March 4, 2005
Miami to Santiago (via Caracas and Lima)
LAN Chile 563 Business Class * Breakfast, Snack, Lunch
767-300 CC-CEK Seat 5A
615a-830p Flight Time: 2:48 / 3:33 / 2:56

LAN Chile operates out of the new and modern A Concourse at Miami International. Although there was a moderate line for Economy Class check-in, the Business Class (Clase Ejecutivo) check in counter was deserted save for one forlorn agent just waiting someone, anyone to check in. That would be me.

Check-in was quickly accomplished, after which I asked if the aircraft operating this flight offered a First Class cabin. On LAN’s website, all 767s are shown in a three-class configuration although some are now being reconfigured to a new two-class configuration as I type. If mine were the new two-class configuration, I wanted to get a seat further forward than my assigned seat, 5A.

After being informed that the aircraft did indeed have a First Class cabin, I asked if First Class service was offered on this flight. The LAN website indicated only Business and Economy Class were offered. I was told that one could upgrade to a First Class seat for an additional $150.00 USD but that the service would be identical to that offered in Business Class. Ah. Well then, I’ll keep my seat in Business Class, thanks. My seat was in the first row of Business Class, directly behind the First Class cabin.

LAN Chile is justifiably famous for the quality of its First Class catering. Since my flight today would offer a breakfast, hot snack and then a lunch, I would have gladly paid $150.00 for a chance to enjoy such a renowned inflight service. Without the First Class catering however, paying an extra $150.00 for the chance to sit in a slightly wider seat located just six feet in front of my present seat just didn’t seem worth the expense.

Next I asked if a lounge were available. Si, LAN Chile does have a lounge but it doesn’t open until 6:00am. Alas. I thanked the agent, collected my boarding pass and headed off to a nearby Starbucks for a tall Sumatran before proceeding through security and down to the gate.

No doubt some of you may be wondering why I’m taking this early morning milk run in Business Class when I usually redeem my miles for First Class, which LAN does indeed offer between Miami and Santiago on its nonstop flights. Aside from the fact that LAN’s nonstops operate late at night in each direction, I was particularly attracted by the exotic routings available via the multi-stop flights. For me, one of the most enjoyable parts of any flight is during the half-hour before landing and after takeoff, when the aircraft is flying at slower speeds and lower elevations. The sightseeing possibilities are excellent and many of South America’s western airports are situated in extremely scenic areas. As for the routings, LAN offers a number of attractive thru-flights with stops in places like Cancun, Havana, Bogota, Guayaquil, and Punta Cana. Today’s flight would make calls in Caracas and Lima before landing in Santiago twelve hours and fifteen minutes later. Total flying time would be almost nine and a half-hours, all of it in bright daylight. Then there are all those meals – three of them along the way. And finally, as an added bonus, I’d be logging my three millionth mile flown during the Lima to Santiago flight. In all, I’d have a comfortable seat, be well fed along the way, and get to see some fantastic scenery along the way. I can certainly think of worse ways to spend a day!


** ***** **

Boarding was well underway by the time I arrived at the gate lounge. Since nothing on the concourse was open anyway, I decided to head right onboard. At the entrance to the aircraft was a trolley stacked with various newspapers, so I paused to pick up a copy of the Miami Herald before proceeding onto the aircraft. Before boarding, I also took note of the registration. CC-CEK. This was the same aircraft I flew between Easter Island and Papeete ten years ago.

At the door, two pretty raven haired Chilena Flight Attendants greeted me and directed me towards the left-hand side of the Business Class cabin. As I passed through the First Class cabin, I was surprised by how austere it appeared. There was just one row of dark blue upholstered seats, arranged 2-1-2. The cabin itself is really quite plain with white, non-carpeted walls and no pictures or emblems. The Business Class cabin actually looked more inviting.

LAN’s 767-300s offer 28 Business Class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration. They are all upholstered in the same dark blue fabric as First Class. The seats are comfortably wide and offer excellent seat pitch, about 60”. Even though my seat was at the bulkhead, I had plenty of space in front of me to spread out. Also included were electronically controlled recline, leg rest and lumbar support. Very nice.

At each seat was a prepackaged pillow and blanket. I stowed my gear in the overhead and was just getting ready to sit down when a Flight Attendant stopped by to relieve me of my jacket. She returned shortly with a tray bearing glasses of orange juice or water. Un jugo de naranja, por favor.

In the seat pocket in front of me were all the usual trappings along with the menu for today’s flight. I immediately delved into it and was at once impressed by both its size and content. In terms of size, the menu was as large as most First Class menus and featured twelve pages covering the welcome announcement, foods served and a listing of LAN’s Panel of Chefs.

With the boarding just about completed, it was apparent that we’d be flying a pretty light load out to Caracas this morning. First Class was empty, Economy was only sparsely populated and Business Class had only six seats filled. There was plenty of room to stretch out.

Just before pushback, Flight Attendant Danilla arrived to present the amenity kit and take my breakfast order. As amenity kits go, this one was nothing special, but then this was a daytime flight as opposed to an overnight one. The kit came in a large dark blue cloth bag and contained a set of socks, an eyeshade and a set of earplugs. That’s it.

Take off was to the Northeast and quite powerful. I was actually pushed back into my seat, which only served to heighten my excitement and anticipation towards this trip officially getting under way. Not surprisingly, we were airborne after only a 23-second take-off roll.

Service began almost immediately after we’d leveled out. First came a tray of hot towels, followed soon after by a blue linen tablecloth and finally the breakfast trays. Here’s what was offered on the menu:


Miami to Caracas

BREAKFAST

TO START
Orange Juice
Coffee or Tea

OUR COLD DISHES
Fresh Seasonal Fruit
Yogurt or Cereal

WARM ENTREES

Scrambled Eggs with Mushrooms
Accompanied by steamed asparagus and roasted tomatoes

Cheese Blintz
Fine crepes filled with cream cheese and ricotta, topped with blueberry sauce


FROM THE BAKERY
Puff pastry and maple syrup roll. Choose your selection from our variety of bread served with butter and preserves




I selected the Scrambled Eggs for my entrée along with a bowl of cereal. I was a bit surprised when the entire breakfast was presented on a single tray, but then it’s been awhile since I’ve flown in Business Class. Even so, you’ll get no complaints from me. The food was delicious, especially the eggs and accompanying asparagus spears. The cereal was Raisin Bran. The fruit bowl consisted of a strawberry, kiwifruit and cantaloupe. Although no choice of bread was ever offered per the menu, the multi-grain roll that came on the tray was warm, crisp and delicious.

After breakfast, I checked out the inflight entertainment selections. LAN has put together a very nice booklet describing the various movies and musical choices. All of the A340s and some of the 767s offer twelve different movies, in addition to the usual television fare like old episodes of Friends, the Discovery Channel, etc. Unfortunately, my 767, perhaps being one of the oldest in the fleet, offered only five or six movies plus the television features, none of which interested me. I pulled up the tiny (6” diagonal screen) PTV and watched the SkyMap for a bit and then reclined my seat and tried to get some sleep before our arrival in Caracas an hour and a half later.

Wow! What recline! Without a doubt, this seat reclined farther than any other non-flat reclining seat I’d ever sat in. I reclined all the way back, adjusted my pillow, threw on my blanket and woke up a little over an hour later to a beautiful, clear morning over the deep blue Caribbean Sea. We were just south of Bonaire and soon began our descent into Caracas.

Caracas’ airport sits almost directly upon the Caribbean coast, separated from the water by a fair sized ridge upon which numerous people actually lived. I’ve always been amazed by the proximity of housing to the airport runways in many Latin American countries. No doubt the land is a lot more affordable there.

As we taxied into our gate, we passed at least a dozen old DC-9-30s and 737-200s. Many of the DC-9s wore the colorful yellow, red or blue livery of Venezuelan domestic carrier ASERCA, though examples from both LASER and Aeropostal were in evidence as well. All of the 737s belonged to RUTACA, another brightly colored Venezuelan start-up. Off in a separate corner of the airport was a collection of old 727s and a few more DC-9s in various states of repair and/or disrepair.

The temperature outside was announced as a muggy 28C. With passengers disembarking out of one door and food service workers entering from another, it wasn’t long before the cabin began to become uncomfortably warm. Regardless, I’d already decided to go inside and have a look around the gate area so I grabbed my daypack and headed off the aircraft.

Caracas’ Simon Bolivar International Airport will never be mistaken with Singapore’s Changi or any other modern and spacious facility. The gate area would best be described as Spartan, highlighted by lots of linoleum, plain white walls and glass. A couple of very small gift shops and a candy shop were nearby, along with an equally small coffee bar. On a positive note however, the terminal was blessedly air-conditioned. Ahh…

When the boarding announcement was made, the entire gate lounge rose almost as one and surged towards the jetway. To their credit, they quickly formed a long but orderly line and the whole process went fairly smoothly from then on. The line was quite long, so evidently we’d be flying nearly full down to Lima. Unfortunately, there was never a preliminary call for Business or First Class passengers, nor was there a separate line for either of the Premium classes. When I did finally board however, I was thankful to find that seat 5B was still empty even though almost every other seat in Business Class was taken. First Class held a middle-aged couple and their infant son, who wailed unhappily until well after takeoff. Poor kid. I’ll bet his ears were killing him.

Flight time down to Lima was announced as three hours and thirty-one minutes. As we climbed away from the airport and made a big sweeping turn to the south, I was treated to some excellent views of the Caribbean coastline along with a nice shot of downtown Caracas.

Despite the 11:20am departure time, the meal service on this sector listed as a Hot Snack. Here’s the menu transcript:


Caracas to Lima

HOT SNACK

TO START OUR SNACK
Champagne Henriot, Brut Souverain

FROM THE BAKERY
Choose your selection from our variety of warm breads

AS THE MAIN ENTRÉE, WE OFFER

Filet of Beef Medallion topped with Red Wine and Tarragon Sauce
Accompanied by parslied mashed potatoes and sautéed green beans

A FRESH SALAD
Assortment of fresh greens with seasonal garnishes

OUR DESSERT
Fig Custard served with fresh figs

Freshly brewed gourmet, instant coffee, decaffeinated coffee, tea or herbal teas

Liqueurs


---

Alas, the menu described a service that was a bit nicer than what we ultimately received. To begin with, no Champagne or any other pre-snack beverages were ever offered. Our drink orders were taken as the meal trays were delivered. Missing from the trays was any form of salad. I asked the FA about this and she apologized profusely, explaining that the caterers had neglected to include them.

Oh well. Otherwise, this was a pretty tasty meal. The dessert, described as fig custard, was really more like a fig cake, but it went down pretty well with that bat urine LAN calls coffee. Whaaaat?!! Bat urine?! Yes, that’s what I said. On a trip back to the galley for water, I saw the FA mixing up cups of instant coffee. Sacrilege! Especially for a South American carrier. I did however notice that gourmet coffee was listed on the menu. Perhaps that needs to be asked for specifically. Even though instant coffee is widely served in Chile, I would have thought an airline of LAN’s reputation would have offered its premium class passengers the good stuff first.

The SkyMap provided much of my entertainment as we flew down the eastern side of the Andes past a magnificent parade of massive mountains including Mt. Chimborazo, the world’s tallest volcano at just over 20,700 feet (6,267 m). For this segment at least, you really want to be sat on the right hand side of the aircraft. My seat on the left-hand side afforded me some nice views of long, muddy rivers winding like giant anacondas through the lush wetlands below. Thankfully, I was able to relocate to an open window seat on the bulkhead across the cabin from me.

During our descent into Lima, I was surprised by how brown and arid the surrounding hills looked. A wind must have been up down there as well because the entire countryside looked dusty. When we landed, the pilot seemed to apply the reverse thrust extra forcefully. Perhaps there was a dust cloud ahead of us!

The last time I visited Lima’s Jorge Chavez International Airport, it was 3:00am and if there was a terminal building with jetways, we never parked by it. This time we did pull up to an actual terminal building and a jetway was attached to the aircraft. Unfortunately, through passengers were not allowed to disembark.

As I mentioned earlier, one of the great benefits of flying during daylight hours is all the extra stuff you get to see. Take Lima’s airport, for instance. It is a veritable graveyard for all types of classic jetliners! As we taxied in towards the terminal I saw a group of three 707-320s and an old DC-8-33 fitted with the old water injection pure jet engines. Sadly, all of them were covered with grime and didn’t look like they’d be flying again anytime soon. Also noted in various states of disrepair were a variety of old 727-100s and F-28s, including many from Peruvian operator AeroContinente. I also saw a Russian TU-154 of indeterminate ownership along with an ancient TU-134 in the colors of Imperial Airlines. Contrasting these derelicts was a spotless totally white DC-8-62. Oooooo – what a beauty! Then there were the props and helicopters…

We boarded a full load for the 1,500-mile flight down to Santiago. This included the late arriving and second to the last to board gentleman assigned to seat 5B. Ah well, having that seat free for two out of three flights wasn’t bad. Unfortunately, this poor guy was sick with something or another. He spent a good part of the flight early on back in the toilet, and when he did return, he groaned once and then issued forth a series of little coughs every few minutes. I prayed I wouldn’t catch whatever he had and tried to discretely draw my breath from the side of my seat away from him. One thing I don’t need at the beginning of this or any trip is to be bedridden with a case of South American Whooping Cough or whatever he was suffering from.

Prior to pushback, a Flight Attendant presented us with a new choice of pre-flight beverages. Gone were the juice and water and in their place were glasses of champagne and Pisco Sours, the national cocktail of Peru. Also included were little ramekins of mixed nuts. I had a Pisco Sour, which tasted very much like a Margarita but with something slightly tangy lurking in the background. Some of you old timers out there may remember that Pisco Sours were the featured libation in the International Lounge, located upstairs on Braniff’s big orange 747 that plied the Dallas to Honolulu route from 1971 until that airline’s untimely demise in the early 1980s.

It’s worth noting that the same cabin crew worked this flight from Miami all the way through to Santiago. That’s a long day – just over twelve hours. On the plus side however, they all were able to get back home for the night. I also noticed that the FAs seemed to rotate amongst each other as to who got to work the First and Business Class cabins.

Interestingly, I was addressed in English only twice during the trip, and then not until well into the second leg, long after it should have become apparent that Spanish is not my first language. Mind you, it is not my intent to be linguistically ethnocentric here. After all, I got plenty of opportunities to practice my rather rusty Spanish. However, on an airline of LAN Chile’s caliber, a OneWorld carrier operating a flight out of its busiest North American gateway city, I would have expected at least one or two flight attendants to confidently speak proficient English, especially amongst those working in the Premium Class cabins. I would not have the same expectation on a flight within Chile or South America. My Spanish is certainly passable, but again, any native speaker would easily discern that it is far from being my first language. Based upon the English language versions of the inflight announcements that I heard, I know I spoke better Spanish than any of the FAs working LA563 spoke English. It’s also possible that they continued to speak Spanish to me because I responded to them in Spanish.

Soon after we’d leveled off, hot towels were passed out followed by the presentation of what has to be one of the nicest looking Wine Lists I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t the wines on offer nearly so much as the book in which the choices were presented. The covers had the look and feel of real cork while inside were photographs and full descriptions of each wine offered. I noticed that the Wine List cover indicated it was the Executive Class Wine List. Whoa… I can’t imagine how nice the First Class List must be! Here’s a listing of the wines offered:


WINE LIST

Champagne
Brut Souverain, Champagne Henriot, Reims, France

Red Wines
Anakena Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva 2003 – Valle del Rapel
Ramirana Gran Reserva Syrah 2003 – Valle del Maipo
Bodega Salentein Roble Malbec – Alto Valle de Uco Mendoza
Porta Carmenere Reserve 2004 – Valle del Maipo

White Wines
Concha y Toro Trio Chardonnay–Pinot Grigio–Pinot Blanc 2004 – Valle Casablanca
La Fortuna Sauvignon Blanc 2004 – Valle de Curico

Port
Graham’s Late Bottled Vintage Port 1997


The menu indicated that we would be served a full luncheon on this flight. This flight apparently has been catered at each stop along the way. Let’s see what the folks in Lima’s flight kitchen have whipped up for us this afternoon…


Lima to Santiago


LUNCHEON

TO START
Champagne Henriot, Brut Souverain

FRESH GARDEN SALAD
Fresh seasonal vegetables served with olive oil and Balsamic vinegar

AS THE MAIN ENTRÉE, WE OFFER

Filet of Beef with Mushroom Sauce
Grilled filet of beef medallion served with mushroom sauce, accompanied by mashed potatoes with corn and sautéed carrots

Our Master Sommelier suggests Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva 2003 Vina Anakena, Valle de Rapel

Sauco Chicken Breast
Chicken breast topped with Sauco Sauce, accompanied by a timbal of potatoes au gratin and sautéed snow peas

Our Master Sommelier suggests Ramirana Gran Reserva Syrah 2003 Vina Ramirana – Valle del Maipo

Loche Squash Gnocchi
Loche squash gnocchi topped with white wine sauce and Parmesan cheese

Our Master Sommelier suggests Carmenere Reserve 2004 Vina Porta – Valle del Maipo


FROM THE BAKERY
Choose your selection from our variety of warm breads

OUR DESSERT
Algarrobina Mousse topped with “ranfanote”, a typical Peruvian topping of honey and pecan nuts

Selection of fresh, seasonal fruit

Freshly brewed gourmet, instant coffee, decaffeinated coffee, tea or herbal teas

Liqueurs




I chose the Sauco Chicken Breast and was not disappointed. I received a good sized portion of moist and tender chicken, covered in a creamy peach colored sauce that was a little sweet, but not too sweet. Good stuff. I especially liked the sautéed snow peas, one of my favorite vegetables. As for the dessert, well, it was quite simply one of the finest tasting desserts I’ve ever enjoyed aloft in any class. Delicious! Even with a cup of that horrid coffee.

By my calculations, it was somewhere in the middle of my third bite of Sauco Chicken that I passed the three million miles flown barrier. I celebrated with a gulp of tasty red wine. I flew my one millionth mile in 1985 on my birthday aboard a United DC-10, First Class from Seattle to Denver. Believe me, it took some finagling to work out my flights so that this could happen on my birthday. At the time, as a result of my successful participation in United’s 50 State Marathon, I had an unlimited First Class pass good for travel anywhere within the fifty United States. On the week before my birthday, I calculated that I’d need to fly a little over 31,000 miles to get the one millionth mile on my birthday. I think I went to Hawaii and back four times that week!

Our approach into Santiago took us right down the Pacific coastline, paralleling the crest of the Andes. We flew right by Aconcagua, though there were a few clouds around its summit. Because of the proximity of the huge peaks of the Andes along with the beautiful Pacific coastline, Santiago is truly one of the world’s most scenic airports to fly into or out of. We landed smoothly on a beautiful late summer evening and moments later I was bidding adios to all the FAs as I strode off the airplane and on towards my South American adventure. It’s good to be back south of the equator!

As for LAN’s overall service on this flight, I’d rate it a 7 out of 10. The main reason for this average rating is that the service seemed uneven. That is to say sometimes there were preflight beverages served, sometimes not, sometimes champagne was offered, sometimes not, (It was never offered at the start of the last two meals per the menu), nuts were offered with drinks only on the last segment, there was no salad with one meal, instant coffee being routinely served rather than gourmet coffee and finally the FA call button was never, ever answered. It worked because I heard it and saw the light above my seat, but rather than ring it incessantly, I just went back to the galley for whatever I needed.

We all have our bad days and LAN Chile’s reputation indicates they’ve had many more good days than bad. Besides, I wouldn’t call this a bad flight, just one that could have easily been better. LAN’s a much better airline than what I experienced today.