Yes. You can smoke at Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL) — outdoors only, landside, on the signposted forecourt areas just outside the exit doors of Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, before you pass security. There is no airside or indoor smoking anywhere in the airport.
SCL is Santiago’s gateway and the principal hub for LATAM Airlines, handling all of Chile’s major international and domestic traffic. Chile’s national smoke-free law (Ley 19.419, as amended) keeps every enclosed public space smoke-free and names airports explicitly, so both terminal buildings are smoke-free inside with no smoking room beyond the checkpoint.
Terminal 2 — International Flights
Terminal 2, the international terminal that opened in 2022, handles every international arrival and departure across its boarding piers (C, D, E and F). None of them has a smoking room — the terminal has been smoke-free inside since day one. The enclosed airside smoking booth that older trip reports mention belonged to the pre-2022 operation and is long gone; travellers have confirmed its removal repeatedly since 2017.
Your option at Terminal 2 is the landside forecourt: step out through the arrivals or departures exit doors and use the signposted outdoor smoking points around the kerbside and drop-off lanes. Finish your cigarette before check-in and security, because once you are airside there is nowhere to light up.
Terminal 1 — Domestic Flights
Terminal 1 handles domestic flights on LATAM, Sky Airline and JetSMART. The rule is identical: smoke-free inside, with outdoor smoking on the landside footpaths just beyond the terminal exit doors. Domestic passengers have the easier time of it — leaving for a smoke only means re-clearing security screening, with no immigration involved, so a landside break between flights is realistic if your connection allows 45 minutes or more.
Transit and Connections
International transit passengers who stay airside have no smoking option at SCL. To smoke, you must clear immigration, exit the terminal landside, use the outdoor areas, then re-clear security and immigration before your onward flight — factor a full hour into your connection for that round trip, more at peak times.
Connections between international and domestic flights already require passport control, baggage recollection and re-screening, so smokers on those itineraries can build the outdoor stop into the transfer. The two terminals are linked by a 10–15 minute walkway and a free shuttle bus, and both have outdoor smoking points at their doors.
Do not count on any of the old airside options: the enclosed booth, the smoking area inside the LATAM lounge and a restaurant’s open-air spot are all confirmed closed.
Vaping
Chile’s Ley 21.642 equates vapes and e-cigarettes with tobacco, so vaping is banned in all enclosed public spaces, including airports and transport. Vape only in the outdoor landside areas, alongside the smoking points.
Summary
| Area | Smoking | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal 1 (domestic) indoor | No | Smoke-free throughout |
| Terminal 2 (international) indoor | No | Smoke-free since its 2022 opening; no room on piers C–F |
| After security / airside | No | Old booth, lounge spot and restaurant area all closed |
| Outdoor (landside) | Yes | Signposted points outside both terminals’ exit doors |
For Chile’s airport smoking rules and vaping law, see our Chile airport guide.