Qantas’ Sydney to Santiago flights make triumphant return
It marks the end to a 30-month hiatus between the two cities, and a valuable reconnection for visitors and locals.
By Matt Lennon, October 31 2022
South America is officially back on the Qantas network, with the first direct flight between the Chilean capital and Australia in more than 2.5 years primed for touch down at Sydney’s Kingsford Smith International later this evening.
The Red Roo’s last flight between Sydney and Santiago was in the early days of the pandemic on March 29, 2020, with the Boeing 747 making a low pass over the Sydney Harbour Bridge to mark the occasion. At the time, it was unknown if a direct service between the two cities would ever return.
Now jetting off on the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, the rebounded four times weekly QF27 departs from Sydney at 12:35pm every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, with the 13.5-hour trans-Pacific journey touching down in Santiago at 11:05am on the same day.
The return leg QF28 sees wheels up at 1:30pm, crossing the international date line and landing at 5:50pm the following afternoon.
Qantas’ Boeing 787s are equipped with 42 spacious business class seats spread across two distinct zones, offering every traveller a fully-flat bed and direct access to the aisle. Santiago is a quintessential South American city, brimming with artistic and cultural delights from the historic Plaza de Armas main square – home to impressive monuments such as the Metropolitan Cathedral – to the bohemian Bellavista neighbourhood. Passengers flying beyond Santiago are able to continue on the one ticket thanks to an ongoing Qantas codeshare with LATAM, which connects the Peruvian capital of Lima along with Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Antofagasta, La Serena and Punta Arenas – the departure point for many Antarctic expedition cruises. For those eager to lighten their Qantas Frequent Flyer Points balances, a one-way Sydney to Santiago Classic Flight Reward seat will set you back only 108,400 points for business class, or 81,300 for premium economy. Santiago is the latest reconnection for Qantas as it rebuilds its network on the wings of the Dreamliner, following on from the highly-anticipated return of Sydney-Tokyo on October 26. Additional reporting by Chris Ashton.
Qantas' 787 business class will be heading back to Chile.
Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer
10 Jul 2015
Total posts 15
Can see selling already on QF site. Be handy if any news when some business class with points are realesed...nothing as yet
08 Feb 2018
Total posts 162
yeah right, no chance given QF's recent form
29 Jun 2016
Total posts 25
LATAM already had that monopoly, I wish QF would reconsider and recommence flights from SYD or MEL on a Dreamlike straight to EZE / Buenos Aires instead of having to transit via SCL, otherwise Air New Zealand from AKL straight to EZE but they pulled out altogether
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
25 Feb 2017
Total posts 15
EZE is a difficult destination to serve from Aus. QF have tried it a few times over the years, and it's never lasted very long. EZE is low yielding, unstable currency, and there's much better onward connections are available from Santiago through LATAM. I'd be very surprised to see QF in EZE any time soon.
29 Jun 2016
Total posts 25
So true esp now with the turmoil in Argentina these days. On a separate note, would you happen to know which Star Alliance carrier is doing a Status Match right now with QF Gold?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
02 Sep 2018
Total posts 153
United Airlines always has a status Challenge.
29 Jun 2016
Total posts 25
The local currency has no incidence or relevance as all fares, airport facilities and fuel are traded and charged in USD, not the local currency, and although Argentina has different rates of exchange for the US dollar that would still have no impact at all for QF as all payments would be made in USD whether by or to the airline. As for a difficult route, try flying Latam all flights are chockers, full to the brim to pre pandemic levels and as they had a monopoly up until now that QF is flying the SYD SCL return route their fares were exorbitant so it was cheaper to fly to South America via other cities with carriers like Ethiopian or Qatar and others, I just hope the Chinese carriers which used to fly to South America can soon resume their services.
29 Jun 2016
Total posts 25
Exactly, plus they don't make it easy when transiting via SCL with Latam no longer part of Oneworld they might not recognise the luggage checked through to EZE or Buenos Aires and frequent flyers do not earn points nor do they get any benefits like access to the lounge to kill the long transit hours so why codeshare that segment if they don't grant any of the benefits?!!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
14 Sep 2012
Total posts 381
EZE has always and will always be troublesome ex AU & NZ. There is limited O&D traffic and little to very poor connectivity past EZE to Brazil which is ~80% of pax and cargo final destination namely Rio and São Paulo. Add onto that all the economic issues described in previous posts above and EZE is not “easy”.
25 Feb 2023
Total posts 1
Great there is now a direct Qantas operated flight Sydney to Santiago and from there can get connections to Buenos Aires.
But why should passengers be obliged to return with LATAM which has a bad record for customer service?
Why is there not a Qantas operated return flight??
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