I realize that this is highly subjective, but I will ask anyway...

Who do you think offers the best first class service to South America (from the US)?

Flying Dutchman: I've flown CO from SFO to SJO a couple of times and the first class service was very similar to US domestic first class. Nice, but not incredibly special.

CO runs BusinessFirst service from Newark and Houston to South America. I'll be flying EWR-BOG-IAH in BusinessFirstin a couple of weeks and will try to get it togther to post a trip report. I haven't flown any other FC service to South America, so maybe others can post their experiences with the other carriers.

I think F on UA is slightly better in F than AA because on the 777s they have the first suite, also because you can bypass MIA.

I will be trying TAM next week (codeshare AA and hopefully in F/C).

I actually prefer bypassing MIA because the longer flight actually gives reasonable sleep time (9.5 hours ORD or JFK-GRU, 10.75 EZE-ORD versus 7 to 9 hours into MIA.

Also check airfares into Montevideo--almost always cheaper to add that leg than to just fly into GRU or EZE.

Also check airfares out of Toronto/Montreal--YYZ-MVD just went up to $3000 biz, $3400 first (USD)--was previously $2800/$3200.

If paying first class fare, choices would be

1. UA
2. AA

If paying biz class fare, choices would be

1. CO (all DC10s, all the time)
2. DL (only because they may fly a 767 with narrow f/c seats)
3. UA or AA (no real difference here, slight preference for noise cancelling headsets and 777s on UA, slight food preference on AA)

Although I haven't taken it to S.A, CP/AC would probably be on a par with CO (5-across 767s).

Thanks for the very good tips!

jamiel: at least some of CO's service to South America (EWR-BOG and BOG-IAH, at least) is on 757's configured for BusinessFirst. They take out two rows in first, leaving 4 rows with enormous seat pitch. The seats are wonderfully comfortable, the same ones they have on their DC-10's.

I'm pretty sure CO is phasing out all DC-10's in their fleet; they're being replaced by a combination of 767's and 777's.

The 4-across 757 on CO would probably be equivalent to the DC10. Ditto a 7-across 777, but a 6-across 767 is a tad tight in the seat width, imho.

Actually, the IAH-BOG-IAH is flown with a 737-700 with regular first... I take this route about once every couple of months, for the last year, at least.

Its clear that 'jamiel' is "under-informed".

I don't understand the comment on UA vs. AA. AA has almost all 777 sleeper seat serivce to the major SA cities. DFW-SCL is an excpetion and that route will change to the 777 in Nov.

Also, you can bipass MIA on AA also in most cases. What about DFW-LIM, DFW-GRU, DFW-SCL, JFK-EZE? UA doesn't even fly to LIM anymore and the flights to SCL and GIG go through MIA. UA doesn't ly to Bolivia, Colombia, Equador. AA has had noise cancelling headsets for years.

I've spent a good portion of my life on flights to and from SA on AA, UA, LA, AR, RG, and others in Y, C, and F. The service on AA has always been better.