Qantas Delays Santiago Relaunch

Qantas has delayed the restart of its flights to Chile, with all Sydney-Santiago flights now removed from sale until 31 October 2022.

Earlier this month, Qantas had been selling seats on its QF27/28 services between Sydney and Santiago from late March 2022. But all Qantas flights on this route have now been “zeroed out” until late October, meaning seats are no longer available for sale. Passengers with existing bookings will likely be informed in the next few weeks that their flights have been cancelled.

Qantas’ partner LATAM Airlines is still selling seats on its Sydney-Auckland-Santiago route from 30 March 2022. Qantas codeshares with LATAM Airlines on these flights, LA800 (QF3877) from Sydney to Santiago and LA801 (QF3876) in the other direction. Seats are currently available for sale on these LATAM-operated flights under the “QF” flight number.

Passengers who had originally booked on the Qantas-operated non-stop services to/from Santiago may be rebooked on LATAM Airlines via Auckland.

At this stage, LATAM Airlines plans to fly from Sydney to Santiago via Auckland 3x weekly from 30 March, using Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. But further changes are possible, with Australia’s borders still not reopened to anyone other than Australian citizens, permanent residents, their immediate family and specific eligible visa holders. Airlines may also be concerned that there is not yet enough demand from Aussies and Kiwis wishing to travel to South America.

Chile is currently open to vaccinated tourists from overseas, with negative COVID-19 tests required before departure and upon arrival. Vaccinated arrivals also require travel insurance and need to complete a “Traveler’s Affidavit” form issued by the Chilean government.

No direct flights to South America

For the relatively small number of passengers that are currently travelling between Australia and South America, it’s a frustratingly long and arduous journey.

There are currently no direct flights on any airline, with Qantas and LATAM Airlines yet to restart flights and Air New Zealand having permanently axed its Auckland-Buenos Aires route. Therefore, the only commercial flight options are via North America, the Middle East or Europe – with double or even triple the usual travel time.

South America is now the only continent other than Antarctica without a direct connection to Australia. So when LATAM and Qantas do eventually restart their flights to Chile, this will be welcome news for people who need to make this trip.

Qantas not even accepting online bookings from South America

Although Qantas is now selling tickets on its own flights to Chile from late October 2022, even this date is not set in stone. It’s just an arbitrary date that marks the start of the IATA northern winter scheduling period.

Unfortunately, given the Qantas website is no longer even offering tickets for sale from South America at the moment, the airline is clearly not planning to return in a hurry.

The Qantas website also no longer even lets you search for Classic Flight Reward availability departing from Santiago, Chile (or elsewhere in South America).

Other Qantas international routes are also delayed

Since Australia’s international border partially reopened in November 2021, Qantas has resumed international passenger services to London, Los Angeles, Singapore, Vancouver, Honolulu, Nadi, Auckland, Johannesburg and Bangkok. The flying kangaroo has also added new service to Delhi and announced a new Perth-Rome service that will operate during (our) winter.

But Qantas is still yet to return to 17 of its pre-COVID international destinations:

• Santiago
• Dallas/Fort Worth
• San Francisco
• New York
• Hong Kong
• Shanghai
• Tokyo
• Osaka
• Sapporo
• Jakarta
• Denpasar (Bali)
• Wellington
• Christchurch
• Queenstown
• Port Moresby
• Noumea
• Manila

Many of these destinations will be back in the coming months, including Dallas which is now just weeks away from seeing its first Qantas flights in almost two years. But some markets will take much longer to recover.

Qantas no longer has any of its own flights scheduled to New York, Osaka or Sapporo, and the airline is currently only selling full-fare “Y” class on its flights to Shanghai – an indication that it’s not yet fully committed to running this route.

Meanwhile, Qantas has just suspended its Sydney-Honolulu route for two months – presumably due to a lack of demand – and many of its flights to Delhi have been cancelled in recent weeks due to new Indian government entry requirements.

Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Future of QF27/28 travel post covid

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 80 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.