Trip Reports - Lufthansa to Santiago de Chile and domestic flights with Lanexpress (LA)

During last month I traveled with Lufthansa from Europe to Santiago de Chile and back. It is longest route Lufthansa has – 17 hours each way – and after that experience I am not too fond of Lufthansa any more. On the other hand I tried out Lanexpress (Lanchile subsidiary) while in Chile and my experience was much better one.

My itinerary was following:
5 May
Helsinki-[LH]-Frankfurt-[LH]-Buenos Aires-[LH]-Santiago de Chile
9 May
Santiago de Chile-[LA]-Puerto Montt-[LA]-Punta Arenas
14 May
Punta Arenas-[LA]-Puerto Montt-[LA]-Santiago de Chile
20 May
Santiago de Chile-[LH]-Buenos Aires-[LH]-Frankfurt-[LH]-Helsinki

LUFTHANSA
Main reason for going to Chile was nice price - Lufthansa return flight from HEL to SCL cost 4444 EEK (~261 USD). This extremely cheap ticket was sold only in Estonia during Lufthansa Estonia 10th anniversary.
Well, I do not have anything bad to say about Lufthansa intra-European flights. Flights were on-time, service was OK and cabin crew was young and cheerful. FA-s on intercontinental flight from Frankfurt to Buenos Aires were totally another matter – averagely 10…15 years older, much more experienced and, unfortunately, much more objectionable. One steward had especially terrible attitude. He was very arrogant, stiff blond man with raised chin. His hands flit and if he did not liked passengers - what happened often -, then he made most scornful grimaces.
One of my friends deared to ask is it possible to get some Bailey´s. Well, she instantly regret her question, beacuse answer was rather dramatical: "Baileys!? Baileys!!? (Pause) I do not have a n y Baileys!!!"
In order to be honest I have to mention that steward was bit more affable with German speaking pax.
While we were flying over France and Spain dinner was served (chicken or beef). I took chicken. Eatable, but nothing special. My friends had ordered special meals - one had prefered asian vegetarian (AVML), which looked really good and another had raw vegetable meal (RVML) – if my memory servers me correctly, then she received whopping one banana and four or five grapes. Somehow she received fruit plate (FPML) instead on raw vegetable meal. Crew said no can do of course.
Our Boeing 747-400 continued to fly near African coast until Cabo Verde Islands after what we crossed Atlantic and entered Brazilian air space. Flying time was 13 hours and 45 minutes, but actually this flight – westbound flight - was surprisingly easy to tolerate. It just seemed like endless night. I drop asleep after the meal service – because movie was in Spanish language - and wake up only when FA-s came through darkened cabin and offered water, orange juice and slice of cake in one occasion. We were half-way over ocean and most of passengers were sleeping when I wake up hearing that doctor was looked for ill passenger. Purser continued to call multiple times but no one didn't seemed to react. I was too tired and fall back to sleep - hope this passengers did´nt had anything too serious.
Few hours before landing in Buenos Aires hot breakfast was served. Fruit salad, yogurt (too sweet, pink and thick for my taste) and hot frankfurter with omelette. Sausage seemed to date back to World War I, but omelette was in better condition.

BUENOS AIRES
Landing to Buenos Aires was beautiful - endless sea of lights! Probably one of the most beautiful landings I have experienced. Special red stickers were pasted to Santiago-bound passengers seats and it was possible to leave aircraft during stop-over. I was surprised to see that passengers departing from airplane had to go through security check, but otherwise was sterile zone in Buenos Aires airport very pleasant. Espresso from small bar was excellent, tax-free was cheap (unhealthy example: Marlboro carton was available for 10 USD) and glass windows offered good views towards taxing aircrafts. Many European aircrafts arrived from Europe during that early hour - Alitalia MD-11 was here as well as Air France Boeing 777.
In Buenos Aires new crew took over and sandwich was served during Buenos Aires – Santiago de Chile leg.
This flight took 90 minutes, but last 20 minutes were really interesting ones - this is when aircraft crossed Andes and started it´s descent to Arturo Merino Benitez airport. This airport itself quite new and easy to understand. Immigration was breeze also in “no questions asked” style.

LAN CHILE
After spending few days in Santiago and visiting Valparaiso (this city has a certain melancholy charm) we decided to fly to south. Lanchile last-minute fares (bookable only thru their web-site www.lanchile.com) (http://www.lanchile.com)) are sometimes really attractive. For example round-trip from Santiago de Chile to Punta Arenas – what is southernmost city in Chile, less than 1000 kilometers from Antarctica – was available for mere 90 USD including tax. Unfortunately we did not get confirmation for our booking and next morning, when we had chance to visit Lanchile office in lovely coastal town La Serenea, were all cheap last minute tickets to Punta Arenas sold out. Lanchile represantative – young friendly lady wearing black LA uniform and Disney hand-watch – was fabulously cooperative and after calling to head office in Santiago de Chile she received permission to rebuild our PNR. For some formality reasons she had to enter our passport numbers to itinerary. I asked her to put my Aadvantage number into booking as well, but she said that fare is too discounted for mileage credit. (Flights were booked to S class, which should earn 100 % mileage according to Aadvantage web-site. I presented my AA card at check-in next morning and card number was printed to boarding passes, but I have not received any miles 1 month later).
Our flight from Santiago to Punta Arenas was scheduled to depart early next morning and we had to drive all night from La Serena to Santiago in order to catch the plane. 500 km night-time car journey over the mountains was extremely grueling, but we arrived to airport without accidents and on-time. Chilean highways are world class –
they have even build lights in to asphalt. Lights are white under normal conditions but red in curves and in other more dangerous parts of the road.

Lanchile seems to be very pedant airline as far as paperwork is concerned. In check-in we were asked what are our emergency phone numbers in home (“In case something happens”) and those numbers were entered to PNR in addition to our passport data.
After that encouraging precaution we were ready to board aircraft - new Airbus 320 -, which was waiting in gate 26. Plane had one class configuration and interior was mostly pink, violet and blue - somewhat unaccustomed but probably very “Latin”. Complimentary Spanish newspapers, free headphones, blankets and pillows were available. Before takeoff candy were offered, then the video screens dropped down and safety video was shoved (during what all three FA-s stand in aisle like sculptures – must be strange Lanexpress policy). I opened the in-flight magazine (do not remember its name) and read that Lanexpress seat pitch is 83 cm. My knees came very soon to more conservative opinion.
After takeoff breakfast was served – hot cheese sandwich and really good yogurt. Breakfast was nicely packed, plastic knife and metal fork were provided as well. Drinks - only coffee, tea, water, coke or lemonade - were served from trolley. No real juice unfortunately.
Views – Andes were so close – were magnificent. If someone happens to take same route I would suggest him/her to take seat in the left side of the plane.
After half and hour our plane started descent, we came trough clouds and made scheduled stop in Puerto Montt. Transit passengers were not allowed to leave the plane during 20 minute stopover but it was possible to walk to the open door and breath some fresh air.
During Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas flight cold salmon sandwich and rock-hard chocolate-cake were served. Cake nearly broke my teeth. Landscape under us was wild and uninhabited and I spent most of the time listening music (Lanexpress has full entertainment program featuring short movies and 12 music channels). Unfortunately they have not invested in life-jackets - in case of ditching passengers are advised to use seat stuffing as a floating device. Chance of emergency landing to water is very remote of course, but I did not thought about it when plane made some rather sharp pre-landing turns over ice cold Strait of Magallanes.

Weather in Punta Arenas was similar to Estonian winter – freezing temperature and depressingly limited sunlight. But visit to Torres del Paine national park was powerful experience. You can find some really beautiful (not mine) photos about park here http://biology.queensu.ca/~arnoldh/Torres%20del%20Paine%20photos.htm

Lanexpress early morning flight from PUQ back to SCL offered two things to remember:
a) aircraft was de-iced during stop in Puerto Montt with smallest hand-syringe I have ever seen
and
b) in the morning I was drowsy enough to pack a bottle-opener to hand-baggage. This dangerous item was confiscated in Punta Arenas airport and sent to Santiago as a extra luggage. To my biggest surprise airline representative was waiting me in Santiago airport luggage claim area, bottle-opener in his hand!! Well done, Lanexpress!!

LUFTHANSA AGAIN
Unfortunately I do not have much good to say about Lufthansa flights from Chile back to Europe. We arrived to Santiago airport 2 hours before scheduled takeoff time only to find out that preassigned seats were not available. Lufthansa representative was arrogant enough to say that we simply forget to pre-book our seats. After some arguing she listlessly admitted that they cancelled those assignments because ill passenger was to be transported to Europe in the stretcher. According to her plane was full and no seats next to eatchother were available. So we got four seats in the middle row, all separated from eatchother. I went to Lufthansa service desk where much nicer person managed to put all four of us in to row 42 and print new boarding passes. I thanked her knowing little that seats in row 42 (row just after toilets in the middle of the plane) do not recline backwards at all.
Plane was packed (Buenos-Aires – Frankfurt segment was over-booked by 10). Older Hispanic married couple in front of me brawled with flight crew because they had also pre-booked specific seats and ended in middle section despite that. Finally captain - elderly baldheaded man - came along and told them in very nervous way that they have 3 minutes to either take the middle seats or leave his aircraft. Married couple decided to give up.
During flight to Buenos Aires cold salmon sandwich was served. My friends – this time both of them had switched to AVML meals - received much nicer and bigger sandwiches (soft white bread, tofu and fresh tomato). How come can special meals be so much better (quality-wise) than regular meals?
Flight towards Europe seemed endless. We had loth of turbulence (it was not strong but it was continuous). Our seats were continually in upright position (blessed row 42). Meal service consisted strangest chicken-stew and sourest curd-cake I have ever seen. One of my companions decided to drown her
dissatisfaction in to the glass. Finally she asked for wine and Baileys at same time (not nicest thing to do, of course). The stewardess replied: “Are you expecting guests?” Unfortunately my friend did not understand the message and wanted more alcohol 30 minutes later. Now her request was directly (though fairly) refused and it caused lot´s of whining of course. Thanks to that – and thanks to awful seats – it was almost impossible to sleep.
Crew was quite nice, though. They invited passengers to serve themselves in galley, were lot of drinks and snacks were available.

Conclusion: Lufthansa long-haul flights in economy are
really nothing special. I would rate them to be average (thanks to safety and punctuality), but some flight attendants have too nasty attitude. Lufthansa gave me more than 19000 Miles&More miles, nevertheless.
Lanexpress offered surprisingly good domestic serivce.
I suspect that Lanchile can do even better on intracontinental flights.



[This message has been edited by fokker50 (edited 06-14-2002).]

That's ridiculous! How can they refuse to give you, or your friends alcohol? Tickets like that usually cost thousands of dollars (your's was an exception http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif), there is no excuse to refuse alcohol, unless the passenger is drunk or offending other people!

Thanks for the report!

Well, actually my friend had had quite a few glasses (3 or 4) of wine before being denied. However she was not drunk and her behaviour was (still http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif) under control.
And maybe there are economical reasons involved as well - few signs show that Lufthansa is flirting with idea to become low-cost airline.


[This message has been edited by fokker50 (edited 06-14-2002).]

Fokker,

Great report. Have always wanted to visit the South of Chile, hope to get there one day. I have not flown LanX yet, but fly LanChile quite often - I have always found their service to be outstanding.

CanGuy

Thanks for the report. It's good to hear that others have enjoyed LanChile.

I spent the last 6 months traveling in South America, and used LanChile (and its associates LanPeru and LanExpress) quite extensively when I flew between cities in the region.

LanChile is definitely a class act; especially in comparison with other airlines in the region. On a short-haul domestic LanExpress flight of 1.5 hours, they will serve a full meal, replete with as much alcohol as you can down. This is in comparison to say, Aerolineas Argentina, who serves 1 white-bread 1/2 inch-thick sandwich with a 1/4 inch-thick slice of cheese or ham, for a flight that's 3 hours long.

Inflight entertainment was excellent too. On their A340s and newer B767s, there are individual seatback screens in cattle class (where I usually end up), where it's video on demand ie. you can play, rewind, pause any of the available selection anytime. Even in cattle class!

Their ground staff is also excellent. On one occasion, when I flew into SCL with another airline, my bag did not make it. Because this inefficient airline have no idea where the bag is, I was forced to spend 2 days in Santiago, while they attempt to locate my bag.

Now, I had also bought a series of heavily discounted LanExpress flights, which were non-changeable, and non-refundable, the first leg was to begin 9 hours after the flight-where-my-bag-went-missing.

I approached the good people at LanChile at SCL, explained my situation (knowing full well it wasn't their problem and that I had bought anon-refundable ticket), and they really came through for me. They actually offered me a refund for the tickets! I declined, and instead asked if I could leave my tickets open-dated, as I would still be flying those routes when my missing bag shows up. They happily agreed, and worked about re-issuing my tickets.

6 days later, my bags were found, I went to SCL to pick it up, and immediately legged it over to LanChile to try to get onto a flight. Handed over the ticket to the agent, (without a reservation), the agent looked in the computer, congratulated me on retrieving my missing bag, and I was on the next flight out 1.5 hours later.

No hassles. No questions asked.

I think that's service for you.

Nice report, fokker50!

The way the flight attendants treated you and your companions is simply unacceptable in my opinion. I have had no problems with crews lately, last time as I asked for Baileys during the first drink service, the f/a said they only serve it after the meal but she said she'd get it now if I wanted. Maybe having SEN status listed in the manifest helps...

The seating is horrible though especially on the 747s and I try to avoid LH longhaul Y whenever possible. I'm 6ft2" (185 cm) and the pitch really hurts.

Regards,

LH747FTL
Finland

"The seating is horrible though especially on the 747s and I try to avoid LH longhaul Y whenever possible."

"Lufthansa return flight from HEL to SCL cost 261 USD."

I guess, it's about preferences. If you consider the Business Class fare the "regular" price for a flight, you will be happy about every dollar you saved and you will have a constant smile on your face while cramped in the Y seat.

But don't expect $262 to be the "regular" price for comfortable travel!


[This message has been edited by Greg45 (edited 06-14-2002).]

Fokker50 I advise you to mail a copy of your ticket to American Advantage in Dallas if you do not get your mileage credited within 2 months. I did that 3 weeks ago for a flight on Swiss, and I just got my credit. I have the address if you need it.

Thank you for the information on Lufthansa. I only flew them once between Vienna and Munich. They offer very low fares to the USA but I will avoid.

Greg45, yes, I am aware that my ticket was heavily, even astronomically discounted. But did flights attendants also knew that? Do they see from flight manifest how much passengers paid for their tickets? I doubt that. Full economy RT fare from HEL to SCL costs 5378 eur+tax (~5168 USD incl tax). And it is – at least theoretically speaking – same economy; same class of service.

Bretteee, thanks, I will follow your suggestion if miles do not appear. I already found required address from Aadvantage web-site.

Pumpikin, although I did not had hot meal on Lanexpress flights and beer was well hidden(maybe because early departure time), I was still very much satisfied considering all those cooperative persons in the ground and little extras – candy, sandwiches, newspapers, headphones – in the air. Someone I know took Lanchile operated flight from Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas (Boeing 767-300/ER aircraft) and this flight had full service in every sense.

LH747FTL, I myself did not had direct problems with Lufthansa attendants this time (my friends were unhappy). If I try little bit I can even understand Lufthansa position – they want to prevent passengers being intoxicated, especially in long-haul flights as diversion is not easy option. However it is proven fact IMHO that many Lufthansa attendants are experts in humiliation. Once, many years ago, I politely – maybe too politely - asked to have cup of water in Frankfurt-Miami flight. Time went by, water did not arrived and I went to galley. Flight attendant did not liked that and – although I do not remember what she exactly told me - I felt really, really embarrassed afterwards. And, mind you, cup of water was all I asked for.




[This message has been edited by fokker50 (edited 06-15-2002).]

Hi fokker50,

thank you for the report. I am happy to be able to fly C and F most of the time, but had to go in Y on a flight from HKG to FRA last week. I had to say I was pleasantly surprised with the service in Eco (hot towels twice, acceptable meals, three movies, more than enough reading stuff, very nice and young F/As, very nice white wine). I have to admit the eco section of the plane was not full which of course helped the service. But the main thing was that I really did not expect anything in Y and though was happy that I got more than expected http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
Anyway, the main point is that on those long routes, no matter what food or alcohol you receive, nights tend be VERY long in those small seats and you cannot read for 12 hours. All my friends who have to fly Y all the time try to choose airlines only that offer personal screens including nintendo games at each seat to kill time.

Nice report fokker50. One question. Why did you put the miles into Miles and More? Did you have miles at LH before? Note that a Star Gold card at Air Canada only requires 35K miles in a year.

Kempis, I credited those flights to Miles & More only because I had plan to fly with OS, Tyrolean, SK and BD also and qualify for 55555 bonus miles.
But just few minutes ago Miles & More representative told me that he is "not sure and has to check" will Tyrolean count as a separate partner or not. At first he even told me that Tyrolean is not part of Star Alliance.
He has not called me back yet.


[This message has been edited by fokker50 (edited 06-18-2002).]