SANTIAGO DE CHILE AIRPORT review : 29 April 2008 : by S Koenig

Customer Rating : 4/5

A modern, clean, somewhat austere business-oriented airport. Virtually no place so sit in the cavernous check-in hall. There are several kiosks for various airlines, though not for all. For some (eg Avianca) you need to ask or know to walk to the 4-story office building next door. Very few dining options outside of security. For any shopping at all you need to wander over to the domestic wing where there are some small stores, including a pharmacy. Saw no central location for info on transportation options into Santiago. There are two different companies offering busses, but you need to talk with both to get full info on prices and options on where you can go. New Holiday Inn across from the terminal is a bit pricey, but nice, and offers an alternative, if somewhat expensive, dining option.

Santiago de Chile Airport review by J Lea

7 March 2008   Customer Rating :

Generally a good modern airport but there can be confusionwith respect to payment of departure taxes for transit passengers. Although all of us were in transit some were charged tax and others not. Signage between domestic arrivals and international departures needs improvement.

Santiago de Chile Airport review by R Baker

21 January 2008   Customer Rating :

All round excellent experience. Particularly impressed by exit formalities, quick security processing with almost no line ups. Many airports could learn from this one.

Santiago de Chile Airport review by Rudy Herta

17 October 2007   Customer Rating :

We arrived in Santiago early morning from MIA on AA. At the time we landed there were two other major flights arriving. I saw people from Iberia, LAN and Delta. Immigration lines were long speacially on the foreigners lane. People had to do two lines, one for paying the reciprocity fee for Americans and then the regular line to enter the country. We paid the visa tax on prior trip so we proceeded straight to the immigration officer. Immigration a bit of a mess, but Baggage claim went without problem. Signage is good and exiting customs was very quick and easy. Once arrived is a bit confusing to get a cab to get downtown. Clean, ordered and modern building.

Santiago de Chile Airport review by Brett Watson

9 October 2007   Customer Rating :

Modern bright and clean airport. International arrivals easy. Signs to pay visa reciprocity fee clear and easy to follow. Quickly moved through immigration. Baggage arrived quickly and easy to pass through customs. Options to transfer to city available before leaving secure area, so easy to organise and reasonable prices. Domestic departure was smooth and easy. There are a couple of eating/drink options available after domestic security, although prices a little high by Chilean prices. Overall, probably one of South America's best airports with modern facilities and very easy to use.

Santiago de Chile Airport review by Byron Scott

10 April 2007   Customer Rating : n/a

Flew Atlanta-Santiago-Puerto Montt and Buenos Aires-Santiago-Atlanta in March 07. Connecting to domestic flight required going through passport control and customs in Santiago. As you come down the stairs to arrivals, the desks for paying the reciprocity fee require something of a U-Turn. Don't go directly to passport control. There are two areas for passport control, but both lead to the same baggage claim area. After you pick up bags, they will be scanned before you leave the secure area into a fairly cramped meeting area. There are several ATM's. Signs for domestic connections not that clear. You have to go upstairs and find the airline - LAN is a bit of a hike. Check-in area bright and open. After security for domestic flights, there's one boutique, a Starbucks, and a local cafe. That's it - it's pretty sleepy. We had to ride a bus from domestic departures (very few gates) to plane parked at an international gate. Connecting from an international flight to an international flight much easier. Bags checked through. You exit passport control (if boarding in Santiago) into large duty free area. Good variety of restaurants in international terminal, including Ruby Tuesday's, Starbucks and Dunkin Doughnuts as well as local options. Some construction is going on to expand the terminal. I found the dining options better than Buenos Aires, and in general, the airport was pleasant. Surprisingly few airline staff spoke English though.

Santiago de Chile Airport review by Roger Stokell

15 October 2006

Immigration at Santiago's international airport is a slow and painful process if you arrive in peak periods. We have recently twice arrived at the midday to 1pm period and had to wait over an hour to reach an immigration officer. After a long flight this is a dreadful experience. It must be particularly bad for people who are elderly, sick or with children, as there is nobody to assist give such people priority. Our suggestion would be to wait airside with a good book until the queues subside (as they do seem to do) and then go through. It is not a good welcome to Chile, and here's hoping that the immigration authorities in Chile will remedy this simply by putting more officers on during peak arrival periods.

Santiago de Chile Airport review by S Dale Hancock

20 January 2006

Arrived at Santiago after an all-nighter on Delta. Arrivals was very simple – US citizens veered to the left (at least in the terminal we arrived in) just before immigration to pay the $100US reciprocity fee. The booths were clearly marked and the lines went very quickly. They will staple a receipt in your passport good for the life of the passport. Immigration followed, also very efficient. We exchanged $100US for Chilean pesos before we left the secure area. A subsequent ATM withdrawl showed we had paid a premium of about 3 ½%. Certainly not a big deal. Next we picked up our bag & exited customs. All luggage, including carry-on was x-rayed & you turn the customs declaration form in as you pick up your freshly x-rayed bags. We probably took 20 minutes from the time we left the plane until we were in the free world, including making the reciprocity payment, passport control, money exchange, luggage pick-up & customs. Once outside it was a hectic mess. Everybody & their little brother wants you to arrange a taxi through them. We picked an official-looking fellow with a portable radio and agreed upon $25 US to the Marriott. There was no need to have exchanged money at the airport – the cab driver was happy to get the $27US I gave him. The exchange rate at the Marriott appeared to be exactly the same as at the airport. Departing was a little different. My wife went ahead and the bellman put our bag in the “hotel taxi”. I asked how much & was told $40,000 (about $80US). I said no way, took the bag out of the trunk & said I just wanted a regular taxi & pointed to one on the street. The bellman said it would cost $50,000 to the airport. I said no way, I’d only paid $12,000 when I arrived. A little Spanish between the parties and I was offered the hotel taxi (down-scale limo?) for $16,000 (about $32US). Okay. Based on posts here and other places we elected to get to the airport about 3 hours ahead of flight time. Good choice, though this will probably not apply to you. We booked our South America itinerary (SCL-ASU-MVD-EZE-GIG) through TAM for $1253 (two tickets) in Miami. We had called 4 times in the previous 3 months to make sure there would be no issues & every time we were told the tickets were electronic & all we had to do was give them the number at the ticket counter. Don’t know why we were suspicious, but it was an issue. After 2:45 screwing around with every TAM rep in the building and calling Miami twice we finally got paper tickets issued. TAM doesn’t use e-tickets throughout most of S.A. I was perhaps most perturbed when the TAM manager came down & said it was our fault because the “agency” issued the tickets incorrectly. The “agency” was TAM. He finally understood & I was happy to tell him exactly what I thought of his professionalism. Other than TAM related issues the departure was fine: about 10 minutes to go through a courteous immigration control, plenty of duty free shops (though we didn’t have time to even stop for a bathroom break) and it appeared there was plenty of seating. Couldn’t tell about eating places – again because of TAM. Overall a very good airport experience and a rather poor airline experience.

Santiago de Chile Airport review by Mac Chen

30 April 2004

Beautiful terminal. Very airy and contemporary building though it lacks character. The shops landside convenient, but airside totally disappointing - bland and overpriced - even for airport shops. Check in took forever, but other formalities fairly quick and efficient. One of the best airports in the region.

Santiago de Chile Airport review by Kenneth Mackie

12 November 2003

I would agree about slow check in procedures I arrived to check in for a Saturday afternoon flight to Buenos Aires and there were just 4 desks open, they were checking in a total of 3 flights at that time. Duty free is very expensive. On a positive note the arrivals area was excellent, very fast immigration and the hotel information desk was very helpful - down to advising me to pay for ground transportation - bus or mini van in US Dollars, and to change my money downtown - as the change facilities at the airport charge high commission. There are also NO money changing facilities after immigration, on the way out of the country which is very annoying if you only realise after it´s too late.

Santiago de Chile Airport review by Martin Becher

27 October 2003

Santiago airport has been an architectonical mistake from beginning. Not only that the national and international terminals are unnecessary separated by several 100 meters where no fast transportation service is offered for handi capped passengers, but also the "airport hotel" is located approx 4 kilometers from the terminal itself. After the first time, I desisted even to take a look to its duty free shops or coffee shops after passing customs - prices are just ridiculous!

Santiago de Chile Airport review by Gerald Lembervon

20 September 2003

I disagree with the previous feedback about SCL Int'l and one of the worst travelling experiences I've had has been at that airport. It was two months ago when I had to travel to Buenos Aires and I chose LanChile which is the local airline on my flight from Frankfurt. The flight with LAN was not that good, the flight attendants are terribly rude. First of all checking with LanChile at SCL can last forever, people at SCL seem not to care about other's time and are incredibly slow. Immigration staff are the rudest I've seen - once inside the departing area, there are not many duty free stores and the few I saw, were ridiculously expensive.

Santiago de Chile Airport review by Norman Clark

28 July 2003

SCL is one of the best-managed airports in South America. There can be considerable backups at arrivals immigration, but the crowds move through very quickly. Immigrations inspectors seem to appear out of thin air whenever the lines get long. U.S., Canadian, and Australian nationals need to pay the one-time reciprocal fee at the window to your right before approaching the immigration barrier. Be prepared: it's expensive - $105 for US citizens. But it is a one-time charge that is good for the duration of your passport. Arriving passengers can book taxis into the city while waiting for their luggage before going through customs; and a driver will usually be waiting in front of the terminal when you exit. In the morning, when most of the long-haul flights arrive, the arrivals hall outside customs can appear good-naturedly chaotic. It will sometimes seem as if every resident of Santiago has come to greet someone. If someone is meeting you, be sure to specify whether you should turn left or right when you exit customs. The two exit channels end up a significant distance apart, making it much more difficult to spot your greeter or driver in the crowd. The only negatives, such as torturously slow check-in for coach passengers, are airline related and not due to the very spacious, well-designed departures hall. If you are flying coach on one of the US carriers, such as American, expect that your checked baggage will be hand-searched before you check it. Allow an hour to get your boarding pass. LAN Chile is usually much faster. I have used two of the airline lounges at SCL. LAN Chile's Pablo Neruda Lounge is one of the very best in the world. I have been in almost every one of American's Admirals Clubs, and their club at SCL is easily their best. Airport and airlines staff at SCL are among the most courteous and helpful anywhere in the world. Moreover, these attitudes are genuine.

Santiago de Chile Airport review by M Reynaud

10 February 2003

Santiago de Chile airport is very efficient and comfortable, immigration is quite quick and efficient. Unfortunately this airport has the worst air quality that I have experienced. Smoking is allowed everywhere, there are not smoking areas, people smoke next to you as do not care if you like or not or even if you are with children. You must be there when morning flights are delayed one winter morning due to the haze, better if you run outside and resist the cold weather than breathing its poluted air.

Santiago de Chile Airport review by Martin Peters

21 August 2002

Pudahuel is a relatively small but very efficient and friendly airport. Immigration is quick and courteous, and I was quickly through to the arrivals area where all the usual facilities can be found. Airport buses into the city are very cheap at less than US$2 (the airport bus is a good option for non-Spanish speakers, who will find it difficult to communicate with taxi drivers). Departure lounges: the Lan Chile Pablo Neruda lounge is good, and recently refurbished. It has plenty fresh food on offer, comfortable quiet areas, and adequate internet access.