South Americans travel by air

If you plan to be doing a fair amount of travelling around Latin America, you might want to consider one of the reasonable airpasses on offer in the region. These are a godsend if you want to see as much as possible in a limited time, and – given the size of the continent – can make all the difference between arriving at your destination exhausted and frayed and arriving fresh and ready to explore

The All America Airpass (Wwww .allairpass.com) is valid for ninety days and offers special fares throughout Latin America on more than thirty airlines. It comprises individual segment passes that combine to make a multi-sector trip up to a value of US$1800, although you can just buy one sector if you so desire. The passes are only available to travellers with a scheduled international return ticket and must be bought in the traveller’s country of origin. After you have used the first sector on your pass the ticket is nonrefundable. Remember that many Latin American countries charge a departure tax when leaving their airports on international flights – this tax is payable locally and is not included in the airpass price.

The Mercosur Airpass covers travel in and between Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. Prices are calculated on a miles-flown basis, regardless of how many countries you visit. There is a maximum of two stopovers and four flight coupons for each country, and the pass is valid for a minimum of seven and a maximum of thirty days. The pass offers substantial reductions on standard air travel in the continent and is available directly from the participating airlines, VARIG, Aerolíneas Argentinas, Aerolineas del Sur and PLUNA. You can rebook to change dates (but not reroute); for more information see Wwww.latinamerica .co.uk/mercosur_airpass.htm. Both LAN Chile and TAM airlines also offer their own, slightly cheaper air passes for the routes that they fly.