Every time I flip through a travel magazine, Easter Island has a good chance of appearing in the photos or in the copy, and over time I developed a growing urge to go there in person. But the cost was too high, and with only 5-6 weekly flights from Santiago and one weekly flight from Tahiti, plus the fact that award tickets were basically impossible to book, it never seemed to happen.

One night, long after I had fallen asleep, my phone alert from theflightdeal (set SMS alerts on Twitter) suddenly rang. I knew a plane deal had arrived. When I checked, a LAX-SCL round-trip was only $207, and it immediately felt like a great deal. I asked LD, who was already about to pass out, “Want to go to Chile and Easter Island?” LD said yes right away. So I checked the calendar, found days I could take off, and used my unused $300 flight reimbursement CSR to buy a round-trip ticket from late March to early April 2017. My actual out-of-pocket was only 207*2-300=114 dollars.

Let's start with a photo first.

Preparation

The first thing with Chile is the visa issue. For Chinese passport holders, if you have a U.S. visa or a Canada visa, Chile is visa-free. If you want to keep a Chile visa stamp, you can also apply for one at the embassy; for Chinese passports, the visa is free. The embassy website even says “free Visa for Chinese passport holders.” At check-in, I met a girl with a U.S. green card and Chinese passport who had neither a U.S. nor Canada visa, and no Chile visa—she was bluntly denied boarding.

Chile is in the Southern Hemisphere, so it’s best to avoid visiting in winter (which is summer in the Northern Hemisphere). The best season for Easter Island is November through April.

Chile is a long, narrow country. From desert to vineyards, from big cities to glaciers, from beautiful ports to mysterious Easter Island—you can see and do a lot. If you’re going to Chile, a solid itinerary is essential. Our time this trip was short: only 9 days total. Three days in Santiago, one day in Valparaiso (about 1.5 hours by car from Santiago), three days on Easter Island, plus two days lost to travel time on planes.

Flights

Because we weren’t base in LAX, we also needed a round-trip from DEN to LAX. We chose Southwest and redeemed UR directly; for both of us that was about 15,000*2=30,000 UR round-trip (a bit more expensive because both departure and return were on weekends).

LAX-SCL (Santiago, Chile’s capital) round-trip, Aeromexico fare was 207*2-300=$114.

SCL-IPC (Easter Island) round-trip, we used 30*2=60,000 Flex perks points for two. Since last year was Olympic year, US Bank’s Flex perk Visa offered an Olympic bonus (extra sign-up points based on how many gold, silver, and bronze medals Team USA won), and both LD and I had applied for this card, each getting around 40,000 points.

We Got Upgraded on the Outbound Leg

This was a pretty unusual upgrade experience. During check-in for the LAX-MEX-SCL segment, the seats assigned by gate staff for MEX-SCL were separated from LD. After some back-and-forth, they said there was no way to get adjacent seats and I’d have to coordinate again with staff after MEX.

LAX-MEX was just over three hours—economy was average, with just one meal, nothing memorable.

At MEX, I used my PP card to enter the Aeromexico lounge and asked at the front desk if we could sit together. They said the flight was full and only a business-class waiting list was available, so we should check at the check-in counter to see if an upgrade was possible.

At the counter, I told the attendant we were on the business-class waiting list. She looked at our tickets and asked, “Do you have any status?” So I pulled from my wallet the Alitalia gold card I had matched a year ago—at the time it was going to expire in 7 days. She glanced at it and printed out two business-class boarding passes right away! Instantly, the travel fatigue vanished.

The business-class seats were pretty generous, and lie-flat comfort was very good.

The amenity kit was roomy with enough space for quite a few toiletries. It included standard hygiene items.

The quality of both meals was decent, but since it was a night flight, we didn’t have much appetite.

After eating, we fell right asleep.

Santiago to Easter Island Ticket Guide

There is only one airline serving Easter Island: LATAM (a Oneworld member).

The weekly schedule changes slightly by season. In peak season, there are two flights on Tuesdays and Thursdays; in off-peak, there is only one. On Mondays, the flight continues via Easter Island to another destination, Tahiti.

Because there are so few options, prices are what you’d expect. On flights.google.com, Orbitz, and Expedia, economy round-trips were basically above $500, and the closer to peak season they got, the more expensive they became—often over $1,200 (which feels like being extorted).

If you try to use points, like AA and BA, availability is almost impossible. I tried several times; with BA I could only see Santiago-to-Tahiti flights, and even then it was expensive in points, while Santiago-to-Easter Island had basically no award seats at all. LATAM miles can be used, but LATAM mileage earning is limited—outside of flying, SPG is basically the only path. SPG-to-LATAM transfers are not instant, and award seats change frequently, so if you want to redeem LATAM miles, you must prepare well in advance.

This time, we chose Flex perks points. Their highest value was 2 cents/point (this will be changed by the end of this year to a flat 1.5 cents/point). I had been watching fares for weeks: early on they were a little over $400 round-trip, then they kept creeping up toward $600. When it reached $592, I pulled the trigger. At 30,000 Flex perks points each (60,000 total for two of us), it redeemed roughly a $1,200 ticket, which was still very worthwhile. After that, I transferred the points to Alaska Airlines at 100% transfer.

There is another option. To make it easier for citizens to get to Easter Island, LATAM’s Spanish-language site often shows much lower fares—typically under $300 round-trip. At that point, U.S. credit-card points cannot be used; you must pay directly with a card. The only thing to watch for is that sometimes they may check your ID to confirm citizenship. Some people even buy business class directly (it is a 5-hour flight), usually around $500 round-trip, which slightly lowers the chance of being checked. My flight did not have an ID check, so take your own risks.

Do not buy one-way tickets, especially if you’re the type who likes to “book outbound first and then think about the return.” You may end up stuck on the island for a long time. In peak season every flight is full, and how hard it is to get a one-way return is hard to imagine. You’ll also miss all the value in the process. In my prep, I saw a post from another traveler who got stuck for 21 days before buying a return ticket.

Accommodation

In San Diego, we stayed for 4 nights, redeeming 8,000 Hyatt points per night, for a total of 32,000 Hyatt points. The market rate was about $160–$180 per night, so we got about 2 cents per point in value, which is actually pretty good. The hotel was clean and tidy, service was excellent, and the views were great; the only downside was that it was a bit far from downtown. In this area, several major U.S. chain hotels are available, including Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, Grand Hyatt, and Intercontinental.

Here are a few hotel photos. The rooms were very spacious, and the scenery was also very good.

From the outdoor area on a high floor, you can see the long mountain range behind San Diego.

On Easter Island, most of the lodging is basically vacation rentals. The island has one five-star hotel, with a nightly rate of around $1,700, and it is not listed in any major chain brand portfolio, so as a budget traveler we didn’t consider it at all. For rentals, there are a few booking options, including UR, Flex perk points, and so on, but the choices are very limited. After comparing, we ultimately booked 3 nights on booking.com using CSR, which conveniently also used up CSR's $300 annual reimbursement allowance for 2017. Our booked rate was $120 per night, and with tax it came to around $140. Easter Island is small, and the main restaurants are all concentrated in the town, so when choosing a rental it’s best to stay close to town.

Easter Island

The scenery is truly stunning. None of the photos below were photoshopped.

This is one of the volcanoes.

Now the most famous statues.

And the statues’ "factory."

Beautiful ocean views and hills.

Easter Island was named after Dutch sailors from the Dutch navy landed there on Easter in the 18th century. Its uniqueness is the statues along the coastline—ancient figures with many legends, widely talked about, and one of its main attractions.

If you’re traveling on Easter Island, there are plenty of activities. If you don’t drive, you can sign up for a 1-day tour. If you rent a car, you can cover most of the island’s attractions in one day; at night, you can catch local music and dance performances, and if you have time you can go snorkeling or whale watching. So in general, 3–4 days is enough to do Easter Island (unless you’re the type of traveler who wants to hang out there for the long term).

The cost of living on Easter Island is relatively high since it feels like the "middle of nowhere," so you should be mentally prepared. Car rental is expensive, but still reasonable.

Also, you can stop by the post office and have a commemorative stamp added to your passport.

As one of the destinations many magazines and websites list as a "must-see at least once in a lifetime," I still highly recommend Easter Island, and I hope the practical experience above is helpful.

That’s it.