RABinMS

US based son and d-i-l are planning a 2-3 week visit to Arequipa this summer. Using Delta miles I can easily get them to LIM and back, but am looking for advice on the best (best maintained metal, etc.) airline for LIM-AQP and back. Will most likely overnight in Lima on arrival since it will be very late. I've seen in the forum that Taxi Green seems to be the best choice outbound from LIM and the preferred choice for the return seems to be to have the hotel line up transport.

Since return flight will leave LIM around 1 AM it looks like it should be possible to do AQP-LIM-US in one day without another overnight in Lima. Any special considerations that we might not think of since this won't be all on one PNR? Obviously they'll have to pick up baggage at LIM and recheck, but any ideas on how much time that takes, things to watch out for, etc. are greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help!

HasteFlier

Hi RABinMS and welcome to FT!

There are four main airlines operating domestic flights within Peru, three of which (Lan, Taca/Avianca and Peruvian) operate LIM-AQP flights.
The two first ones are more "established", but I hear that Peruvian (which I havent flown so far) has improved a lot in past years - not sure I would have recommended them a few years ago, but it might be an option now. Lan and Avianca are also known for restricting their good fares for peruvian residents, which means you'll probably pay a lot more if you fly them.

For the return, the only thing that pops to my mind is that you should plan a long enough layover in case your flight gets delayed In particular, if you are flying the last flight of any airline in the day, you could be more "vulnerable" in case of a cancellation.

Have a great time in AQP, it's a great place !

krzysz

Taca/Avianca restricts their lowest fares for Peruvian residents only on flights between Lima and Cusco/Puerto Maldonado/Juliaca and between Cusco and Arequipa/Puerto Maldonado. There are no residency restrictions on the Lima-Arequipa flights operated by Avianca, the only restriction is that their cheapest tickets must be bought in Peru, which in practical terms means that you need to select Peru as your country of residence when you log on to the Avianca website. I am planning to book a LIM-AQP-LIM ticket on Avianca, too. I had no problem booking domestic tickets on the TACA website last year, but once Taca has been incorporated into Avianca and the TA website disappeared, I am not sure how domestic reservations work out on the new Avianca website. Any experiences, anyone?

LAN restricts their lowest fares on all domestic routes in Peru for Peruvian residents. If you books such a fare (or an Avianca fare on the few routes mentioned above), you will be charged a penalty of about $170 while trying to check in at the counter.

krzysz

I have my own experience now, so I can share it: it is not possible to pay with a foreign credit card for tickets on the Avianca website when you choose the Peruvian country page. Actually, it seems that the website capacities are quite limited when it comes to payment. For example, Europeans can't book any flights at all on their European website and need to contact them directly http://www.aviancaeuropa.com/interior.asp?mp=1&pais=1 Is it really 2014 at Avianca? It's a pity that the good old TACA website doesn't exist any more, it was both more functional and just nicer.

Does anyone know any online travel agancies that allow ticket reservations based in Peru? I know of one, https://www.despegar.com.pe but I have never used it. They charge an extra fee for a reservation ($12 for the ticket that I am looking at now).

fastair

Busses are cheap and nice. http://www.go2peru.com/peru_bus/buse..._lima_arequipa I've bussed that route before, although I made a day stop in Nazca to fly over the lines and see the pre-incan graves.