Help with LAN flight transit in Santiago
 

I'm trying to book a London to Falkland flight on LAN. The connections are

17:35 London (LHR) 20:55 Madrid (MAD) LA5721

23:25 Madrid (MAD) 07:15 (Saturday) Santiago de Chile (SCL) LA723

08:20 Santiago de Chile (SCL) 15:20 Mount Pleasant (MPN) LA991 (transit in Punta Arenas/Domestic)

LAN told me that the minimum connection time for International to Domestic flights is 90 minutes, but the website/call centre sells the connection with only 65 minutes, but since the "system" allows the flight to be sold it must be achievable. Does anyone have any experience with this flight and connection?

I don't have any experience with these particular flights, but LAN's website once offered an intinerary with a very short connecting time in SCL. I said the same thing: They wouldn't offer the flight if it weren't doable. So I purchased the ticket. As time got closer, I started to feel uneasy about it, so I called LAN. They said, oh, no, that connection is impossible. The phone agent I spoke to didn't have an answer to my question, why do you sell it then? She changed it to something more reasonable.

Moral of the story: Just because LAN's website offers the itinerary doesn't mean it's doable.

It looks like you have to go through passport control on arrival at SCL, and you will board a domestic flight to Punta Arenas, which, there, becomes international again. That may be why the extra time is needed.

The main issue here is the lack of options... there's only 1 commercial airline LAN that flies to MPN (apart from MoD flights), and only 1 flight a week so if you miss it you lose your entire trip. I'm surprised that this is the most direct way to go to MPN from Europe and no one's picked this up before?

When you say, "LAN told me," you mean you talked to a human being who told you this connection is not possible?

Is another option to fly to SCL a day early and overnight there?

I've been in transit several times at Santiago on the way to Brazil from Australia. Maybe check if you need to go through passport control, I never have there.

It's a very compact and well organised airport. Also LAN is one of the most punctual airlines I've ever traveled with.

I was given the option of a tight connection like that and didn't take it, others on my flight did and they easily made the next flight. I'd take a risk on this one.

I've heard there is an in-transit option in Santiago Airport, hopefully Huentutu will chime in. You don't want to go thru passport control if they will ding you $130 or $140 for the privelege.

You cannot go from an international flight to a domestic flight without going through passport control at your point of entry, Santiago. Santiago to Punta Arenas is a domestic flight no matter where you are going after that. You are not in transit between Santiago and Punta Arenas, you are in Chile. Jeff is quite right. I would think that 90 minutes is not enough to do the connection in Santiago, especially if you have to pay a reciprocity fee, go through passport control, customs and check in for the domestic flight. Even if they can collect your luggage for you after customs and get it to the domestic flight (unlikely), you don't have enough wiggle room. With a once a week flight at the far end of the connections, you need more time. You need to have a long talk with someone in LAN and make sure they understand the situation.

I'm going to assume the OP is a British citizen, which means paying no reciprocity fee.

Thanks, Jeff. Yes, coming from Europe. Even without that step in the process, more connection time is needed. Even a 20 minute delay on the flight to Santiago will ruin the connection. On a 13+ hr flight, you can easily be 20 minutes late. I would not attempt connecting in Madrid, Santiago and Punta Arenas in one trip and expect everything to go to plan.
Someone suggested a night in Santiago rather than trying to go all the way through in one go. That, or even better, a night in Punta Arenas would seem like a good idea.

Thanks for all your replies.

You are right, I don't need to pay the reciprocity fee.

At the moment London to Mount Pleasant is sold as a single ticket by LAN with 3 stopovers (MAD, SCL, PUQ), with a 65 minute layover in SCL. If I want to do an overnight stay in Santiago I am told I need to buy a multicity or 2 separate tickets which doubles the fare (from USD$1600 to USD$3200). I could also use different options like taking different airlines or going via North America into Santiago, again this costs more than USD$3200 using a travel agent. The flight from SCL-MPN is USD$1300.

I have spoken to the LAN customer service centre but they also have no clue why their computers are allowing them to sell a ticket which they agreed is impossible to make and is "illegal". They are unable to advise and just told me it will be my responsibility if I miss the flight (probably will from your responses). They said normally the computer will block all "illegal connections" but seem to allow this particular flight. Because the best alternative is to arrive one day early but pay double the fare I suppose I'll have to do this.

This ticket is the most direct option available (without forcing an overnight stopover in Santiago) for nearly all flights from Europe-Mount Pleasant (Lan is the only commercial airline to MPN). I would think a lot of people who just wanted a flight from LON (or most cities in Europe) to MPN to be offered this flight if booking through LAN, so I'm surprised no one's picked this up before.

Since LAN is a OneWorld partner with AA and BA, can they construct an itinerary for you using some combination thereof?

LHR-MIA-SCL-(Punta Arenas)-MPN

It seems the sticking point is getting you to SCL in time to catch that flight south.

>>They are unable to advise and just told me it will be my responsibility if I miss the flight (probably will from your responses).<<
I don't see how they can say this. If you buy the ticket through LAN and they are all LAN flights, it is their responsibility to get you there in time for the connections. I really have never heard an airline admit the connection time is illegal but you will be responsible for making it.
I am stumped by this one.

I have a ticket on hold from Buenos Aires to La Paz Bolivia with a 45 min stopover in Santiago. With LAN and it is showing in their system. The flight from Santiago is called SCL- La Paz though it does stop en route to IQQ Chile although it does not get new flight number there etc. Will I make the connection and as a US citizen will I need to go thru passport control?

Are they two separate flights? BA to SCL and then SCL to La Paz? If they are two separate flights, both on LAN, bought as one ticket - then you do not need to go through passport control. Your bags should be tagged all the way through to La Paz. Iquique is just a stop enroute. You should be given both boarding cards in BA and just go to the gate for your next flight in the transit area. Just follow the signs for transito/transit passengers.

Thanks for responding Huentetu, having read this thread I was hoping you would chime in!! Yes it is one ticket bought at once with American airline miles on LAN from BA to La Paz with a connection in SCL and it is a different flight but one ticket.
In that case it would be just transiting? If I only have carry on luggage should I be good with this 45 minute connection? The next flight is the next day which would be a huge bummer so more worried about making it than getting on the next flight a day later.

With carry on it is a breeze. You are just connecting from one international flight to another. You go to the transit area where the gates are and just find your gate. They should give you your boarding pass in BA but you can also get it in the transit area if not. 45 minutes would have been tight for luggage to be transferred but perfectly possible. Without luggage, you should be fine. You can actually look up your second flight on the AA website (flight status) and see what gate they have down. It usually doesn't change. But SCL is not a huge airport and the gates are not far one from the other.

Thanks again for the great info! Have you ever heard of Flightstats? Found it searching online and they said that the first leg of my flight LAN 4644 has a 62 percent on time rate which they called poor with an avg delay of 29 minutes which would guarantee I miss my connection. Any thoughts?

I never read statistics. I prefer to worry about what happens, not what might! :)