LAN Award Flights to Easter Island and Tahiti

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LAN Airlines, the flag carrier of Chile, has daily flights from Santiago to Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui and Isla de Pascua. That route makes sense to connect Easter Island to its capital city.

What makes far less sense is the weekly flight from Easter Island another five hours west to Tahiti. There’s also usually a summer seasonal (our winter) route from Lima to Easter Island, though it hasn’t been announced for 2015/2016.

LAN is a member of a oneworld, so you can use American Airlines miles or British Airways Avios to book the flights. These flights can be a creative use of either type of miles. For instance, with American Airlines miles, you could take a trip like this to South America, Easter Island, Tahiti, and Hawaii.

The Routes

Santiago to Easter Island is daily.

Easter Island to Tahiti operates on Mondays with the return flight on Tuesdays. It doesn’t appear to operate every Monday, but I don’t discern a seasonal pattern. You can check LAN’s timetable one week at a time to see when the flight operates.

Lima to Easter Island has been seasonal during our winter (their summer.) It is not yet on the schedule for our 2015/2016 winter, but I also don’t see any announcements that the route has been discontinued, so I think it will appear.

Award Price

Different miles, different price.

American Airlines Miles

American Airlines considers Tahiti and Easter Island to both be part of the South Pacific.

That makes tickets from Lima or Santiago to Easter Island outrageously expensive with American Airlines miles.

Between Santiago (or anywhere else in Southern South America) and Easter Island one way:

• 37,500 AA miles in economy
• 50,000 AA miles in Business
• LAN doesn’t have First Class

Between Lima (or anywhere else in Northern South America) and Easter Island one way:

• 40,000 AA miles in economy
• 65,000 AA miles in Business
• LAN doesn’t have First Class

Easter Island and Tahiti are in the same region, so award prices are much more reasonable one way:

• 20,000 AA miles in economy
• 30,000 AA miles in Business
• LAN doesn’t have First Class

BA Avios

Avios awards are distance-based, and all three segments discussed in this post are between 2,000 and 3,000 miles flown, which means they cost one way:

• 12,500 Avios in economy
• 37,500 Avios in Business

Other Interesting Routes

Tahiti to Bora Bora:

• Miles cannot be used on the route. Purchase with cash or points that can be used like cash for airline tickets–like Arrival miles or ThankYou Points.

Tahiti to Honolulu:

• 27.5k/47.5k Hawaiian Miles one way in Hawaiian economy/First.
• 37.5k/62.5k American Airlines miles one way in Hawaiian economy/First

Bottom Line on Which Miles to Use

There are no fuel surcharges on any of these routes, and taxes and fees are the same no matter which miles you use.

• Use Avios between South America and Easter Island. Also use Avios in economy between Easter Island and Tahiti
• Use American Airlines miles to fly LAN Business between Easter Island and Tahiti.
• Use Hawaiian miles between Tahiti and Hawaii.

Award Space on LAN

You can search LAN award space on ba.com. Since you basically have to search one day at a time, make sure a flight is operating before you bother searching that day for award space. Here is how to search ba.com.

I found decent award space for one passenger between Santiago and Easter Island. Business Class costs 37,500 Avios + $11.

Some days have as many as seven award seats in each cabin. Some days also have “First Class” award space listed. There is no LAN First Class, and if you try to select that space, you get an error.

Economy awards from Santiago to Easter Island cost 12,500 Avios + $11 or 4,000 Avios + $87, which is a better deal and ridiculously cheap. (Learn more about Cash & Avios awards.)When Easter Island to Tahiti is operating, award space is good in economy.

It prices slightly higher because of taxes, but you can still book one of the most interesting routes in the world for an astounding 4,000 Avios + $106. (Why my BA account is in euros.)

Getting Avios, American Airlines Miles, and Hawaiian Miles

For a limited time, the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard® offers 75,000 bonus American Airlines miles after spending $7,500 in the first three months.

The British Airways Visa offers 50,000 bonus Avios after spending $2,000 in the first three months. You can also transfer Ultimate Rewards and Membership Rewards 1:1 to Avios.

The Hawaiian Airlines MasterCard offers 35,000 bonus miles after spending $1,000 in the first 90 days. You can also transfer Membership Rewards 1:1 to Hawaiian Miles.

Bottom Line

LAN flies some interesting routes in the South Pacific from Easter Island to Tahiti, Santiago, and Lima. Award space is searchable on ba.com and bookable with Avios and American Airlines miles.

Hawaiian Airlines flies Tahiti to Honolulu if you don’t want to backtrack.

All the necessary miles are easy to get with credit card bonuses from 35,000 to 75,000 miles.