Clashes between police and demonstrators are continuing in Chile, prompting the State Department to update its travel advisory and more airlines to issue travel waivers.
At least 11 people have been killed in the protests so far, CBS News reports, as protestors continued to confront police in Santiago on Monday. Only one of the city’s six subway lines was operating.
The State Department has updated its travel advisory for Chile to warn of large-scale demonstrations in Santiago and other cities throughout the country. A state of emergency is in place for Santiago and other regions of Chile, and curfews are in place in multiple cities. Travelers are advised to observe curfews, to monitor local media for updates and to avoid protests and demonstrations. The country’s overall advisory level remains at Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution on the State Department’s four-tier travel advisory scale.
The protests, which have delayed or canceled a number of flights, have prompted more airlines to issue change waivers:
American Airlines is allowing customers scheduled to travel through October 24 to rebook through October 30 between the same city pair in the same cabin (or pay the difference).
Customers on United Airlines scheduled to fly through October 27 can rebook through October 31 in the originally ticketed cabin and between the original city pair.
Delta is allowing customers scheduled to fly through October 25 to rebook through October 30, with the new ticket to be issued on or before that date.
The protests began over a proposed transit fare hike that would have forced a family making minimum wage to use one-sixth of their income on transportation, and they have since grown into a larger clash over economic inequalities in the country that have grown since the end of the repressive Pinochet military dictatorship in 1990.