Latam Airlines
Business Class (Z)
MEX – SCL (Mexico Juarez International Terminal One – Santiago Arturo Merino Benitez Airport)
LA 621
Oct 11, 2017
Booked: Boeing 787-800
Flown: Boeing 787-800
Departure: 7:55 PM
Arrival: 6:15 AM + 1

The flights’ availability for boarding was announced from the lounge. We packed up our stuff and headed over through a bleak and dated airport over to Gate 23.

It was pretty busy at the gate. Signs were up with the boarding zones and it was about as organized as it could be given the space that was available. The airport didn’t seem to offer a lot of real estate for the boarding area and we were all squished into the hallway. There were about 15 people in the Priority Line when we arrived.







We boarded via 2L with single jet bridge boarding. Once on board, we found our seats. The business class cabin is in a 2-2-2 configuration and the seat are similar to those on Turkish Airways The welcome and greeting was wholly in Spanish, which was a first for me. It was neat to watch eeeryone else come on getting greeted in Spanish.

Unlike the seat map, the cabin is split into two cabins. Rows 1-3 are the first cabin, and the second cabin are rows 4-6. There is a small storage compartment between the two cabins and a crew seat on the outsides but otherwise there is no curtain separating the two cabins; making it a very spacious cabin. I usually don’t like the bulkheads but this was perfectly fine.













A pre-departure beverage order was taken of water, orange juice, sparkling wine or pisco sours were offered. We went with the pisco sours. It was served with nuts, and an additional glass of water which was a nice touch. It is probably worth noting that these are instant pisco sours and since they are Chilean, they don’t come with that wonderful Peruvian froth on top of it.



While we were enjoying the PDB, the purser came around and thanked us for flying with them. She asked us to enjoy the flights and made some small talk about where we were headed. She was excited to hear that we were headed to Easter Island- having been there herself with work.

The menus were distributed while on the ground.













There was also a wine list provided. I have to say that the wines were quite good and were among the highlight of our time with LATAM. As expected, the wines featured a South American focus. The list was also very extensive and offered something for everyone; similar to our flights with Qatar.











This was followed by a newspaper / magazine trolley and presentation of the amentity kits. The kits are Salvatore Ferragamo branded and contained quite a bit of stuff. There were 3 Salvatore Ferragamo creams, socks, combs, mirrors, pens, disposable tote bags, ear plugs, eye masks. It was one of the fuller kits that I remembered ever getting and the case itself was quite nice.





We got underway and the lights were dimmed almost immediately. I browsed through the in flight entertainment which was “on demand”. It featured a moving map and a selection of quality movies.







I noticed that most of the travellers in business went to sleep right away. Dinner service started at about 9:30 PM and was quite a leisurely affair. Typically this wouldn't matter but the flight was quite short at 7 hours so it didn’t leave a lot of time for sleeping.

I had the soup to start with the wine wine chardonnay.



Followed by the braised ribs. I didn’t get the red glass of wine to go with it until after the the meal was well done and over as the crew had disappeared.



For the first round of desserts, I took the cheese and cracker plates.



I then finished with Haagen Daaz ice cream as well for desert. Sumptuous!



It was 10:30 PM by the time that the dinner service was completed and only about 3.5 hours left in the flight with the time zone changes.

The crew handed out very thick white duvets which were quite comfortable to have on a plane. The pillow was the usual skinny fabric and it made for a bit of an odd combination having such a great blanket and a flimsy pillow. I attempted to sleep but it didn’t go so well. I was too excited or something and I just lay wake the whole time. Seven hours is not a great length for flights since by the time you have finished the meal, there isn’t much relaxing time.

I opted for the complete breakfast. This was completed by filling out a card after the main meal service. We were among the only few that did have a complete breakfast. Most seemed to be from Chile on the business circuit and stayed asleep the whole time. The breakfast was served slightly outside of Santiago.





The breakfast was nothing special. The coffee, “Juan Valdez instant” was particularly dreadful. LOL.



We had a dark landing into Santiago International airport. The crews were especially interested and keen to hear that we were traveling to Easter Island. It seems that many of the crews have previously traveled there being on LATAM’s route network so many had pisco sour bar recommendations.



Overall, we had a great crew flying down from Mexico City which was complimented by a terrific and substantial wine list. The amenity kits were terrific as was the B787 plane. Unfortunately, the overnight flight itself is too short to allow for any relaxation or enjoyment if you plan on getting the meal service. I would really like the opportunity to be able to try LATAM out on a daytime long haul flight that doesn't involve a sleep.