Other North & South America Frequent Flyer Programs - Lan intra south america seat pitch

I am going to be taking 5 flights within south american on lan airlines. cuzco, lima, santiago, punta arenas, puerto montt. its a combination of a318, a319, a320. does anyone know what the seat pitch is like on these planes? service?
this will be in Y. they dont even offer business on these flights

i have also read that check in is somewhat hectic, and that you have to arrive 3 hours before the flight. this would really suck. especially for a 9am flight. any truth to this?

thanks

For your questions, I can speak only as to domestic services within Chile (and many of them). Seat pitch seems to be about 31" (maybe a bit more in some rows).

Check-in (and flying, generally) within Chile for domestic services is pleasant and quick. One hour is generally more than sufficient, although you might want maybe 90 minutes for SCL. Your security line wait at any domestic terminal shouldn't be more than 5 minutes.

Inflight service on every route within Chile consists of a snackbox, and one run of the beverage cart. The current snackbox contains:

(1) Wheat crackers
(2) Lemon-filled cookie
(3) Alfajor argentino

I had the "pleasure" of 4 of these snackboxes over a 4 day period a couple weeks ago (and 3 of them were in 2 days). The beverage cart consists of still and fizzy water, coffee, juice, coke (and light) and beer. Baggage claim takes about 10 minutes or less, normally.

Gone are the days of flying on a 767 to PMC/PUQ, with a hot meal on each segment.

Three hours is way too early for domestic flights. I'd say an hour and a half should be plenty of time. There is a kind of premium economy seat which gets you a blocked middle seat and better on board service. It is available throughout South America on planes without business class (for example Lima-Medellin flights), however it appears that at this time this class isn't available on domestic flights in Peru. I suggest you eat something before boarding if you are hungry (4 D on the left at the top of the escalator has some OK food), because the snack on board is fairly dismal.

this is what i got on LIM-CUZ and CUZ-LIM in february 09:

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/8537/limcuzfood.jpg

(NB: the yellowish drink is inca kola)

in CUZ you can buy an entry to the VIP lounge (costs depending on the service you want to have - we paid 10$ for two persons, had free WLAN and VIP escort through security to the plane) - however food and drinks had to be paid extra.

There is a kind of premium economy seat which gets you a blocked middle seat and better on board service. It is available throughout South America on planes without business class (for example Lima-Medellin flights), however it appears that at this time this class isn't available on domestic flights in Peru. It does not exist on any domestic services systemwide, but the planes all have rows 1-3 with convertible middle seats (a tray that comes down from the center seat.) I recently sat in one of those rows (on a domestic Chile service) and I do believe those rows have a bit more pitch. On domestic services, those rows are blocked for elites and full-fare types. If you aren't elite, you don't get preferente boarding even if assigned in those rows.

I recently sat in one of those rows (on a domestic Chile service) and I do believe those rows have a bit more pitch.
have been on 4 segments in premium economy during the last days and i have to agree with Eastbay1K. rows 1-3 seem to have more pitch.

Rows 1-3 indeed have more legroom, and if the middle seat is unoccupied, the middle seat can be converted to a table, just look for the button under the armrest near the back of the seat, it'll let you push the armrest and lower the table from the seatback.

Rows 1-3 indeed have more legroom, and if the middle seat is unoccupied, the middle seat can be converted to a table, just look for the button under the armrest near the back of the seat, it'll let you push the armrest and lower the table from the seatback.

thanks for sharing that info. i tried to find this button but was not successful. on the Lufthansa planes it is on top of the headrest hidden under the white pulp cloth.

does anyone know what are the emergency exit rows on LAN A319 and A318. i only see a seat map for B767 and A340.

thanks