gkbiiii

http://www.peruvianairlines.pe/index.php?lang=en


And a cheap way to get to Peru http://www.spirit.com/Default.aspx

Villavic

I've not flown PA yet. Has anybody already? I'd like to read comments about service and punctuality. For short flights I don't care the service that much. I mean I don't care if they serve cookies or sandwiches. But arriving on time is of course a big deal to me (and not need to mention safety).

bingocallerb22

Yes, flown it a couple times. It is good. My experience, punctual and nice service. On the ground, helpful, calm - allow changes, agents have flexibilty to please the client and they try to do so. In the air, perfectly OK especially since short flights. You get a free flight with every 5? flights. Worth it, especially if you catch a sale. No gringo discrimination.

Richard Chen

If I use a Star Alliance (sourced from UA) reward booking on (operated by) TACA for LIM-CUZ/CUZ-LIM or CUZ-AQP/AQP-CUZ, would I incur the same nonresident fee? I believe answer is no per #11 but confirm due to
This question is perhaps more for Other North & South America Frequent Flyer Programs but Googling "site:www.flyertalk.com inurlther-north-south-america-frequent-flyer-programs peru fee" resulted in nothing thus I didn't post there except to point here.

Update: Found better answers at Different fares for foreign residency in Peru enforced?

bingocallerb22

"If I use a Star Alliance (sourced from UA) reward booking on (operated by) TACA for LIM-CUZ/CUZ-LIM or CUZ-AQP/AQP-CUZ, would I incur the same nonresident fee?"

No, reward tix do not incur the non-resident fee. This charge could/would only be applied to revenue tix.

redtailshark

I just flew LIM-CUS-LIM (yesterday) on TA as part of a larger UA award itn...on which I paid no taxes of this type. In toto I paid plenty of taxes including a collection at MGA for an airport exit during a seven hour layover....but not for these Peruvian sectors.

krzysz

I travelled around Peru in August and September. Two observations:

(1) Expedia usually has special TACA fares that are lower than the gringo fares available on the TACA website. If you check the Expedia fare regulation, it says that that it is agent-restricted fare (so only available on Expedia).

(2) Allow extra time for connections if you fly to/from/via Cusco on TACA or Star Peru. I was booked on a TA flight from Puerto Maldonado (PEM) to Cusco in August. The weather in Cusco was bad and the TACA LIM-CUZ-PEM flight was diverted back to Lima due to weather in Cusco. The weather didn't improve, so they rerouted the flight to PEM without stopping in CUZ and then back to LIM also skipping CUZ. I asked them whether I could stay on the flight and be rerouted from PEM to LIM and on the following day take an early flight from LIM to CUZ, given that there there were more flights from Lima to Cusco and just one from Puerto Maldonado, but they wouldn't agree. Some other passengers decided to take a night bus from Puerto Maldonado to Cusco (12 hours), but Taca refused to pay for their tickets (I met some passengers from this bus in Cusco later; they had a bad trip as the buses got stuck in snow and arrived in Cusco at 3 PM instead of 8 AM). They offered to rebook me on the their only PEM-CUZ flight the following day and I agreed. They wouldn't pay for the accommodation, saying that the cancellation was weather-related. They fly the same aircraft as LAN on this route, and I am not sure that they can really claim that the cancellation was just due to weather, because at the same time LAN kept flying to Cusco without problems. Apparently, TA aircraft is not certified to land in Cusco in bad weather conditions.

The same thing happened to me in February when flying from Arequipa to Cusco. Our Taca aircraft was waiting in AQP for the weather to improve in CUZ while LAN would land there without problems. We departed about an hour late.

All in all, I wouldn't mind flying Taca again. Their service onboard is good and they are generally cheaper than LAN. One thing that surprised me when I flew Taca from Piura to Lima was that in PIU they forced passengers to tick and sign a "fragile/inapropriately packed" statement on their baggage tags. I had a hardcase suitcase which wasn't fragile or inapropriately packed, but still they made me sign it, possibly to avoid responsibility in case of bag damage.

redtailshark

You don't want to attempt a landing at CUS in bad weather unless you are insane. CUS is seriously challenging for a number of reasons.

1. Extreme field altitude (11400 AMSL)
2. Precision approach requirement
3. Inclination/directionality of the runway.

Not to mention, the ubiquity of the severe Andean weather.

You should be happy that they don't do it. I agree the bus from Maldonado to CUS sounds even worse, so better to follow your waiting plan.

I agree about TA service, it was very good and they provide food in J even on the short sector to LIM.

krzysz

I am very well aware of this and I agree with the above. My intention was to give advice to those who are making tight connections on the way from Cusco to consider flying LAN rather than other airlines. In the case at hand, there were quite a few passengers with international connections from Lima who were getting quite nervous about not being able to fly out of PEM via CUZ on Taca or Star Peru, while LAN was flying into and out of Cusco without problems. A German woman, originally booked on the Taca flight, was trying to buy a new ticket for a LAN flight, but they were all sold out. And for me personally it was the second time when Taca had problems getting to Cusco (low clouds or rain are enough to stop them), while LAN landed and took off from there without issues.

krzysz

An update on the Foreigner/"Gringo" fares with TACA. Till recently TACA restricted the use of PROMO and ECONO fares to Peruvian residents only on the flights between Lima/Cusco/Puerto Maldonado. Now the restriction also applies to flights between Lima and Juliaca and Arequipa and Cusco.

lamphs

Any update on this? I intend to purchase a ticket, LIM-CUZ-LIM, via AV's website. There is still a lot of conflicting information re: whether or not there is an additional fee, payable at the airport, for non-Peruvian citizens.

If I purchase a ticket on UA, IAD-LIM-CUZ-LIM-IAD, with the LIM-CUZ legs on AV, there will definitely not be any additional fee?

What if it is an award ticket (either UA or AV)?

And finally, everything that I have read seems to only apply to economy. What about business class?

Thanks and best wishes for the New Year!