Hello, I am just starting to plan a trip to Peru for Oct 2011 and wondered about airlines within country. We have to fly from Lima to Iquitos. There is an airline called Star Peru which seems much cheaper than LAN. Is there any locals with information re airlines we should avoid?

I know that Star Peru is a lot cheaper than Lan, and many people said the quality was not that different.

Good luck buying tickets from the website though....

I flew TACA which was also cheaper than LAN and had no problems.

www.traficoperu.com/english will have options

AVOID LAN rips tourists off with $178.50 per person per flight

surcharge above what locals ridiculous and obscene.

taca.com LIM CUZ my fav

starperu.com peruvianairlines.pe both fine for other areas

from $50/leg with sales you pay the same as locals with them

No nasty tourist rip offs like LAN Peru.

Happy Journey!

Taca does not fly to Iquitos.

Star Peru and Peruvian Airlines are two alternatives to LAN. Star Peru is cheaper, BUT (and this is important) they do not have a morning flight from Lima. If you need to catch transport on the same day to an Amazon Lodge, then you may need to take the morning flight on Peruvian or the LAN ripoff.

The other thing to look into is if you can get the transfer to Iquitos included on your international ticket, if it isn't too late.

great point, mlgb...try to get the transfer to Iquitos included on your international ticket.

I missed my TACA flight due to a problem with my Delta international flight. I had to change the TACA flight to the very same flight the next day. They had seats available. They wanted to charge me $400 for that change on just one leg of the round trip. The original round trip was only $145, or $73 each leg. I was shocked they wanted to charge 5 times as much for the change. This would not occur if they were part of the same itinerary. A problem on an earlier flight would hold the same accountability for subsequent flights.

Ouch!! That is awful.

It is too late to link to flight from Canada so we are on to step two. Star peru has a 11:30 am flight. We arrive from Canada at 1 am so we can get a room and sleep then catch this flight or sit up in airport to catch the peruvian airlines 6 am flight. Save money on hotel but cost more for flight. Decisions to be made, thanks for input.

What is your lodge situation? Will they transfer you if you take that Star Peru flight?

I probably would just stay at the airport and take the 6 am Peruvian airlines flight, if that allows an extra day at your lodge. Lima has a 24/7 airport quite nice. I recommend spending a few hours upstairs at 4D which has some cushy bench seats and good gelato.