I live in the US and have been searching for my flights while inside Peru on a trip this September.

When I go to the LAN website and say my country of residence is the US the flights altogether cost around $520 or so. When I change that to say my country of residence is Peru, the flights change to about $280 or so altogether. Does anyone know why this is the case? Or how I could get my tickets at the cheaper price? Perhaps use a travel agent from Peru to help me book? I assume if I tried to purchase saying I am from Peru with a US address it would fail online, so I'm just trying to figure out how to get the best price.

Thank you in advance to anyone who has helpful information on this. I've looked through the forums and I've been unable to find an answer.

I know this question comes up here every once in awhile. LAN gives discounts for domestic flights for residents of Peru. You have to put in your correct country of residence. Otherwise, when you check in for that flight in Peru and show your U.S. passport as identification, you risk being charged the difference right there on the spot.

I'm curious what routes you're taking. $520 round-trip seems expensive for a single route. You say "the flights altogether."

Yeah, we are flying from LIM to ARQ, then ARQ to JUL, then JUL to CUZ. They add up to about $520 or so, all the one way flights.

When I flew in Argentina there was a similar situation on Argentinas Aerolineas, which got cheaper when an Argentine travel agent booked for me. Didn't know if something like that was possible in Peru as well.

I wasn't going to book as a Peru resident, as I knew there would be problems. I just happened to search that way one day to see the cheaper fare and was curious to see if it was possible to get it for myself.

Not sure about LAN, but I used Sky airlines in Chile, and the although I am a US citizen, I purchased the tickets while I was staying in Valparaiso for 2 months and was able to use Chile as my country of residence. I'm assuming it's because I gave them an address in Chile. So, if LAN is similar, I imagine by using a Peruvian travel agent you could get the lower rate - doesn't hurt to email an agent and ask.

I ran into the same issue with LAN in Chile. I phoned LAN and was told that if I booked saying that my country was Chile I would have to pay the (substantial) difference. I was ablut to find a Chilean travel agency that was able to book the flight at a better rate than I could on the LAN site but not as low as the best available rate for Chileans. Making this booking required faxing a copy of my credit card and passport to the agency. It worked out fine.

This is also discussed on the Lonely Planet board. The budget travelers there say you can do it, and many have done so without being charged the difference. I read one thread saying that certain credit cards won't work, but others (American Express, I think) will work. Also, people have said that using a travel agent in Puru, as you mentioned, will work.
If you go to the Thorntree threads on Lonely Planet and search for Lan Airlines Peru, you'll see lots of discussion.

I know of cases where foreigners were able to "sneak through" with the local rate, but they are rare. I don't think anyone should count on being able to do this.

I have walked into LAN offices in Peru and booked flights and received the local rate, but I was in Peru. I also had plenty of time to play around with my travel dates, to be flexible, and to meet any advance-purchase requirements to get the lower fares.

Josheli, I take it you must have a fourth flight in there: CUZ to LIM? If you have four one-way flights for $520, that isn't such a bad price, considering how airfares have skyrocketed. Come to think of it, I'm not sure you're going to do much better with three one-way flights these days.

I found cheaper flights on TACA Air. http://www.taca.com/index.asp

AND we decided to change our return for a different day, and there was no charge! Unheard of !

My flights to/from Peru are on Taca, which was the cheapest from DC.

As for the fourth leg, CUZ to LIM, that is included in our return from Peru to IAD. So I'm only lacking those 3 legs from inside Peru mentioned before, and they are what add up to $520 or so. While I agree 3 one way fares in the US would run that if not more, it is frustrating to see that it is possible to fly those flights for less but not be able to.

I'll pay whatever I have to. I'm not trying to sneak the system so much as seeing if there is a legitimate way of getting those fares. But I'll check out the Lonely Planet boards for some more info, thanks for all the advice.