Been meaning to post a couple trip reports from last summer and fall. Here's the first:
June 29 SEA to LAX in AS first
June 29 LAX to LIM in LAN business
June 30 LIM to CUZ in LAN coach
July 10 JUL to CUZ to LIM in LAN coach
July 11 LIM to LAX in LAN business
July 11 LAX to SEA in AS first
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Pisac ruins
I'd gone in on two AA 75k cards, so I had a lot of miles to burn. When looking at their chart I was shocked that they consider Peru a part of South America Zone 1. Business class roundtrip is 60k miles, which at only 10k miles more than a US domestic first, is a great deal in my mind.
My wife and I had already done Europe a couple times so we were looking for somewhere new and Peru was on our list. It wasn't easy finding seats from LAX to SEA, but with some help on these boards we were able to book.
This was both of our first time in better-than-coach, so the flights were a real kick and highlight of the trip. Photos and reports in this chain as I figure out how to do it and get them typed up.
N830MH
May 9, 12, 10:55 pm
It's not enough pictures and it not enough to write more trip reports. You should tell us what you do on the flight and you should tell us more.
SSeattleI5
May 9, 12, 11:17 pm
Our flight to LAX left around 4pm, so we arrive about 3 hours early to enjoy the lounge. No line at the Alaska MVP checkin, but the preferred security line was mixing into the regular line for boarding pass check. Overall security took about 20 minutes thanks to very slow people at the Xray line.
We received a nice welcome at the Alaska Boardroom, lounge rules explained to us (limited to three drinks, don't call flights, etc). We headed the second floor and the food options weren't great, just some cheese, veggies, nuts and crackers. Downstairs selection wasn't any better and their pancake machine didn't have batter out. But we both had a couple drinks, pretty standard beers on draft -- Alaskan Amber and Pyramid Curveball.
Around 3:30 we headed to the gate for a 3:50 boarding and 4:20 departure. We boarded for our seats 2A and 2C on the 737 and were off in no time. The interior looked like it had seen better days. This cover kept falling off because some mechanical genius had resorted to velcro...
Up next was the meal, which was pretty decent for a relatively short 2-hour flight.
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Salad with lemon butter herb chicken, not bad
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Back when they still did prayer cards and a chocolate
Alaska's service is really quite good. The FA was nice and came around with refills a couple times. But I was excited to go check out the nicer lounge and J in LAN.
SSeattleI5
May 9, 12, 11:21 pm
It's not enough pictures and it not enough to write more trip reports. You should tell us what you do on the flight and you should tell us more.
I'm a little confused by this and what you're trying to tell me, but I think I'm addressing your concerns and feedback in the first part of the trip report I just posted. If not, let me know.
amolkold
May 10, 12, 12:04 am
Great start, I've had that same experience with AS First (how old are those planes?!?). Interested in how LAN J is like from LAX ... I had tried for that earlier this year but could only get to/from LIM out of JFK. I think that AA's North America to Northern South America chart is a great value in J, especially if you can get on LAN for 30K one-way in business with a stopover in the US.
It's not enough pictures and it not enough to write more trip reports. You should tell us what you do on the flight and you should tell us more.
The OP is giving each flight its own part. TRs take a lot of time to write/format pics
SSeattleI5
May 10, 12, 12:08 am
After arriving into one of the domestic terminals we went outside to walk over to international. Once again the preferred line was fairly empty but mixed in with the regular line. The crowd was smaller so we were through in just a few minutes.
We made the long walk to the OneWorld lounge and got there around 6:45 for our 9:10pm departure, so plenty of time. It was about half full when we arrived, but it filled up to about 75% around 7:45.
The had self-serve beer in a case, and really nice selection of drafts that a bartender had to pour -- Anderson Valley Strong Ale, Decheusettes Hop in the Dark. There was a nice food spread out, asian noodle, salad, marinated peppers, tofu dish, finger sandwiches with tuna and egg, and two soups -- tomato and chicken dumpling.
Before getting into the drinks and food I headed over to shower using their private rooms. I knew we wouldn't have access to a lounge shower in Lima on our layover, so I figured I may as well get fresh while I could. I really enjoyed being able to clean up and start the next leg that way.
We left around 8:15pm to board and were warned by the lounge attendant that we could probably wait awhile. We didn't take her advice and sure enough the plane was late and boarding was delayed a decent amount. We actually started boarding when we were scheduled to takeoff, 9:10pm. We boarded first and were offered orange juice as a pre-flight beverage.
We were really impressed with the seats. There was enough leg room that the FA when serving dinner was able to walk in front of us to set our trays down.
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Taken after the flight
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Nice big monitors, not so great movie selection however
Right after that immigration forms were handed out next, followed by dinner service. First the FA came around to ask which wine we wanted, then we got our first course at about 11:20pm -- pretty late but worth the wait. It was two types of crab, a claw straight and a crab salad. Incredibly good along with a nice cheese selection.
I then tried to get some sleep, as we were set to arrive at about 8am local time. The seat I found very comfortable with plenty of room to turn around in. However the cabin was kept very warm for my liking and usual experience on flights, so I wasn't able to sleep more than a couple hours cumulative.
I finally decided to just get up and stop trying a couple hours before landing and the FA had hot towels out soon after. Breakfast came next and once again wasn't very hungry, but we took one of each offered.
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My cold dish
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Wife's hot dish, an omelet and the better choice
When we arrived at immigration the staff were in complete sleep mode. The desk we walked up to had a staffer listening to a little speaker system off her ipod. She also took a couple minutes to do whatever before talking to us. However we didn't have checked bags so we left our fellow business passengers behind and were the first ones out. We pushed a little button that gave us a green light and we were off into the Lima Airport.
Lima isn't a huge airport and the parts we saw then weren't that interesting. There was a Starbucks and McDonald's and other usual chains. We headed off to our gate as I was really tired. We grabbed some water and a couple small sandwiches, then boarded our 10:20am flight to Cuzco.
I immediately fell asleep once on board and missed beverage and food. I woke up to them preparing for landing.
I then experienced two of my most interesting in-flight moments. About 5 minutes into landing we suddenly went full power gaining altitude. I have no idea why, but I did notice the hills around where we were landing could have been a problem. I'm sure something more simple was the cause.
Once we were back at a high altitude we circled for about 15 minutes without any explanation why we hadn't landed. A girl lost it, ran up the cabin in an attempt to use the bathroom. The FA got her into a seat but the girl then proceeded to scream and cry (in spanish, so I could only infer the problem). The FA finally let her go and we landed about 10 mins later.
We had arranged to have a car take us from Cuzco to Urabamba where we'd be staying for a few nights. The Cuzco airport is tiny so we were out the door in no time.
apodo77
May 10, 12, 2:56 am
Great start, I've had that same experience with AS First (how old are those planes?!?). Interested in how LAN J is like from LAX ... I had tried for that earlier this year but could only get to/from LIM out of JFK. I think that AA's North America to Northern South America chart is a great value in J, especially if you can get on LAN for 30K one-way in business with a stopover in the US.
The OP is giving each flight its own part. TRs take a lot of time to write/format pics
Looks like he was on a 737-400 which is indeed a tired AS product. The 700, 800 and 900's have a much better (and newer) hard product. I believe AS is receiving 12 new 737-900's in the next year or so.
Robt760
May 10, 12, 5:47 pm
Will you post some information about how much time and effort it took to book this award with Aadvantage miles? I spent several months trying to book a "J" award on LAN with Aadvantage miles for off season travel, and finally caved in and switched my plans.
Thanks for sharing your report.
N830MH
May 11, 12, 12:39 am
Looks like he was on a 737-400 which is indeed a tired AS product. The 700, 800 and 900's have a much better (and newer) hard product. I believe AS is receiving 12 new 737-900's in the next year or so.
Actually, AS will delivery this year. I believe they will received 3 or 4 aircraft to come online.
SSeattleI5
May 12, 12, 9:50 pm
Will you post some information about how much time and effort it took to book this award with Aadvantage miles? I spent several months trying to book a "J" award on LAN with Aadvantage miles for off season travel, and finally caved in and switched my plans.
Thanks for sharing your report.
Sure -- I feel your pain. It's actually appropriate that you ask, because for awhile I was thinking I'd have to do an intense routing to get to Peru. Something like LAX-JFK-MIA-Ecuador-Peru there and back. Then I was using LAN's website to look for low-tier avail and randomly about a week's worth of LAX-LIM flights were showing up, but AA couldn't see them. I posted the issue on FT and another guy said he was having same issue. Couple days later he messaged me that AA could now see them, so I jumped on and booked.
I was booking in early May for late June travel, if that helps at all. I haven't seen anything about LAN and when they release seats. I do know we were really flexible about dates and it seemed like we could piece together a mix of AA and LAN flights to get down there, but not in the nice international J.
Hope that helps -- let me know if I can answer anything else.
SSeattleI5
May 12, 12, 10:21 pm
I had arranged ahead of time for the hotel to arrange a car to pick us up at the airport, give us a little car tour of Cuzco, then drive us out to the hotel, Tambo del Inka Resort & Spa (https://www.starwoodhotels.com/luxury/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=3285). The hotel is located in the main city of the Sacred Valley, where a lot of great ruins are, not to mention decent access to Machu Picchu.
Unfortunately the driver didn't speak English, so the tour was a no go. I don't know if this is the hotel's fault or the driver for perhaps misleading the hotel about his language capabilities. So instead we just headed to the hotel.
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The town of Urubamba where the hotel is located, looking down from the drive in
I forget how long the ride was, but I think we paid about $60 USD and it was about 45 minutes. We were very tired so worth it.
I'll just say the hotel was great. We used SPG Cash and Points for I think the current rate 4,000 and $60 USD a night. It wasn't very full except for a tour group that came in to go to Machu Picchu the next day.
I could go on and on about how great it was, but if you're in the area, have SPG points to burn, you'd be foolish to not stay here. On previous trips I've booked (and loved) small hotels in Europe, but my wife loved the amenities, comfort and service of the hotel which is really not near anything.
Here are a few of the room:
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The bar was a great spot to grab a casual dinner, as the main restaurant was much fancier than the clothes we'd packed. The pool extends from inside to outside, a really incredible feature in the evening when the bugs were chirping and the moon was out.
We did two ruin sites (Pisac and Ollantaytambo) and preferred Pisac. It was really amazing. The taxis were honest about their rates and probably better than the collectivos/buses in getting around. The collectivos just aren't made for 6'2'' Americans...
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Pisac, loved every minute we spent there
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Random entryway in town of Pisac with an alpaca hanging out
The last thing I'll say about the hotel is that the train that goes to Machu Picchu has a couple runs that start out of the hotel. The day we were on it we were the only ones boarding there -- so I get the feel this is a very special amenity the hotel secured. And it was great getting home that night and just walking off the train to our room.
I think we ended up staying there four nights, one more than we'd planned.
After that we took a bus to Cuzco...
SSeattleI5
May 12, 12, 11:21 pm
We stayed in each remaining city for two nights each. We booked the hotel in Cuzco from the hotel in Urubamba on Expedia and paid about $50 a night, Terra Andina (http://www.hotelterraandinacusco.com/).
Our room was definitely a little off -- but perfectly fine as we were out and about. The bathroom had a ceiling tile missing and we could see the roof and some sky. It was also right next to the stairs, so I wonder if our special Expedia rate got us their worst room. Regardless, the bed was nice and we had privacy.
A note about Cuzco -- the elevation really did get to us here. We had a terrible time sleeping, which affected us much more than exhaustion when we were out and about. In Urubamba you're lower, so we adjusted some there but still struggled.
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Main plaza in Cuzco
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View of Cuzco from Sacsayhuaman
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Sacsayhuaman ruins -- it's a puma paw
We were sad to leave Cuzco but had decided to throw Arequipa into the trip, so we had to keep going. We went to the bus station the day before leaving to book tickets. I went in knowing two brands to trust, but ended up booking with another person that was more eager for our business (and we'd been very lucky with not getting ripped off and trustworthy taxis).
So yeah, the bus ride was bad. We got there alive and safe, but we'd paid and been expecting decent seats and bus. We got a bus without a working toilet and seats that were completely springy and gone. It was a long, long 10 hours. Bathroom breaks were infrequent, and one of them was at a set of boulders at the top of a hill.
What's worse is that the long ride and bad seat strained my back, so the next morning as I was getting up from breakfast, I completely pulled a muscle in my upper back to the point that I couldn't walk. So my wife took a tour while I stayed in the hotel. Thankfully the hotel found a prescription muscle relaxer (no prescription needed in Peru) that helped me get through the rest of the trip.
The hotel (http://www.libertador.com.pe/en/2/1/1/arequipa-hotel) was nice and clearly around the best in town. Complimentary pisco sours:
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We then took a bus company we had read reviews of, Cruz del Sur, from Arequipa to Puno -- a city of the shores of Lake Titicaca. The bus ride was great.
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Arriving into Puno and Lake Titicaca
Puno had actually been experiencing some rioting before we arrived. There is foreign-owned mining company that wasn't winning the PR battle with the locals. Actually thee complaint as we understood was concern over polluting the water and fish, which would ruin the way of life there. So there weren't many tourists there, but it was calm.
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Broken bank window
Our hotel was Casa Andina Classic, also booked right before heading there. We got a rate of about $50 a night and it was nice -- what I'd say is a business-style hotel Peruvian style. It was in town, had free internet and we slept well there.
We were staying there on my 30th birthday and the staff actually prepared a dessert (no restaurant in the hotel) for me delivered to my room. That was really nice and unexpected.
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The lake
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Really fun dinner and show for my birthday
We then started our trip home. My last post will be somewhat brief as we took similar flights back, but we did stay in Lima for an afternoon that I'll post pictures from.