody has been to Santiago/Valpariso a couple of times before and we aren't bothered about seeing it again.

Arriving the day before the Easter Island flight just seems like a wasted trip from the airport, a wasted trip to the airport and a wasted hotel night with not that much free time to actually do anything.

If I could get quite confident that a 2hr 57min scheduled connection would work or that if it didn't work we would just end up on another day flight (rather than lose the cost of the ticket) I'd like to arrive the same day.

BlackBerryAddict

OK - fair enough. I was thinking about the wasted trip thing as well as I suggested it, hence the slightly longer stay - but I've you been already there no point in going back.

The suggestion of getting your BP beforehand saved us. We were too late for check in, but we already had a BP, so we left our luggage in the airport, and just took hand luggage. It seems we had been off loaded when we got to the gate, but we had a valid BP, so were let back on again. However, on separate tickets you won't get your BP beforehand.

Is there any flexibility in your SCL-IPC ticket, so that in case your AA flight is seriously delayed you can call LA from MIA to change it?

The only experience I have was when my wife missed her LA flight LIM-SCL (on a non-flex economy ticket), and simply got rebooked to the next one.

Ultimately it comes down to whether you want to take the risk. The AA flight may be late, and LA may not want to re-accommodate you. If everything goes smoothly it should be fine.

creampuff

If I arrive the same day it will be a morning arrival into SCL on July 17. Can anybody comment on how busy customs and immigration will be and how long it will take to clear?

Even with the longest delay on AA957 (my inbound flight) in the last 2 weeks I should make it onto the LAN Easter Island flight if I can make it through the airport quickly.