Chile

Peccary

Tater wrote: »

I have traveled all around South America on buses and would highly recommend it , seats fully or almost fully recline so you can actually sleep unlike on planes. You also get to see a huge amount out of the windows and SA has such stunning scenery it would be a same to fly over it and miss it!

We even took one (in Peru i think) which had plane-style screens in the back of the seats!

Ballard

Mi amigo finally booked his flight. He's opted to go via Madrid and leaves a three or so hours before me. Oddly we are both due to land in Santiago at exactly the same time so I just hope that they've got a very wide runway!

Ballard

BA have cancelled both of my flights and put me on flights 24 hours later which is not exactly ideal. I will try to fly out 24 hours earlier and stick with returning 24 hours later than planned.

Not happy.

richardw

Following cancellation of your flights you have a right to re-routing under article 8 of EU reg EC261:2004.

"Article 8

Right to reimbursement or re-routing

1. Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall be offered the choice between:

(a) - reimbursement within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3), of the full cost of the ticket at the price at which it was bought, for the part or parts of the journey not made, and for the part or parts already made if the flight is no longer serving any purpose in relation to the passenger's original travel plan, together with, when relevant,

- a return flight to the first point of departure, at the earliest opportunity;

(b) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity; or

(c) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at a later date at the passenger's convenience, subject to availability of seats."

Note that it says

Passengers shall be offered a choice

Re-routing at earliest opportunity

At the passenger's convenience

Note that it doesn't say

Re-routing can only be offered on the operating air carriers own flights and/or its flight partners.

Ballard

Thanks. I phoned them and they changed my outbound flight to the Thursday as I wanted. I had paid for a window seat on my original flight but they're taken in the front cabin and as I understand it the other cabin is mostly over the wing so there seems little point. I shall therefore have to contact them for a refund. That's not the end of the world though as I wasn't convinced that spending about £90 just to choose my seat was the best use of my hard earned.

Ballard

We have a basic plan (which is as generally as much as we ever have before we actually start our trip). We have decided to go as for south as Chiloe and work our way up through the Lake District, taking in Parque National Vincente Perez Rosales.

Add in a day or two in the Colchagua Valley together with time in Valparaiso & Santiago and the three weeks will have been used up.

I'm actually rather pleased to now have an extra day tagged onto each end of my trip as it will allow me to get my bearings before my buddy arrives on the first day and relax (possibly on a beach) on my last.

Ballard

I asked for a refund for my seat booking which I've since received but between asking and receiving the refund a window seat became available so I selected it. Surprisingly I still have the seat confirmed about 5 days after I received the refund. When all's said and done it's no big deal but what are the odds on me keeping this seat?

I'm not exactly quids in as I've now got to take two extra days unpaid leave due to the change in flights so it'd be nice to get something back even if it's a free blooming seat.

PeacefulWaters

In Santiago.

ATMs are a little flakey. They tend to charge between £3 and £7 to withdraw cash. Withdrawal limits around £240 (200,000 peso).

I've had a couple of transactions declined at one ATM and accepted at the next door bank.

Heading north with a bit more cash than I would in, say, the USA. Cards widely accepted in Santiago though.

benjus

I remember arriving in Arica, in the far north of Chile, back in 1999 with no cash in any currency and just a couple of bank cards. In retrospect it seems a bit foolhardy, but fortunately I was able to find an ATM easily and withdraw cash without any issues. Probably not at a very good exchange rate, but I didn't really pay much attention to such things back then.

bigadaj

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

In Santiago.

ATMs are a little flakey. They tend to charge between £3 and £7 to withdraw cash. Withdrawal limits around £240 (200,000 peso).

I've had a couple of transactions declined at one ATM and accepted at the next door bank.

Heading north with a bit more cash than I would in, say, the USA. Cards widely accepted in Santiago though.

Interesting, the guy sat opposite me at work is from Antofagasta.

Also met two guys going the opposite way on the trans Siberian, in a sauna on lake baikal, from chile, I think they were pretty much at the opposite point on the earth at that time, would be New Zealand from the uk which isn't as exotic I'd say.