LAX to LIM with BA or AA?

Old Nov 19, 2015, 10:41 am
  #16  
 
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Originally Posted by silver02accord
That's exactly what I was thinking. I despise the LA commute so flying out of SAN is a much better option. I'll look into the commuter flight options however. I am currently seeing excellent availability for next Sept. SAN DFW LIM. We will probably end up flying J one way and Y the other way.
It seems that AA is flying its 757s with NGBC seats on DFW-LIM.
(you can tell by the seat map that has four rows instead of 5).
I haven't flown the 757 J in this configuration but I know that the J seats are almost identical to the ones being retired in 777s and 763s. These seats are angled lie-flat (I am not sure if there is an entertainment screen or if you get a tablet on this route) . They are not the best seats but they are a significant improvement from Y. I'd go for it.

Last edited by carlosdca; Nov 19, 2015 at 10:53 am
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Old Nov 22, 2015, 3:19 pm
  #17  
 
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hi guys looking to book reward flight with ba avios for lan - mia to puj for 3 months. No availability for any date on ba side for months. Any tips on that?
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Old Nov 27, 2015, 8:39 am
  #18  
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Originally Posted by carlosdca
Lan lax lim in J is much better (fully flat seats, large entertainment screen, ok service on board)

The best you could get with AA is a slanted flat seat, a tablet for entertainment (on 763s) and hit or miss service. AA does not serve DFW-LIM with ther newer nicer places.
First, the opposite of slanted flat seat is horizontal flat seat, not "fully" flat seat. The word "flat" is about straightness, not about angle. The words "slanted" and "horizontal" are the words about angle.

Second, it's not true that LAN LAX-LIM in J will definitely give you horizontal flat seats!

Maybe on the new 787 they do, but definitely on the old 763 (767-300) that they use for the overnight 2605 LAX-LIM and evening 2604 LIM-LAX return they don't, it's just as slanted as on AA 763s.

And, yes, the 763 IFE screen is bigger, but it's not even "standard' resolution (forget about HD), it's worse than a good tube TV. Ie, it's a nice big screen for a 10-year old IFE system, but it still looks like a 10-year-old IFE system on the 763. AA 763, on the other hand, never had in-seat IFE, so their solution was to hand out tablets in J, and the tablets, being portable, were updated every few years. So the IFE in 763 J (assuming it's a flight where they hand out tablets) is actually much better picture quality than the built-in IFE on the LAN 763s.

Having said that, I like the selection of movies (less junk movies, more better quality movies) better than I've seen on AA lately (at least on AA's domestic flights that have IFE). However, I found it a bit annoying that even when I specified English as the language, it still gave me Spanish subtitles, and I couldn't find a way to turn them off. (It was mostly annoying because I was watching a movie that had a text intro and the subtitles covered up some of the text intro!)

On the other hand, the Map was not up to the quality of other airlines. No info other than speed, altitute, and outside temperature. No arrival estimates, etc, so it was harder to gauge how long a movie to pick if I didn't have the estimate of when we would land.

(I just flew LAN 2605 LAX-LIM-EZE in J the other day.)

Anyway, my main point is: If you're going to describe how a LAN flight is in J, please specify the plane type. There's obviously a mix of old and new planes at LAN, just as there is at AA.

Last edited by sdsearch; Nov 27, 2015 at 8:47 am
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Old Nov 28, 2015, 9:23 am
  #19  
 
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I just flew the AA 763 retrofit MIA-LIM, and the LA 763 LIM-MIA. I would rather have been in any domestic First Class 737/757/319 seat than the LA 763.

It felt claustrophobic to me because I had zero room on either side of my arms (thank goodness I was sitting next to my husband - it would be very uncomfortable with a stranger). There was no storage and no place to put anything. I had room for my small ear buds case and that was it. Absolutely no privacy. The comments from sdsearch about the IFE are spot on.

Service was a bit odd. They kept coming by and turning off my screen. I like to keep the map on, so that if I wake up, I can glance to see where we are and whether or not I want to go back to sleep. So inevitably I would wake up when they turned it off, I would turn it on, fall back asleep and so on...

I was also disappointed to see that the LAN crew allowed the woman across the aisle from me to keep her big Chloe bag and her four inch platform shoes on the floor during both takeoff and landing.

Never say never, but I have no interest in flying the LAN international product anytime soon.
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Old Nov 28, 2015, 6:47 pm
  #20  
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Originally Posted by luxtrvlwrks
LA 763 [...]

There was no storage and no place to put anything. I had room for my small ear buds case and that was it.
I found one small storage space at the floor in front of me, which was barely big enough to put my shoes into (and nothing else). It opened in a very weird way (it wouldn't stay open without something or someone holding it down.)

Does LAN have plans to scrap the 763s as they get 787s (as AA does*), or will they keep flying them forever based on current plans?

*AA is touting itself as the airline with the newest fleet in North America. I haven't heard any claim like that coming from LAN about South America.
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Old Nov 28, 2015, 9:55 pm
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The best LAN J is the 787, actual full flat seats and a fairly good AVOD that's a little better map that the older one. There are a couple of versions of the 763 seats around, with the same basic layout and slightly different AVOD. I like the older version(blue upholstery) a little better since as far as getting some sleep since I don't watch a lot of movies on the way down to South America. The newer (red upholstery) isn't quite as comfortable for grabbing some sleep since it seems to be a little narrower than the old version. The new version definitely has better power arrangements and a little better video than the old version.

I'd assume that LAN is getting rid of the older 763s as the 787s keep arriving. I remember that they changed out the a lot of the A340s as the newer 767s arrived so I wouldn't be surprised if the older 767s are heading out as the 787s show up.
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Old Dec 3, 2015, 6:47 pm
  #22  
 
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I am hoping to book LAN to SCL in J with either Avios or AS miles about a month from now, and have been "practicing" to see what is available, using the BA website. We are in Seattle but can fly from any US LAN airport. Looking 330-331 days out,,when it seems the award seats are released, I have found seats only from MIA, never LAX. This is in all classes, not just J. And for the Miami flights, there is always just one seat in J, never two. Is it possible they only release one?

This is in complete contrast to the last time I "practiced", looking last April for flights late February 2016--- so again around 330 days out. There seemed to be lots of award seats in J from JFK on the 787 ( flight 553) but now I find nothing on LAN for late October (330 days out).

Actually I may give up on LAN and fly AA, as their flight from MIA to SCL goes direct, while the LAN flight stops at LIM. Or we could fly from DFW, which is also a direct flight on AA. I did not check what kind of plan they use. Which is the better product in J? DFW would actually be quicker for us to reach from SEA.
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Old Dec 6, 2015, 3:51 pm
  #23  
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Thumbs up LAN gave me kms for an award flight booked with BA Avios!

On the other hand, in case you have a LAN account, you might end up with a bunch of LAN kms, if it's an award flight on LAN metal that you book.

I booked a flight using BA Avios, but at check-in changed my FFP number to my LANPASS number, and to my surprise, I earned a boatload of kms, plus LAN segment credit, from that award flight! Apparently their systems get confused when you book an award with another program's points but then change your FFP (say, at check-in) to LAN.

The actual reason I had changed my FFP number to LAN was simply in the hopes that the return two weeks later would show up for check-in at lan.com without having to manually enter the 6-character reservation code, just by being logged into lan.com. And, yes, that does seem to have worked, as now that reservation is showing up under my upcoming trips when logged in at lan.com, whereas it wasn't until I changed the FFP number. (I already had an intra-country round trip "within" the timeline of my longhaul round trip that I had booked through LAN, and I thought it be convenient to see both trips in the same place.)
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Old Dec 24, 2015, 4:41 pm
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I have return flight booked with my wife from LIM to SAN through MIA in economy.

I was able to find 1 J seat from LIM to LAX on the 787 for 30k miles in October on the same return date. Is this something I should jump on then hope availability opens in the future?

I know its hard to predict award availability but is it likely that something may open a couple weeks out from our departure? Any guidance would be appreciated.
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Old Dec 28, 2015, 9:37 am
  #25  
 
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That is an interesting question. Lately I have only been able to see one seat in J ( if any), whether I look close in ( March) or farther out (November). Then last night, searching EZE to MIA, I saw seven seats in J on Nov. 18. This was on the flight that departs at 4:35 am, so maybe they have trouble filling it?

But I am beginning to think I cannot count on getting two award seats, so we will consider booking the one award seat in J that appears, and then pay for the other seat. But I wonder if we will have trouble matching the flights and getting seats together? Plus the potential hazards of flying on separate tickets ( like one getting bumped).
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Old Dec 28, 2015, 11:21 am
  #26  
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Originally Posted by luxtrvlwrks
I just flew the AA 763 retrofit MIA-LIM, and the LA 763 LIM-MIA. I would rather have been in any domestic First Class 737/757/319 seat than the LA 763.

It felt claustrophobic to me because I had zero room on either side of my arms (thank goodness I was sitting next to my husband - it would be very uncomfortable with a stranger). There was no storage and no place to put anything. I had room for my small ear buds case and that was it. Absolutely no privacy.
My husband flew LAX-LIM-EZE on LAN C and said similar things to you. He said the seat was as narrow as a coach seat, no surprise given that LAN has 6 seats across. He felt very pinched. It's a shame, as this is the best routing from the west coast to South America. He saved a lot of hours versus flying an alternative itinerary. And it's not coach, so there is that.
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Old Dec 29, 2015, 8:19 pm
  #27  
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Originally Posted by SanDiego1K
My husband flew LAX-LIM-EZE on LAN C and said similar things to you. He said the seat was as narrow as a coach seat, no surprise given that LAN has 6 seats across. He felt very pinched. It's a shame, as this is the best routing from the west coast to South America. He saved a lot of hours versus flying an alternative itinerary. And it's not coach, so there is that.
Was this on the 763 or a 787? (LAN flies both on that route, depending on time of day.) AA has had 6 across on its 763s for years. It's only in its latest version that it went 4 across on those.

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Ame...MCE_V2_new.php

While United does 5 across on its two-class 763s, it also does 6 across on its three-class 763s:

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Uni..._767-300_B.php

So how long has your husband been flying business class on widebody jets? I would think he'd run into 6 across many times before on various carriers.

I'm not sure you can pin all the blame on the LAN 763 business class seats on the 6-across. While I'm not one who focuses on width, in other ways I found it inferior to the "NGBC" business class seats that AA trotted out on their 763s over a decade ago.
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Old Dec 29, 2015, 9:12 pm
  #28  
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Originally Posted by sdsearch
Was this on the 763 or a 787?
767

So how long has your husband been flying business class on widebody jets?
35 years. You?

I'm not sure you can pin all the blame on the LAN 763 business class seats on the 6-across.
You have focused too much on my 767 comment. The point is that he found the seat tight as do many others who have flown it.
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Old Dec 30, 2015, 7:32 pm
  #29  
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Originally Posted by SanDiego1K
767



35 years. You?



You have focused too much on my 767 comment. The point is that he found the seat tight as do many others who have flown it.
I've only been flying longhaul widebodies for about a dozen years.

I didn't notice it being tight across myself, but I did find it a bit tight in length (the leg rest wouldn't extend quite far enough for me). But that had to do with the design of the seat, not the space allocated to the seat.

I'd much rather have been in an AA 763 NGBC "sloped" flat seat, but then there are others who complain to no end about the "sloped" rather than "horizontal" flat seat.

And, btw, I've also been in seats way worse than the LAN 763 seats. Specifically, earlier this year I was in an Air Canada 787 seat that had a nasty hard bump in the middle . Luckily it was a daytime flight returning from Europe when I didn't need to sleep, and I only was testing out the sleeping position of the seat for future reference.
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