1,000 Free Lan Kilometers for Account Sign-up

Sept. 13, 2011

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3 min read

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Lan is the premier Oneworld carrier servicing South America with multiple hubs, such as Lima, Guayaquil and Santiago, Chile. Their frequent flyer program Lanpass is giving away 1,000 kilometers just for signing up (it takes less than a minute). I just did it and didn't see the 1,000 kms, so I assume they will take some time to post.

Even if you have no plans to fly Lan, you should familiarize yourself with their frequent flyer program, because it can be very generous for Oneworld awards - especially if you have Starwood Preferred Guest points since they transfer at a 1:2 ratio with a 10,000 Lanpass point bonus for every 20,000 Starwood points transferred (20k Starwood = 50k Lanpass Kms). Note: it can take 3-4 weeks for Starpoints to transfer to Lan, so plan accordingly.

First off, their Lan award chart has some deals in it, such as US to Brazil for 48,000 kilometers. Yes, 20,000 Starwood points can get you a roundtrip ticket to Brazil from the US on Lan! It also can save you a ton of money on travel within South America, because most carriers jack up the prices astronomically for tourists.

Their Oneworld partner chart is based on distance, so the shorter your flight, the less kilometers needed. For example, a LaGuardia to Toronto roundtrip coach flight on American only costs 16,000 kms roundtrip. So instead of booking a single roundtrip ticket that would cost 25,000 AA miles (or 20,000 Starwood) you could get three roundtrips if you redeemed 20k Starwood for 50k Lan. Pretty incredible, huh - especially since Canadian flights have tons of taxes.

Lan award rules for Oneworld flights:

Changes permitted: awards issued tickets to be claimed on oneworld or associated airlines only, allows date change and/or time and do not allow for itinerary, airline, Open Jaw (a flight that has a different port of entry than that of departure) or Stop over (this is a stop between the original port of origin and destination port, in which the passenger is allowed to remain, for a certain period of time, and later continue trip towards their final destination on the same airline) all previously programmed.
Stop-over restrictions and Open Jaw: Iberia, Malév, Royal Jordanian and S7 Airlines do not allow for Stop-overs or Open Jaw when a LANPASS award ticket is issued.
Maximum stay: S7 Airlines only allows a total of one month after the ticket issued date of the redeemed LANPASS ticket award.
Maximum hand luggage permitted: check the website for the airline you seek

The downside: Lan.com is horrible so you will have to call then at 1-866-I FLY LAN and hit Option 5: LANPASS (Lanpass phone ops are only available Monday to Saturday from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM). Additionally, their award charts are just the minimum amount of miles - they randomly will require more miles for certain legs.

Overall, the Lan program isn't amazing, but has some gem awards if you are willing to take the extra time needed to call and book. To check Oneworld award availability, I recommend using Qantas.com, Britishairways.com, Expertflyer or AA.com where MilesAAver awards are generally bookable using all Oneworld miles.

Hat tip Flyertalker MJlouise!
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