Mendoza via Santiago Airport on International Flight
 

Hi,

I'm flying from the U.S. to Mendoza connecting in Santiago. There is only 45 minutes between flights. Is that enough time? I'm usually concerned about this short of time, especially if I have to go through customs first. The next flight to Mendoza is several hours later so I would prefer to take the earlier flight if possible.

Has anyone done this connection? Do we have to go through customs from the United States first or do we just do that when we arrive in Mendoza?

Any advise would be appreciated!

Thanks very much!

Santiago airport is rather large and sprawling. I didn't do this connection, but I have been thru the Santiago airport.

If haven't ever been thru Santiago Chile & are a US citizen you are going to stand in a painfully slow moving line to pay the $131 reciprocal fee, as well as retrieve your bags and go thru customs and immigration.

I don't think you can make a connection like this, is 45 minutes enough anywhere that you've ever traveled?

I guess the question that I should have asked first, is, are you booked on the same airline and will you be in transit? eg if you are on LAN or American all the way thru I would call them and ask. However if you are changing planes I doubt the time is sufficient.

I assumed that you were booking these yourselves as two different flights or you would't have asked.

You have to pay $131 just to go through the airport????

No. A U.S. citizen pays $131 to enter Chile by air, because that's what a Chilean pays to apply for a visa to travel to the United States. The fee is good for the life of your passport. But if you just change planes and continue to a destination outside Chile, no fee.

If this is all one ticket, and I suspect it is, you won't go through passport control and customs in Santiago, you won't have to pick up your luggage, and you won't have to pay the $131 since you are not officially entering Chile. You'll just get off your incoming flight and walk to the gate for your second flight. You'll go through customs when you arrive in Argentina. Still, 45 minutes seems short to me. I guess if your incoming flight is late and you miss the Mendoza flight, they can always put you on the one that's five hours later.

Hmmm, the other snag is that I may be using frequent flyer miles for this flight so if I miss that flight, I wonder if it would be a problem getting on the other flight?? I really hate the idea of only 45 min in between flights but waiting around all those hours for the later flight is not appealing either... And yes, it would be all in one ticket (I haven't purchased the ticket yet, I'm still trying to figure this whole thing out...). I'll be coming back to Santiago via bus from Mendoza and then touring around Chile for about a week so will I have to pay the reciprocity fee then or is it only at the airport? I remember that whole reciprocity thing with Brazil also!

I'm flying in on Lan form Mendoza and out to the US on American - not all one ticket. But I am flying outside of Chile and not staying in country - will I have to pay ??(Im going opposite of Roxanne - just jumped on her thread :) )

Roxanne, a ticket is a ticket, no matter if you pay for it with money or with frequent-flyer miles. As long as you have the entire itinerary on one ticket, they're obligated to roll you over to the next available flight if your first flight is delayed enough to cause you to miss the second one.

You pay the $131 only if arriving in Chile by air. Entering by land is free, so you're okay.

Not Enuf, that's a good question. I would call American and explain the situation and ask if they can issue you your boarding pass at the gate in Santiago, or if LAN can issue it when you check in in Mendoza. If they say that you have to go out to the AA counter in the check-in area, then you're in trouble. The only way you can get our there is to go through the passport line, and they will not let you in the passport line until you pay the $131.

Answering in reverse order.
LAN and AA are One World partners so there is no problem having your luggage tagged all the way through for a connection. You simply stay in the transit area.
If an airline sells you a ticket with a 45 minute connection, then it is their problem if you don't make the connection. If you buy 2 separate tickets on your own, it becomes yours. You would more than likely have to exit the transit area to rearrange your travel plans. I also doubt that your luggage would make the 45 minute connection even if you did. Call the airline and ask what the minimum connecting time is for SCL and buy your tickets through one source.

Called Lan Airlines - we have to pay the fee. Wish I had known this before booking the tickets, I would have flown out of BA instead. Live and learn I guess - never ran into this in Europe.

not_enuf, forgive me for reiterating, but if you do not leave the transit area you are not going through passport control and you do not pay the fee. Perhaps I missed something and you are over-nighting first in Santiago? If not, I think you have been given incorrect information.
The two airlines are One World partners and there is no reason for you to have to go out to get a boarding pass. Just look for your gate when you land and go there. There should be LAN personnel floating around in the departures area who can help if you need it. I know people who have done this, so I don't understand why you would be told otherwise unless something has drastically changed recently. Try going to the gate first and also ask AA when you check in if you can have the two boarding passes.
Did you call a US office of LAN or one in Chile?

Booked my ticket for domestic flights through lan directly, not through american. So they are two SEPERATE tickets. Unless Lan can check my bags through for American, I have to go through baggage claim, get my bags, go through customs and back into the concourse - and hence the fee. Called LAN here in the US since I dont speak spanish.

Even if it is two separate tickets, they are partner airlines and they are both international flights. You are arriving in Chile on an international flight and departing on an international flight. There is nothing domestic there.

I will call LAN here for you tomorrow. Just recap for me so I have it all straight: you arrive in Chile on American Airlines from the USA and are connecting to a flight to Mendoza, Argentina on LAN? This is more or less an immediate connection (within a couple of hours)?

No I am arriving FROM Argentina in Chile on Lan (from Mendoza). Have a layover of a couple of hours, then fly out on American to the US. (I think Roxanne is going the other direction).

Thank you SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!

I hope it can work out to your satisfaction, Not Enuf. That's very nice of you to make that call, Huentetu. :)

OK, I have had a long conversation with a very nice girl in LAN. She cannot give a definitive answer without knowing the exact type of ticket you have. However, she said that if you bought them as two separate tickets you may indeed have to pass through customs and check in with American. The agent in Mendoza would not put a connecting tag on the luggage as you will not appear in their system as a connection. She said that you can call the local call center here at 56-2-6872400 (Chile+Santiago+number) option 6 and you will get an English speaking agent. If you give them your reservation number they can check and see if anything can be done. Check the time zones to call during office hours.

It would, I think, be worth making the phone call. And maybe smiling nicely at the ticket agent in Mendoza to see if they will tag the bags through.

I am sorry it is not better news but it does raise an issue which can be pointed out to future travelers.

Good luck. I hope you can sort something out.

Thank you very much for your efforts. This is an expensive lesson to learn but hopefully other travellers will learn from my mistake. Who would have thought it would cost $260 to sit in an airport for 2 hours :(

Thank you again Huentetu!

Well to be fair, you cannot transit in the USA without a visa even if you are not going there, and the application for that is US$131 for Chileans without any guarantee of getting it.
Depending on what sort of ticket you have, you might cash it in and take the bus from Mendoza to Santiago. It takes about 7 hours but goes through gorgeous scenery. Costs about US$20 pp. No fee for land crossings.
Good luck with a solution!

FYI- I called American and asked them . They said that if I show my American ticket, there is no reason why LAN cant check my bag through - however, they said it is up to LAN.
So basically, we will see what happens when we get to the tikcet counter and find out if they are having a good day or a bad day.

Oh, and I totally understand that the US does not make it easy in many ways for foreign travellers. I am mostly mad at myself for not knowing this before I booked my ticket :) Never, ever occured to me to even think about it.

I think it might work out. Argentines are nice people (they respond really well to a smile!) and if you explain the situation and show your ticket you will probably get lucky! I certainly hope so. If it is not too much bother, could you check back after your trip and say how it went?

I plan on posting a pretty detailed trip report and I will also post the results of my Argentinan-Chilean Odyssey here as well :).

I have many times include for the same or almost the same money Mendoza y my AA or Lan Miami Buenos Aires ticket as simple as that. I believe there has been no extra charge it is like an extra stop

I continue, I might be mistaken but I think for almost the same money we have done

Miami-Mendoza ( via santiago) Buenos Aires- Miami good luck try Lan or AA

Graziella - the issue is I have already bought my tickets and cant change. And I bought the Chile to US on American and the Argentina to Chile on LAN so it is not a "connecting flight". Well see what happens in a couple of months :) I will post my results here!

Sorry abount that, next time you know.

Not Enuf, can you pack light enough that you would have only carry-ons? That way there would be no luggage to retrieve.

Then the only other concern would be who is going to issue your boarding pass for the Chile-U.S. flight. If AA can do that at the gate in Santiago, or if LAN could do that in Mendoza, then you wouldn't have to go through the passport line in Chile at all. Hence no $131 to pay.

Not a chance Jeff :) Plan on doing some serious shopping in Buenos Aires!!!

A girl after my own heart!

Thanks everyone for the great info! I'm kind of leaning toward taking my chances with the 45 min connection and if I miss it, I'll hope for the best for getting on the next flight... gulp. :)

Okay - update if anyone cares:)

Called LAN again and got a very helpful lady. She said that yes, LAN and AA are partners so NORMALLY, it would be no problem to check our bags all the way through even if the ticktes are purchased seperately. However, since our final destination is the US which has very strict security requirements and we are departing from Mendoza which is a small airport, the secuity requirements are not met - hence the need to go through customs in Santiago and re-check our bags. If we were flying EZE to Santiago to the US, not a problem as it is considered a TRUE international airport.
A $232 lesson in international travel.

Interesting explanation. It never would have occurred to me that it mattered whether you boarded in Mendoza or Buenos Aires. It is true that flights to Chile are the only international flights out of Mendoza. At least it will be a heads up to warn other travellers in the future.
Roxanne, your thread grew and grew! I doubt the airline will sell you a ticket with a 45 minute connection. You could probably make the connection but I am not so sure about your luggage.

yeah - sorry I hijacked your thread Roxanne :)

Im now thinking about hiring a driver to take us from Mendoza to Santiago. We dont have to be at the airport until around 9:00 pm - we would save the customs fee and the LAN ticket and we could see the mountains. Anyone know what time it gets dark in January?

It won't get dark until nearly 9pm in Jan.
Just note that January is the busiest month for traffic from Mendoza to Santiago and delays at customs can be very long. Certain dates or days of the month are worse than others. If you give me your flight date, I can tell you if I think it will be crowded and why. To be safe, you should do the trip the day before.
Why not the bus? They are comfortable and you go through customs quicker than in a private car. Turbus does the trip and ends at their own bus station here, with their own vans or taxis to the airport.
On the other hand, between the cost of a private car and/or the cost of a bus and a night in a hotel here, you might save very little compared to paying the fee (plus cancellation fees on the tickets).

My flight leaves Santiago at 11:05pm, Thursday, January 14th.
I had a three day tour planned in Mendoza and I was sort of sad to cut out the last day completely (looking forward to one last winery lunch :) ). Plus I already paid for part of it. Although, Im sure the Andes would be pretty spectacular too and I have been to wineries before. Seems like even if we left at like 2 we should have time for the trip?
On a different note - you sound like a fellow shopper - any recommendations in Buenos Aires???

The 14th isn't such a good day. People tend to take fortnight holidays and Argentines like to vacation in January. So the folk heading off for the second fortnight of January in Chile will be heading for Santiago on the 14th after work, or before if they can get away with it. Those who have to be back to work on the 15th in Argentina will be moving in the opposite direction. I would not try to cross the same day as your flight. There were delays of 3 or more hours at the border last year.
I would bite the bullet and just pay the fee so you can enjoy your last lunch in Mendoza. Trying to cross by land is only going to complicate things for you.
No tips for BA, I am afraid. Just a fan of the general concept.

Bummer - okay, thank you!

No worries about hijacking my thread! :) I'm learning a lot by reading all of this! :) Any idea what time it gets dark there in March? BTW - not_enuf_vaca... please update us on your Mendoza trip when you get back because I will be there in March and would love your feedback! Where are you staying?

The plan is to post a pretty detailed report on my whole trip - we'll see if I do it :)
Hotel Bohemia.

I'm sorry it turned out this way, Not Enuf. :( I suppose the saving grace here is that you know about the fee and won't be caught by surprise. A few years ago, I was on a flight to Santiago. There was a family of five seated near me. All of a sudden I heard the father say, "We have to pay $500 when we land???" (The fee was $100 at the time.)

He was shocked.