LAN Tickets. Big difference in US and Chile prices
 

I tried to buy a LAN ticket in the Chile version of the website for a domestic flight from SCL to PUQ. Price 76,000 pesos. Wouldn't go through. Looked on US version of website, price $754 USD.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks

Chile point of sale is substantially less (actually what it is - more fare classes are available for sale). Note that these are not resident fares, they are point of sale fares. Note also that if you are flying LA down there you qualify for the airpass fares, which aren't quite as cheap as the lowest Chile fares, but book into higher fare classes (I believe H and B).

So why am I unable to complete the transaction? Do I have to be in Chile to buy the ticket? We are not coming on LAN (AA award ticket, on AA).

Advice, please

Yes. (I believe you can also buy the airpass if you are coming in on One World carriers).

Maybe you could try booking the domestic tickets through a Chilean travel agency... That's what some people used to do in Peru before the residency requirements.

Exactly at what point is the transaction failing? I will check later to see what happens when using a USA proxy.

Only options:
(1) Have someone you trust in Chile purchase it for you.
(2) Use a Chile-based travel agent.
(3) Find an anonymous Chile proxy that allows use of ports 80 and 443.

I can get to the point where I enter my credit card number, expiration date, the security code, passport number and mailing address, and it says (in spanish) unable to complete transaction.

am it doing something wrong. Chile is not like Argentina where there are different prices for nationals, I thought.

You are not doing anything wrong. The Chile LAN site has their blocking activated. Some outside of Chile have reported their purchases going through so it appears the blocking or redirect is not always turned on. Try at different times in the next couple of days to see if you can put the purchase through when their blocking is deactivated.

did you get a reservation number / PNR ? if you have a reservation number call the LAN call center in chile and let the ticket be issued via phone. it will cost some transaction fee but in the end it will be cheaper than buying the ticket on the US site.
in case you have no reservation number (PNR) create a LANPASS account, log in and try to book again. before checking out select the option to create only a reservation without ticketing immediately. then you will just get a reservation number / PNR without the need to enter your CC details. then call the chile call center and issue the ticket via phone. that should work.

i think the problem is not technical and cannot be circumnavigated by using a chilean proxy. what they do is they block any foreign credit card on their website. it is only possible to pay with a credit card issued in chile when booking via their chilean internet site.
i once had the same problem with my german CC and the peruvian as well as their US website.

Foreigners and expats purchase on the Chile LAN site in Chile all the time with foreign credit cards so that is not the problem.

BTW, I've seen the valid booking number but charge did not go through message before when using the Chile LAN site.

This will usually happen when using a foreign credit card due to LAN's claim that it is their anti-fraud system at work.

In this situation, DO NOT CALL your country's LAN desk. Call the SANTIAGO, CHILE call center which has an English speaking section during weekday normal Chile business hours. They can pull up the reservation with the locator and process the charge which should not incur a telephone fee.

OK, I just tried using the Chile site with a USA proxy:

http://www.lan.com/index-es-cl.html

Here is the current situation as of 3:00 pm UTC:
(1) If you do not use the above link, you will get their standard country selector page WITHOUT the Chile option.
(2) If you do use the link, you will get there but when you attempt to begin booking your flight, you get a redirect back to the country selector page with this message
"If your geographic location does not coincide with the list of countries displayed, please complete this form."

This result seems to differ from day to day and which outside of Chile LAN country site you use as others like the OP have gotten further but get blown out at the billing stage while others actually get a valid PNR but have to phone Santiago to complete the CC charge and then there is the small number that get a 100% successful booking without problems.

i have no experience with chile, but i was in peru and could not pay a peruvian domestic ticket from within peru. call center told me i should use the german website because i have a german credit card. i explained that i am in cuzco and should be able to use the peruvian website and pay with my cc. she said "not possible because only peruvian CC are accepted on the peruvian website". she connected me to the regular ticket desk and they could issue the ticket without problems.
i had the same problem using the us website from within the states trying to pay with my german credit card. the cc agent told me the same story "only us issued credit cards accepted on the us website". however issuing the ticket via phone was possible.

Never had that problem on the Chile LAN site. You can even choose to be charged directly in USD, CLP, Euros and maybe pounds.

Never mix what happens on the Chile LAN site with what happens on the outside of Chile LAN sites.

Bus tickets are a different matter. Can only book online with Turbus and Pullman with a Chile issued credit card.

Last test of the day.

Again used a USA proxy, went directly to the Chile site but this time entered my LAN Pass account first before attempting to book flights.

Again auto redirected when I attempted to search for a domestic flight.