Connecting in Santiago: how much transit time?

Hello,

Between the moment the plane lands and when you’ve finished all the formalities and collected your luggage after an international flight in Santiago, you should reasonably allow between 1.5 and 2 hours.

It takes about 10 to 15 minutes to walk from one terminal to another.

And local airlines ask you to arrive 2 hours in advance for baggage check-in on domestic flights.

In short, if you arrive at 8:45 AM on an AF flight, it seems perfectly possible to catch the 2:00 PM flight.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, of course.

Have a great trip!

Thierry

Hi there, Thanks for your reply and your help. For now, we’re sticking with the 2 p.m. Latam flight, especially since we’ve read on forums that it’s not easy to change flights on the Latam website. Fingers crossed Air France doesn’t tweak the schedule again. Odile

Hi there,

Yes, that’s enough time, no stress. [;)]

Good evening Thank you for your advice Best regards Odile

Hi again,

Just one last little detail: still keep an eye out for any possible schedule changes for your LATAM flight in Calama. They’re pretty common when tickets are bought well in advance.

Hello Thanks for this extra tip. We’ll stay alert, the tricky part being that we also have to book accommodation in advance for San Pedro and later for Punta Arenas… But all of that’s part of the journey ;) Have a great day Odile

If no one changes their schedules, it’ll be more than enough time. If everything goes smoothly, by around 10:00 AM, 10:30 AM at the latest, you’ll be "out" and might even have to wait to check in for your 2:00 PM flight (check-in will probably start around noon). No stress at all, then. Santiago Airport is relatively small. After that, as you said, last-minute surprises are also part of the charm of traveling (when you’re lucky enough to have a little extra time).

Hi there,

Personally, I always spend a night in the city where I land at the airport.

I’ve had too many delay issues, so now I play it safe.

By the way, is that midday flight still guaranteed? I get the feeling some airlines cancel one of their daily flights when they haven’t sold enough seats, just shifting passengers onto the remaining flights.

Hello

Thanks for your reply—we’re really hoping the two airlines won’t change their schedules again! Following Thierry’s advice, we’re keeping an eye on Latam and also checking the Air France site together. Best, Odile

Hi there, Thanks for your reply. We’re keeping a close eye on the Latam flight updates. Since our departure isn’t until September 10th, we might have time to rearrange the domestic flight and cancel the hotel in Calama if needed... We’ve been following your adventures on this forum with so much interest and enjoyment 😊 Thanks, Odile

Could you please recommend a car rental company for Calama? Thanks! Best regards

I had booked with Europcar. Everything was fine.

Great! Thanks!

Hi there,

Latam has just changed our departure time for Calama on September 11th. Arrival at 8:45 AM, departure from Calama at 1:18 PM instead of 2:00 PM. Does this still seem doable, even though it’s getting tight time-wise?

The next flight would have us arriving in Calama too late after many hours of flying—around 6:00 PM. So we’re hesitating to switch to a flight the next morning.

Do you think they might change the schedule again? Is it better to wait before making a decision?

Best regards,

Arrival AF 8:45 AM, departure to Calama 1:18 PM instead of 2:00 PM.

Hi there,

Unless there’s a catastrophic delay with Air France or some unexpected hiccup, it should still be doable.

Once you’ve collected your luggage and cleared all Chilean entry formalities, head to the domestic flights building—it’s about a 10-minute walk from the international terminal—and check your bags in again for Calama. P.S.: When you arrive, declare any animal or plant-based products at the sanitary control to avoid any issues.

Good luck!

Thierry

Thanks for your reply—we’ll try it that way and hope there aren’t any more changes. We saw that we could make the online declaration for plant- or animal-based products 48 hours before leaving France. Will we need to do it again on arrival, please?

For a flight from Punta Arenas to Santiago, do we also need to be there 3 hours early, like on the Santiago to Punta Arenas route? This question because LATAM also changed these flights—on the return, it’s now a 3-hour shift, departing at 8:53 AM instead of 11:13 AM 😅

Thanks so much for your help. Odile

Hello,

Every situation is different, but we took a LATAM flight to Puerto Montt right after our international flight when we arrived on February 22nd. We didn’t feel like spending a night in Santiago.

LATAM had also moved our flight to an earlier time. I was really stressed, but in the end, it only took us 1.5 hours between landing from our international flight and arriving at the gate for our LATAM flight. We had plenty of time to spare.

At immigration, there were lots of counters open, so no waiting The longest part was actually getting our luggage—ours didn’t come out first 15-minute walk to Terminal 1 for domestic flights At LATAM check-in, since we had "business" tickets, there was no wait either. But there wasn’t much of a line for others either Not many people at security (but once the bags were checked in, I wasn’t stressed anymore)

Of course, if your international flight is significantly delayed, there’s not much you can do. We figured that with the number of flights from Santiago to Puerto Montt in a day, we’d at least find a seat on a later flight or the next day if needed.

Wishing you a wonderful trip, Pascale

Good evening

Thanks for your reply and for sharing your experience. Best regards, Odile