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    First time, super silly question


    First ever over seas trip, I’m ready to book tickets but for some reason I feel like I’m missing something in this booking…. Does this make sense ? I just book these tickets, have my passport, get the ESTA application for the layover in the US, then send it ? I’ve read you don’t need any visa for South America, just proof of a flight out

    ANY advice at all is super welcome

    by Few_District_9831

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    15 Comments

    1. Alternative_Fly6185 on

      Yep. You’ll probably be ok but I would have preferred a little more of a layover coming into the US.

    4. Weird_Plankton_3692 on

      You didn’t say which nationality you are or passport you have, but based on your starting airport I’m going to assume Australian.

      You also didn’t say which countries in South America you will be travelling to after Colombia. Brazil, for example, requires an e-visa for Aus passport holders, but most countries in South America don’t. To double check, the most up to date information will be the consulate website of each country.

      One last thing is that some countries in South America require yellow fever vaccination certificates if you have arrived from a high risk country or are travelling to a high risk tropical area within the country.

    5. Gold_Masterpiece7787 on

      If there is a ticket for similar price that transits in Canada or Mexico, I would probably choose that one. LAX is a terrible airport for transit if you don’t have Global Entry and TSA pre

    7. faoction on

      Do you have to go specifically to Medellin? Why don’t you get the direct flight to Santiago, Chile and then get to Colombia from there? Check the countries website to see what are the entry requirements

    8. NM_DesertRat on

      Two things that I think about when I look at this screenshot.

      1) This is why I’ve always hesitated to go to Australia.

      2) This is also why I’ve always decided to go ahead and bump up to business class.

    9. MightyManorMan on

      Are you more inclined by price or by travel time? United has flights via IAH that are faster.

      But if you don’t care about time, you can save some money by routing via DOH.

      But what you really need to do is explore who flies to MDE and see to/from where they are cheaper. For example, there are some AKL via NYC with a long layover that is just $1200. And if you change a day, you will find LATAM flights via SCL and LIM

      Should I even tell you that there is a “secret” fare via Cairns but with a self transfer on the 5th? You will need to do a change of airport in LA from LAX to ONT and fly va El Savador. But it’s a really cheap deal. Now if I was a student… I would be on that flight. Fiji is giving quite a deal to fill it’s flights to/from Cairns.

    10. ConcreteBlondee on

      Can you get a longer layover in LAX? currently 3 hours to get through customs and to get to your connecting flight would be risky. I had clients do SYD DFW DTW with 3 hours in dfw and they missed their connecting flight by two minutes because of a delay only 2 weeks ago. You absolutely do not want to miss your connecting flight because it can void the rest of your flights if they are all ticketed together

    11. milkyjoewithawig on

      In assuming you’re Australian?

      Smart traveller website by the Aus gov will give you all the details.

      What booking platform is this screenshot from? Is it qantas directly or a third party booking system??

    12. Few_District_9831 on

      Thank you for all the replies ,

      Apologies for not having all the info in the main post, yes I’m coming from Aus on an Aus passport , I’m only planning on going to Columbia and peru, flying out of Lima 4 weeks after arriving in Medellin

      The dates do not have to be exactly this, just rough, and I’m fortunate that money isn’t a huge issue, it seemed like these were the happy medium between dollar amount and time spent, all the options were crazy hours travel, these just slightly less.

      Sounds like I want to avoid LAX or at least have a little longer there to change over

      Thanks heaps again

    13. GusPolinskiPolka on

      You’ll be fine.

      People are mentioning lax. It can either be very quick or terrible, and it’s a bit disorganised collecting and dropping your bags, but it is straightforward enough. Just follow the signs and ask. Immigration is the big sticking point – it will either breeze through or youlll be stuck in understaffed and slow lines

    14. yesnomaybeso456 on

      You are arriving late after a very long travel day. I’d plan for a nearby hotel or even better, break up the flights and stay overnight in one of the US cities.

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