LATAM is bringing back Melbourne-Santiago flights

LATAM Airlines is bringing back its pre-pandemic route from Melbourne to Santiago. Resuming from September, the carrier’s flights will run three times per week in each direction. Complementing LATAM’s existing services to Sydney, the move makes Latin America even more accessible for Australian travellers.

But it’s not just the connectivity that brings the region closer. Being a partner airline of Qantas, LATAM’s flights can also be booked using Qantas Points. And fortunately, there are plenty of reward seats open in both Business Class and Economy from Melbourne to Santiago.

Buying a ticket with dollars instead? Flights taken under LATAM’s LA flight numbers can earn Qantas Points. But as LATAM is no longer a oneworld Alliance member, these LA-coded flights don’t earn Qantas Status Credits. That said, you can book these journeys under Qantas (QF) codeshare flight numbers too – delivering both Qantas Points and Status Credits. Happy days.

LATAM’s Melbourne-Santiago flight schedule

With three return flights each week between Melbourne and Santiago, the service runs almost every second day. Operated by LATAM’s Boeing 787-9s, travellers can fly Business Class or Economy.

Route	Flight number	Days	Departs	Arrives
Melbourne-Santiago	LA804 (QF5027)	Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays	12:25 pm	11:20 am (same day)
Santiago-Melbourne	LA805 (QF5028)	Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays	12:55 am	5:30 am (+1 day)

These flights complement LATAM’s existing services between Sydney and Santiago. These Sydney flights also make a stop in Auckland, making it possible to fly solely between Sydney and Auckland with LATAM. Or of course, between Auckland and Santiago.

From its Santiago hub, travellers can connect onwards to a wide variety of destinations, near and far.

For the past year, we have been building our capacity in Sydney and it’s a pleasure to be taking up residence again in Melbourne Airport as we expand our footprint in Australia.

LATAM has the largest network in Latin America with connections to 144 destinations, including some of the greatest bucket list destinations in the world. We are proud to be pioneers in the region and one of the world leaders with our sustainability initiatives, including eliminating single-use plastics by the end of 2023 and being a zero-waste-to-landfill airline by 2027. We look forward to welcoming you onboard soon.

– Chris Ellis, LATAM Airlines’ Country Manager – Oceania, 3 April 2023

Booking LATAM Airlines’ Melbourne-Santiago flights using points

If you’ve been planning a trip to Santiago and beyond, here’s your chance to get there in style. With LATAM’s new Melbourne-Santiago flights on sale using dollars, bookings are also now available when spending Qantas Points.

On this non-stop route, you’re looking at 119,200 Qantas Points for Business Class, one-way. Economy clocks in at 50,300 Qantas Points in each direction. But in both cabins, the co-pay amount is very affordable. Outbound from Australia, the taxes and fees amount to just $85, one-way.

At the time of launch, reward seat availability is quite reasonable on these new flights. Economy seats are available on almost every departure. And even in Business Class, reward seats are open for booking on many flights too.

If you’re travelling beyond Santiago, it may also be possible to include your connecting flight under the same booking. This comes down to whether there’s similar reward seat availability on your desired onward leg.

Of course, it’s also possible to book from Sydney to both Auckland and Santiago using Qantas Points in a similar way. When searching for Classic Reward flights on the Qantas website, just be sure that the ‘reward seats’ option is selected on the flight results screen. This removes ‘points plus pay’ flights, and shows only these better-value Classic Rewards.

Summing up

With LATAM’s Melbourne-Santiago flights relatively new before the pandemic shutdowns, it’s great to see the airline bringing the route back. It’s also particularly good news given it’s a non-stop route.

For travellers based in Melbourne, this eliminates the need to detour via both Sydney and Auckland with LATAM. Instead, this new flight lands directly in Santiago – being much more convenient and taking considerably less time.

Qantas also flies between Sydney and Santiago, offering non-stop services. But from September, LATAM will be the first and only airline to directly link Melbourne with South America.

The news also comes a year after LATAM made its return to Sydney.

Feature image courtesy of LATAM.

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