Hello Everyone! My name is Ben and I am entering my sophomore year at college. A friend and myself hosted a foreign exchange student from Santaigo during our Senior year of High School and had hoped to travel back to meet him sometime during our winter break this year. (December 21st - January 22nd). We would be staying somewhere around 2 maybe 2.5 weeks and could spend the entire time expense free at our friend's parent's home. Being as we're college students, we have virtually no money and would need the trip to be as inexpensive as possible. I guess my question is whether or now there is anyway we can get to Chile during this time of year for under 800-900 USD (maybe 600ish). We are willing to fly anywhere necesarry and make any stops needed. Also, we can get to anywhere in the continental United States for free because of a family connection if that would help. Would it be wise to fly to Buenos Aires and then bus over? If anyone has any suggestions whatsoever for a couple desparate college students trying to visit a friend it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Not sure about flights into Santiago that cheap. If you do arrive in Santiago by air you will also have to pay the 100 USD reciprocity fee for a US passport holder. This is done as the US charges for applications for visas to the US. I would look at connections from the southern US such as Miami or Atlanta as they are actually closer and you may find a deal though I doubt it will be to Santiago. BsAs maybe, Lima probably or northern South American countries for that price. Problem then becomes busing it and that eats a lot of time. Hopefully someone has better news and is more helpful with actual stats as I don't follow this stuff too much as it constantly changes. I only wish to make sure you realize if you fly into Santiago expect that extra 100 USD charge.
Have you looked into booking flights through an ISTC agency? I know that going from here north they have very good deals. Worth investigating.
www.isic.org/sisp/index.htm?fx=student_travel
Recently I've seen some return flights from the U.S to Santiago for less than a thousand dollars. Try flights out of L.A or Miami. They're sometimes cheaper from there. I'd recommend flying direct because all the costs of hostels on the way, buses and/or local flights add up.
Good luck.
Because Los Angeles, Houston, and Miami all have fairly large populations of people from Central and South America, there are speciality travel agencies that are able to buy large blocks of seats and sell them at a discount. I've found cheap tickets in downtown Los Angeles, where there are tons of travel agencies catering to the hispanic population. One airline that you should check out is TACA. Last year I flew (round trip) from Los Angeles to Santiago, Chile for $480 USD). I had to stop in San Jose, Costa Rica and change planes and then change planes again in Lima, Peru. Shockingly, they let me stay over in Costa Rica for a week and didn't charge me an additional fee. So I got to check out Costa Rica.
Without a stay in Costa Rica, it's a bit of a long day of flying...but for less than $500 round trip, how can you beat that? At the time I couldn't find anything cheaper on the Internet. A year has passed and jet fuel costs have skyrocked...so who knows what you'll find. My flight last week on Lan from Los Angeles cost me $780 round trip with 21 day advanced purchase. I was happy with that.
trusted partner
