Domestic flights
Chile is over four thousand kilometres long. Once the destination is south of the Maule or north of the Elqui, flying stops being a luxury and becomes arithmetic.
Count the whole journey, not the flight
A two-hour flight is rarely two hours. Add the trip out to Santiago's airport, check-in and security margin, the wait, the flight itself, and the transfer from the arrival airport to where you are actually going. That total is what you compare against the bus.
When the night bus wins
If the journey fits into one night and you arrive in the morning, the overnight bus covers transport and accommodation at once, and leaves you downtown. Over medium distances, with an early flight that forces a pre-dawn start plus two transfers, the real time difference can be far smaller than it looks.
Luggage: what changes with the fare
In Chile the cheapest fares usually include only a small personal item. Cabin and hold luggage are added separately and their price varies by fare, route and when you buy. We do not publish dimensions or figures because they go stale: check the exact conditions of your fare on the airline's site before paying.
Before you buy
- Airport margin
- For domestic flights, leave slack, more so if you check a bag or travel on a long weekend. Traffic to the airport is the least predictable variable.
- The arrival airport is not the destination
- Several regional airports sit a fair way from the city they serve. Check how that leg is covered and how much it adds to the total.
Operators
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LATAM Airlines (opens an external service in a new tab)
Broad domestic network within Chile.
Reviewed: 2026-08-05
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SKY Airline (opens an external service in a new tab)
Domestic routes with an unbundled fare model.
Reviewed: 2026-08-05
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JetSMART (opens an external service in a new tab)
Low-cost domestic routes, with luggage always priced separately.
Reviewed: 2026-08-05