LAN Surprises Tourists with $178.50 Fee

Imagine that you are about to take the vacation of a lifetime. Despite the demands of a busy work schedule and the difficulties of the current economic recession, you've managed to somehow scrape together both the time and the money necessary to travel to Peru and visit the greatest of the world's wonders: Machu Picchu. You're on a tight budget, but you've made it to Peru and you're standing at the Jorge Chavez International airport waiting to board your flight to Cusco when the LAN representative says, "I'm sorry, but you have to pay another $178.50 or we're not letting you get on the plane."


What do you do? You aren't exactly in a position to argue. Chances are your boss back in America or Europe or wherever you're from expects you back on the office on Monday morning, and if you don't catch this flight to Cusco now, you're never going to see the miraculous lost city.

Unfortunately, this is exactly what's been happening to tourists as result of a new LAN policy that went into effect for tickets purchased after September 1st.

Confused? Well, let me back up.

You see, for a long time, everybody's known that LAN has a much cheaper ticket available from Lima to Cusco for residents of Peru. To verify this, simply go to the LAN website and do a search for a flight. Here is a screen shot when you do a search for Lima-Cusco on September 30th as a resident of the USA click on: http://www.livinginperu.com/features-891-art-culture-lifestyle-lan-surprises-tourists-with-178-50-fee