2011 Chile Flights Purchased

Having my time off request approved was a big relief. I was after all asking for quite a bit of time off. . I decided to begin looking for the flights. I know that booking this far in advanced is often a gamble as far as prices go. It is after all 284 days prior to departure, but who is counting. I began looking in my usual locations, Expedia, Orbitz, Delta.com, United.com, Kayak, etc. The cheapest option that would show up was with TAM Brazilian Airlines. At first I was hesitant about booking with them and then a friend told me to “just do it.” At $1543 it seemed too good to be true compared to the other airlines. So I logged on to Expedia.com and got all the way to the confirm button and it just wouldn’t go any further. I called and spoke to one of Expedia’s agents but after an hour they couldn’t figure it out either. In my mind it had to be either due to a really tight connection on the return flight (there was only a 1 hour layover in Sao Paulo before the flight to JFK) or the fare was increasing and it just didn’t reflect in their database.

So I moved on to plan B. United Airlines. I was able to secure flights at a significantly higher price than I would have liked but it’s nice to know that the flights have been purchased and I can begin the really good stuff — the planning.

So, my flight information can be found on the 2011b – Flights Information page. All updates will be made there as they happen. I do have to say I am happy with the choice for a number of reasons. A) It will be my first time flying both United Airlines and LAN Airlines (if you don’t count their subsidiary of LAN Peru, which in 2002 was a separate company) and B) It will be my first time flying on both a Boeing 767-300 and Airbus 340-300. I just hope that LAN keeps up with their end of the bargain and don’t re-gauge the flight to a different aircraft. Though I am certain I can try for a different flight should they change on me.

So now, the fun begins.

LAN Airbus 340-300 Photo © Sarmad Al-Khozaie Airliners.net

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