After 4 days on the island, it was time for Eva and I to depart, by plane this time.

We arrived around 12:30 at the airport, just when the upcoming flight from SCL was landing, and entered the small terminal to check our luggage and get our boarding passes. There was already quite a line there, and you first have to clear a SAG check point (Chilean agricultural services) when departing the island, the point being not to bring any fruits, vegetables or things which could hide potential pests back to the continent. In addition to this, they wanted to make sure that you won’t bring out of the island any corals, rocks, sand or historical artefacts out of the island, and this was new compared to a couple years before, where I could not recall having seen such a check point at the airport.


LATAM 787-900 just landing in IPC


Airport terminal entrance with the Agricultural inspection check point



Bringing a bit of sand and a rock from the places I visited is something I usually do, and although I did not take anything from the island this time (as I saw the sign the day before), I had in my luggage a bit of sand from New Zealand, Moorea, and Tahiti, the latter being black volcanic sand. Obviously, the agent saw that there were small bottles of sand and opened my bag. He was not interested in the two “yellow sand” samples, but asked his colleague about the black Tahitian sand, to which he replied in Spanish to him “No that’s not ours !”.

After my situation having been cleared out, we proceeded to the priority counter where our bags got checked-in pretty smoothly and my Alaska Airlines Mileage plan number was added to the booking (Since I already qualified for BA Gold that year, I preferred to credit this segment to AS, but for the record, this domestic segment would have yielded back then 140 TP being greater than 2000 miles long).


LATAM counters in IPC. Almost no wait at the priority counter.



The path to the airside of the terminal was however not hassle-free, and there was quite a queue to access the only gate of this airport. We decided to wait for a bit outside the terminal and have some snacks and then went back to the line. Fortunately, there is only one gate, and only a couple flights daily so we were pretty sure that we would not miss our flight, it was just annoying to stand for a good 40 minutes…


They cater the return flight to SCL from the island !


Mataveri airport


Mataveri airport entrance


Back to the line...

The line was going until the other end of the terminal where the only bar is located (the bar is splitter airside and landslide by a glass partition)


IPC airport snack bar, half landside, half airside

Another difference compared to my previous trip was that they now have emigration controls out of the island too, I am not sure why as we were technically flying a domestic flight. This was not there for sure back in 2017. After clearing emigration, the security right after was smooth and we were soon able to explore the luxury of the terminal and have a refreshing drink at the only bar present. You could technically buy a couple last minute souvenirs after security too in one of the few stalls.

Priority boarding was announced about 10 minutes later, and we then walked to the LATAM Dreamliner, using the 2L door.


IPC airside waiting room

Love the outdoor terminal !



Boarding gate 1... out of 1 !






LATAM LA842 – March 8th 2019
IPC Easter Island / Hango Roa Mataveri Intl – 14:35
SCL Santiago de Chile Padahuel Intl – 21:25
Boeing 787-900 – CC-BGN – Business class, Seat 1A, Aisle

I took the same aircraft back in business class in 2017 when I visited the island for the first time, as a round trip from Santiago this time and found that despite not having a direct access for all business class seats (the configuration adopted is 2-2-2), I found the hard product very solid, especially when travelling in duo like it was for me on both trips.
This aircraft being used for long haul flights, as well as selected high capacity regional routes, the seat can indeed be converted in a full flat bed of 2 meters long. But what I found awesome with the LATAM business class on the Dreamliner is certainly the fact that a real “fluffy” duvet and pillows are provided, even for domestic routes like this one. I found those to be truly first class quality, and can still remember having had some good sleep during my first trip.


LATAM Dreamliner Business Class

For this trip, I preselected for my friend and I the pair of seats 1A-1C and the menu and small amenity kit was provided to us by a friendly attendant a few minutes after we got installed. A pre-departure drink was also offered with some nuts. We opted for some sparkling wine and water. A good 20 extra minutes were needed to board the rest of the passengers, and the safety movie was then broadcasted on the individual screens.

We were addressed by name most of the time during this flight by our last name and the service was professional and attentive.


Seats 1A-1C




Legroom was... sufficient !


Amenity kit for this long domestic route


IPC tarmac




Today's menu






One thing I like with American carriers : The presence of air vents on long haul planes


Standard IFE controls and power plugs

We took off on time towards the east over nice views of the island, with big fluffy white clouds on our way... Bye bye Rapa Nui, see you next time !



About 20 minutes after take off, hot towels were given and the meal service followed. I opted for the tuna fish with the sweet island potato purée and eggplant confit and it was pretty good. The dessert was ok, maybe a bit strong in Bailey’s to my taste.


Hot towel service

White wine was allright

Grilled tuna with sweet potato purée as main course.

During and after dinner, I decided to watch a movie (Crazy rich Asians) and eventually had a nap afterwards as the cabin was dark enough. Note that the headphones where buzzing when the power plug was used, this is a pretty common issue I’ve seen on some business class seats, not sure why this happens, but the new CX business class seats had the same issue.




Approaching SCL


The rest of the flight was uneventful and we eventually landed around 2100 in Santiago at the domestic terminal.

Despite the fact this was a wide body aircraft, the smallest luggage belt was used for this flights, but the luggage arrived quite promptly with the priority bags arriving first (worth mentioning as it is not always the case…)



This was overall a good flight, with a solid hard and soft product, despite being not the best or fanciest one in the skies. I paid the equivalent of 365 Euro for this one-way ticket in business class, which I booked almost a year in advance (this was actually the first thing I booked for this entire round the world trip !) and using the LATAM Chile website (note that the price is ridiculously different when booked from another LATAM country website – this was the same during my first trip). Being a business class ticket, this made me earn 5258 Alaska miles which were credited a week later.