Airport arrival time post cruise

[Toledo Cruiser]

How much time should we allow at the Santiago airport to check in, etc. Our flight leaves at 10:30 pm.

 

Thanks!

[greatam]

How much time should we allow at the Santiago airport to check in, etc. Our flight leaves at 10:30 pm.

 

Thanks!

 

MINIMUM-3 hours.

 

Check in at South America airports is usually VERY disorganized (at least from an American's point of view).

 

And check your ticket receipts. You MAY have to pay departure tax, which means standing in a THIRD line. Tickets booked on US airlines DIRECTLY with the airlines generally INCLUDE the departure tax. Tickets booked through third parties (including cruise air tickets) and foreign airlines often DO NOT include the departure tax. You will not be allowed into security without producing the departure tax receipt. As a general rule, international departure tax from most SA airport to the USA is about $30.00.

[Hamburg Avon Lady]

I thought if you arrived in Santiago via a cruise ship that docks in Valpariso - there is NO departure tax to be paid. ???

[greatam]

I thought if you arrived in Santiago via a cruise ship that docks in Valpariso - there is NO departure tax to be paid. ???

 

Obviously, you did not understand or chose to ignore my answer to the same question on the Cruise Air board.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=877407&highlight=

 

As posted previously, there is NO RECIPROCITY FEE ($131.00) if entering Chile via ship. The RECIPROCITY FEE is the fee the USA charges Chileans to enter the USA. The fee is truly tit-for-tat. Whatever the USA charges foreigners for entry into our country, they charge us for entry into theirs.

 

This fee is entirely different than international DEPARTURE tax charged by various countries when purchasing airline tickets. Departure tax is much like sales tax in the USA and is charged in quite a few countries WORLDWIDE.

 

SOME airline tickets INCLUDE the departure tax in the price of the ticket. 95% of the time, tickets purchased DIRECTLY from USA airlines to/from SA INCLUDE the departure tax. Cruise Air tickets, other consolidator tickets, tickets purchased through third parties (Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, etc. etc), and tickets on foreign airlines MAY or MAY NOT include the departure tax. You have to check the fine print in your airline ticket receipt. This may not be easy with cruise air tickets, as taxes and fees are generally lumped into one category and are not separate line items.

 

You will have to contact a TA/third party agency, etc. etc., to find out if the DEPARTURE taxes have been paid when your air ticket were purchased, if you cannot easily tell from the receipt. If the tax is NOT included, you will have to stand in line to pay the tax. This line is BEFORE security. In most SA countries, international departure tax is ABOUT $30.00. Great way to get rid of stray foreign currency. I have paid the departure tax with a combination of local currency + US currency and local currency + credit card. The tax collectors DO NOT like it when you split the currency, but they WILL accept it (at least in Chile, Peru, Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador). Slows down the line CONSIDERABLY, so don't do it if you have a lot of people behind you OR you have limited time to get on board the plane.