I am taking a LAN flight from John F Kennedy airport to Mendoza Argentina. This flight has a layover in Santiago Chile. The return flight is the same (just in reverse order)
Now my question is Do I have to pay the Chile Reciprocity tax at the airport? I have heard many things about this issue and I am not even sure whom to call to ask! I have heard that you don;t need to pay because the bags go all the way through from NYC to Mendoza. But then I heard on the way back that Chile doesn't accept Mendoza screening of bags, so they make you exit the airport then reenter though customs and immigration and recheck your bags to NYC.
Does anyone have any ideas how this works? I know I will have to pay the Argentina Tax to get into Argentina..
Thank you all in advance for your time to respond
NYC to Mendoza Argentina- Checking Bags
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I have many friends and family who have done this.
Get your boarding pass, and book your bags right through Santiago, and you can stay in the international transit area. This includes coming from Mendoza. Unless this is a very recent change, Chile will accept the Mendoza screening of bags.
Even if you do not fly into Santiago with LAN or an alliance of LAN, you should be able to "interline" your bags through. LAN also issues boarding passes in the international transit area of Santiago airport.
You do not have to pay the Chile reciprocity tax if you do not leave the transit area. Be sure to check in for your connecting flight at a counter in the transit area before going thru security into the airport. There, and AGAIN, when you check in at the gate, ask them to check if your luggage is being put on your connecting flight. If you do not check, there's a good chance your luggage will not arrive for a couple of days. This is based on experience, more than once.
For Argentina, make sure you pay the reciprocity fee and get the receipt BEFORE you arrive in Argentina. They will request it at immigration.
It isn't Chile which doesn't accept the screening at Mendoza but the USA when people are connecting to the US in Santiago. It has been a fair while since anyone has reported not being able to check the bags through and just wait in the transit area and I think you will be fine. You must stay in the transit area and not go into the public areas of the airport and follow ellenhof's advice above about boarding pass and checking in at the gate.
Thank you all! I think I understand this better now..and my concerns are alleviated. Oh and thank you for the reminder about the reciprocity fee in Argentina.