Using a VPN to book flights saved me 260 USD. Picture is for one way but the prices for the flight there were the exact same. 76.199 CLP is roughly 86 USD which is crazy compared to the 215 USD I would have to pay if buying from the US.
LATAM is one of the few airlines that charges two rates: one for locals and one for foreigners.
When you check-in with your foreign passport #, you may get flagged and be forced to pay the difference. Google this, many examples of people who have been through this. I would contact them ahead of your flight.
You do not need to use vpn to get this deal. You can get same deal if you goto latam website in chile, instead of usa for example.
Sometimes this fails when you go to pay and don’t have a credit card etc. from the country you’re pretending to be in. I.e., the prices are for locals only.
When I was in Colombia, I got charged an extra fee just to do a check-in at the airport – for Avianca. I’d gotten my phone and wallet stolen in Santa Marta, and I said that to the employees who wanted to charge me the extra cash, and they were basically like, “Not our problem.” I never used Avianca again after that.
Also, when I use Skyscanner or Google Travel Flights – I’m definitely careful about what IP address I use for looking up flights. When you click on a certain day to see the price, if you don’t buy the ticket right at that moment – airlines use cookies to jack up the price, and I’ve seen that happen many times. (Unless I use a VPN to check that same day.) So, whenever I see a good price, I buy it right away, or just keep an eye on it.
Anyway, cheers. I was in Latin America for a year (San Juan, PR, Ecuador, and Colombia), and I’d been planning to go to Mexico – but I got fed up after being robbed at gunpoint. (I flew back to SE Asia.) Almost everybody I came across in Ecuador and Colombia had a story about getting robbed, or talked about somebody they knew getting robbed by taxi drivers, etc. I know Chile has a new government, one of the youngest presidents in their history, and they just totally re-wrote the constitution, or tried to. Enjoy the wine!
Dress like a local, stay away from any shady areas at night, use taxi apps, don’t bring too much money out with you, and have a backup debit/credit card you keep hidden at your place, if possible. All that good stuff. Safe travels.
Where did you book from instead? Chile?
Good to know that I don’t need a VPN since I’m from Chile lmao
Good luck in your trip by the way, if there’s anything I can do to help you, just DM me.
you don’t need to use VPN for this you just switch the language/region. this is LATAM airlines😊
this is why i want to write these guides actually:
Everything is more expensive in the US and at last people are waking up to it. This is why so many corporations became so rich and powerful outsourcing all their manufacturing to Asia over the last several decades.
What did google flights say the price was?
Where are from bro? First time in Santiago?
I found this issue with hotels too when using an app.
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I feel like there should be a law against this if the service is US based. Geologically challenged
Is this something that happens with a lot of carriers?
Also would be interested in an update. I am currently using NordVPN to try both chile and NZ. I make it all the way through the process until I have to pay. Has given me the “security issue” page multiple times with multiple cards. Crazy frustrating.
Did they end up charging you the difference in fare?
and be forced to pay the difference
…changing the price of a service AFTER it’s been paid for? Is that legal?
I paid with a US credit card and put my nationality and passport as US when it asked and had no problems… so hopefully I’m good.
Do you know which other airlines do this?
As an update from my own rabbit hole that I’ve been diving down, it appears that there used to be a discriminatory policy for foreign travelers that was stopped in 2017. I have also heard that since this change that LATAM makes it extremely difficult to purchase tickets on their Peru website with a foreign credit card. However, if you can get the ticket it doesn’t appear that they can fine you anymore