Sky airlines flights

Hi all,

I am trying to book flights through Sky airlines online and the transaction won't go through. I have read that in the past you cannot use an international credit card (outside of Chile) to book online for the cheaper fares, but from what I can gather that was years ago and shouldn't be the problem now. I have tried multiple credit cards, so that doesn't seem to be the issue. I've also heard that calling them is an option for booking these flights, however i don't speak conversational spanish, so it might be a bit of a gong show unless they speak english on the other end. Does anyone have experience with this? I'd ideally like to book these flights as soon as I can.

Thanks

a few months ago i booked a flight on skyairline.cl with a foreign credit card

its weird, because I have tried multiple credit cards and they all fail at the same point in the transaction. The error message has nothing to do with "having a foreign credit card" so it seems unlikely that it is the case, but for whatever reason I cannot get the website to complete the transaction for me.

I have emailed them, so we will see what they say

I booked a flight on Sky using a US credit card just 2 weeks ago, no problem. A friend of mine, who is Canadian and using a Canadian credit card had no problem booking on the same flight on a separate transaction. Try again at http://www.skyairline.cl/en/index.aspx , it could be an entry problem for data.

Also, I have heard that when phoning to confirm things, there has has been no problem obtaining telephone people speaking English.

Weird, I am Canadian and I have tried 2 different visas and master card to no avail. Thanks for the info, I will try the link, and if all else fails, will call them

For booking flights online with Brazilian airlines, it was importnat, that you log in stating your home country or "other countries", if yours isn't mentioned. Maybe thats the reason why booking didn't work

Other topic: When I checked the SKY fare for a flight SCL - Puerto Montt a few weeks ago, the system quoted a price of USD 70.- in January, now its USD 300+. They still advertise a much cheaper promo fare.
I wonder if Chile has changed to a double pricing system charging foreigners more than Chileans.
NAVIMAG gives the fare of some routes in USD, less popular routes in chil. $.
Has anybody an idea???

Happy travelling,

Profax, Vienna

There is no double pricing system in Chile. Nothing has changed. SKY recently announced that they were going to be an LCC. But it seems to be that this is partially true with some flights offered at very cheap prices and others more in line with previous prices. It is unclear how they are hoping to make this work. Check time zones and phone. They have English speakers.

A January flight to PM at US$70 sounds like a deal, so it may have been a limited number of seats at that price. On the other hand, US$300 sounds very high. As the number of seats booked rises the prices do tend to rise for the ones left. It could be that. Check fares on the dot cl site for LAN.

Unfortunately, PN Torres del Paine has foreigner prices and the "world class sight" Fort Bulnes, Puerto Hambre, Punta Arenas (http://www.phipa.cl/horarios-y-tarifas/) as "special prices" for non residents.
I'll check again. I just got a price of $ 101.000 on their Spanish language website That's more reasonable. Maybe, they are just updating their system....
When I just tried again, it was USD 230 for the same flieghts, the same day..... And again $101.000
I try to book from an overseas IP.....
When I tried to book the flight for $ 101.000 (Spanish, I didn't select some country), payment with my Austrian Visa Card was rejected ("refer to your bank"... the usual desinformation....)
When I tried to book via "other countries", the fare was USD 230.-
Not a nice welcome to Chile...
So, there is double pricing in Chile....

We'll take the bus....
BTW LAN charges USD 385, same day....
All the quoted fares are OW

I was looking at booking with LAN as well, but the flight times are quite different and don't work for my itinerary (and it is around $30 per person round trip more). It does seem that there is double pricing for Sky and Lan... there are certainly different prices if you use their dot CL website as compared to their dot com (around double after currency conversion....) I booked a different flight through Lan however, and I used the dot CL site and got the cheaper price, even with all of my foreigner information plugged in

The Sky website in general is acting strange, I have been trying to send a message to contact their web sales department, and none of my messages are going through either. The website as a whole is completely navigable without crashing however.

There is no double pricing. There are fares which are cheaper if bought in country but are not restricted to residents. LAN previously rejected sales from outside the country on dot cl but has has been allowing purchases for Chilean domestic fights on that site for some time now. so you have the option of paying a booking fee to a local agency to purchase the tickets for you. If you want to contact an airline, phone rather than email.

Since #1 and #3 both report successful purchases on SKY with a foreign credit card, just check with your bank if there is a problem that end.

'Thx for your message. I've just checked LAN for January departures SCL - PMC: All dates $ 190.000 "full flexible", less than USD 380 OW, but not a real gift....

#1 and #3 didn't tell the price they paid. Sky is are just referring to ask the bank, because they don't want to tell the truth. Security is always a good reason for everything....(GOL of BRA sell promo fares to foreigners, too. But for some reasons they don't like to accept foreign cards. It has worked there with some patience. No Problem with AZUL or TAM. In BRA double pricing is prohibited by law)

Well, I ended up calling them... and after being on hold for an hour managed to sort out my flights. Ended up being a little more expensive than what I could find online, but not bad. $153 USD return per person (after everything) SCL to Punta Arenas. Itinerary has been emailed to me, but I will wait until I get the official confirmation before I uncross my fingers. 4 flights down, one to go... and a ferry

I am glad you got it sorted and for a good price. If it is your first visit to South America you are going to come up against a lot of similar frustrations. Eventually things work out. You need to relax and not get angry every time or you will not enjoy your trip.

I have been to south america before, and quite a bit abroad elsewhere and am used to hang ups with scheduling, misinformation, delays, etc

I didn't mean my posts to sound angry or frustrated, I am not really either. I was a bit concerned mostly over the fact that I was having issues that nobody else was seeming to have with the booking process (leading me to believe it was a problem on my end).

Regardless, I have received my proof of payment receipt/ voucher. I appreciate all the help you guys have provided, until next time!

Congratulations! So it has worked with Sky? Are you already in CL? We are still in Europe. Talking to Sky one hour on the phone is not a good way to solve the problem from here....

Bureaucratic issues have frustrated us often in South America, eg airlines require your phone number, to register, but their website doesn't allow all the digits your overseas number has....

It did work with Sky, and we are still in Canada, don't leave until February. I called them over Skype, so it only cost about 2 cents/ minute.

With phone numbers, calling is sometimes a bit confusing because you need to put in your own country's exit code, then the chilean entry code, area code and number. I was able to plug the whole number into my cell phone as well as over skip no problem. The website asks for your specific country code, then your phone number (our 10 digit phone number was fine when we input it).

Hi Ryanmhik, did you get the cheaper fare in the end? I'm trying to book on their site using my Chile as my country but am hesitant as I don't want to book a ticket I can't use as a foreigner.

A bit more insight:
- using chile as my country opens up Class T tickets which are $120USD
- using Australia as my country only opens up Class B tickets which are $311USD

Will I be OK to book using Chile as my country? Will my card work? Are there restrictions on the class that stops me as a foreigner from flying?

Thanks in advance

There are no fares which are not available to foreigners. Some fares may only be available bought in country. The bottom line is: if the sale goes through, it is legitimate.

The problem is, that the system doesn't accept foreign credit cards, when you sign in with "Chile". I tried it and it didn't work. The sysem told me to check with my bank..... Nonsense...So foreigners/non residents are in fact obliged to pay more than locals. You can try some reliable intenational travel agency. I checked the US agency "Orbitz" and got a USD 130 fare, I think.... I didn't try to book.....

Profax, Femby...thanks for your help!

I tried to make a booking but am not sure if it went through successfully.

Paid via PayPal. The page ended in some web script error. Was in Spanish. Translated it and it had nothing to do with the payment not working. Got an email from PayPal saying they are processing my payment.

My Credit Card has been charged the full amount.

Sky Airline has not sent any confirmation email.

Any insight or thoughts?

Sounds like it worked. Plenty of people on this topic have stated that they successfully bought cheap tickets through sky from an international location with an international credit card... it just didn't work for me. That said, calling them definitely works. You just might have to wait awhile if you don't speak Spanish for an english speaker to be available. When I booked over the phone, I received a confirmation email pretty quickly so keep an eye on your email/junk folder for it. If you don't get one, definitely followup by phone, or try emailing them (i couldn't get the email to go through, but worth a shot).

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