FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Peru: Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu (Copa J, Marriott Luxury Collection, indie)

May 30, 2024 | 1:24 am

#3

italdesign

Join Date: Nov 2006

Programs: Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum

Posts: 4,614

Day 0 - LAX to LIM

We flew Copa J from LAX to LIM (via PTY) in both directions, booked as 2 one-way award tickets directly on Asiana’s website for 27.5k miles each way. I was pleasantly surprised that I could book it online without calling. My travel companion booked into the same flights using other currencies. Originally one direction was on Avianca, but they threw their hat into the ring for the most convoluted involuntary rerouting when it changed to a whopping 5-segment flight from hell. Fortunately Asiana Club has free award cancellation and I was able to cancel the Avianca booking and rebook on Copa (all online self service), thanks to Copa’s good J award availability.

The 2am LAX-PTY flight was one of the last departures of the night. We arrived LAX around 10pm. As usual, the last mile of the drive took 30 minutes as hundreds of barely moving cars snake around the entrance to the terminals. As if I needed a reminder that I’m not on a reputable Asian airline (which I usually am out of LAX), the check-in encounter set the tone for the Copa experience: mostly apathy. This was followed by the low point of Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT): the lack of TSA Precheck and CLEAR during busy evening hours. The TSA line is always long, the staff has no pleasantry in their dictionary, and you have to remove the shoes and laptops of the world that TSA Precheck spares.

After that indignification comes the good part: the beautiful airside terminal and the lounge. PTY doesn’t qualify for the Polaris lounge (which would have been closed for the day anyway), so we made our way to the Star Alliance lounge. I first visited this lounge 10 years ago, and it’s still a nice lounge. Compared to my visit a year ago, the food has become a bit more edible, if perhaps still a bit restrained compared to pre-Covid. The lounge is always busy in the evening but never super crowded whenever I’ve been there. I was doing work on the computer and didn’t take pics, but you can check out the FT discussion thread.

The lounge closed around 1am, and we made our way to the gate. Copa flies the 737 MAX on the LAX route, which features their new “Dreams” business class. There are 4 rows in J with a 2-2 configuration. Every seat was occupied on our flight. There’s little privacy from your seat neighbor, as both seats are angled in the same direction. Luckily we were traveling in pairs. Aisle seats are entirely exposed to the cabin. Window seats don’t have direct aisle access but are more private. The lack of privacy could be a bit awkward for solo travelers, but in such case, I’d do everything to avoid an aisle seat. Having said that, for a 6-7 hour flight, and considering the competition to South America, it’s not bad at all.

One drawback of this narrowbody is that it only has 1 boarding door at the very front. All passengers board and walk by the J cabin, unlike widebodies that typically have a separate door for J passengers. There was no meal service after takeoff on this late flight, but the flight attendant took breakfast orders before takeoff and asked whether we wanted to be woken for it. I chose the blueberry pancake, which was pretty good.

The bed was quite comfortable. The foot cubby (other than row 1) is narrow but didn’t bother me much. The seat and bed felt more spacious than, say, JAL’s 767 SkySuite. Pillow and a blanket were provided, with the pillow very comfortable. Overall, I consider the bed / sleep experience middle of the pack among my long-haul J experiences, which is saying a lot since I've mostly flown reputable ones (such as EVA, JAL, Qsuite and CX). Pro: it wasn't excessively warm like on so many otherwise great Asian carriers.

There were 2 flight attendants in the front galley. Interestingly, the more junior FA did all the work while the more senior FA just chatted with the pilots. The senior FA’s attitude was also unfriendly at times; I hope she improves her work ethic or gets fired, as it seems unfair to the other hardworking FA.

To be continued.

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