Nice airport in South America. (Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL))

Member Name: Holidaying

Product:	Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)
Date:	27/09/08 (31 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Clean with helpful, bilingual staff.

Disadvantages: A bit small for one that serves so many locations, a bit far out of the city.

I have flown into and out of this airport twice in the last year.

The airport is located a way outside of town, but you will be pleased to know that there is a bus that goes from and into the centre of town (Avenida Bernardo O Higgins I think the road is called it is the road with all of the metro stops!), to and from the airport. This bus costs the equivalent of about one pound and fifty pence each way, which is great because then you can always get on the metro (also cheap) if you need to get to somewhere not served by the bus.

If you take a taxi to the airport, it will cost the equivalent of at least ten pounds from the centre of Santiago, so take the bus if you can.

I found the airport staff to be very friendly and helpful, and many of them spoke English.

I thought that the airport was spotlessly clean. The bathrooms also were spotless.

I think that the airport is a bit small for all of the locations it serves. For example, if you fly to New Zealand from South America, it is likely that you will go from Santiago. There are a lot of people that come to Santiago to fly out, and I think that the airport could therefore be bigger.

This point is also reflected in the fact that the baggage claim belt was shared by three incoming flights when I flew in. I think that this was way too many, as it was difficult (even more so than usual) to see when your bag was coming and to get to it. Also, other baggage claim belts were free so I do not know why they only used this one.

Overall I like this airport, and I would not hesitate to use it again.

Summary: An airport I would be happy to use again.