Flight Buenos Aires to Santiago

[sanne]

For a flight in December this year, I bought a business class flight from Santiago to Sydney using points many months ago as soon as they were opened up.

I now need to buy a flight from Buenos Aires to Santiago in order to get my flight back to Australia.

If I rang Qantas could they do this as an add-on, not using points but as a paid flight?

I know that I can book a flight on LAN, but at the moment they want over $700 for a one way flight of only 2 hours and I'm not keen on any of the other cheaper airlines. I would most appreciate any thoughts on this. Thank you.

 

[docjames]

$700 in Y or J? For J would be a bargain so i'd say it's Y?

There use to be a LAN Sth American Airpass that gave you discount tickets within South America - not sure if it's still available. I'm pretty sure we used this to price SCL-EZE-SCL @ ~ $250 each way (Y) back in 2008.

You'll also probably pay more by going through QF who seem to only access full fare Y tickets, but i'd personally stick with LA if possible and/or allow a decent connection time in SCL to avoid missing the flight home.

A quick search shows GOL @ AR$815 (~$180) and LA at $3270 (the ~$700 you quote) so QF will be showing you the LA flights only (understandaby). You'd want to be sure to leave sufficient connection time from GOL to allow for delays.

The LA website if booking from there rather than QF shows pricing of US$660 so slightly cheaper than A$700 so that would be one option.

 

[sanne]

Thanks for your reply. Yes it is for Y. I am thinking of booking a return on LAN for $312 and only using the first leg. Is that possible? Would I also get points and SC and if so how many? Thanks again for any help.

 

[docjames]

You would get the points and SCs are per the fare class on the outward segment. So presumably discount economy.

I would be careful to book the return well into the future and not a same day return. In theory they can chase you for the fare difference if the return segment isnt taken but in practice that rarely (never) happens. If asked it would be apparent that you are planning on returning to Sth America in the future but havent booked yet!