USA to Lima in First Class, DL or CO better?
 

I will be flying from the USA to LIM on an NWA award ticket, and am thinking about doing it in First Class. Both CO and DL flights are available in First for my dates, so I was wondering which everyone thought was better.

When I searched the forums, I found a post from years ago which basically said that both DL and CO had nothing better than "domestic First, with a little more legroom" for the flight to Lima.

If that is true, my next question would be: does DL or CO have a better coach product to Lima, or are they basically the same?

Thanks for any info!

I've done EWR and IAH to LIM several times over the past few years - but only on CO. They'll give you a 757-200 with BF seats but the service is not BF - it is more like transcon service. The service is still very good. All things considered I'd go with CO - nicer equipment and from what I hear the best FA service.

If its your first time in Lima - I know alot about the city (wife's from there) let me know if you'd like further info.

I could have sworn that EWR-LIM used to be a true BF product, but then they scaled it back. So now these days the plane is either a 757 BF (if they can spare it) or a 752. The service is an "International First Class" i.e. transcon first class.

I don't know why you would choose DL over CO ... You'd have to be on crack! ... ops wrong thread...


-Vincent

I'd agree with everyone else. I've flown EWR-BOG a number of times in CO F and it was wonderful (not BizFirst, but very nice).

A month ago I flew ATL-BOG on DL F simply because I didn't have time to connect thru EWR or IAH and I was really disappointed (especially cuz i burned 70K miles on this award ticket). The plane was old.. food was only marginally better than domestic F and, all in all, it wasn't anything special.

definetely with out a doubt go CO if its between CO and DL. keep in mind, you are not GAURANTEED a BF configured plane. they may switch it. in my times checking those flights, ive found that usually the flight from iah is a BF configured 757 while the one from EWR is a domestic one. service will be the same no matter was AC, and it will be nice. table cloths, 4 or 5 courses, and few choices.

It better be BF seats
 

I'm on 1952 from EWR to LIM after running the Boston Marathon the same day. I'm counting on a BF seat to sleep in. The plane looks like a BF configuration and the ticket says BF.

I've flown it recently - definitely BF cabin - definitely not BF service.
As I understand J & C class fares are true BF.
Z class is "Latin America Business" something like that.

J & C are not upgradeable seats - Z is upgradeable for elites.
Add. I should say -J & C BF cabins acannot be EUA'd or upgraded into by elites (without mucho miles and $$$) as these are the true BF service. A cabin with a Z fare is "EUA-able" for elites.


I took issue with CO about that a while back as the reward ticket I booked clearly said "BusinessFirst" but the service was not - guess what they did for me.... absolutely nothing.

So if it's not BF, does that it's eligible for an elite upgrade? And doesn't CO fly to LIM from EWR only on Saturdays or has that changed?

Yes it is definitely eligible for elite upgrade.
EWR-LIM is a daily flight. Nowadays it leaves at around 10:00 pm and arrives around 5:00am. They seem to change the time once a year - sometimes it leaves EWR around 3:30? pm and gets in to LIM around 10:30 and does a midnight trunaround back to IAH or LIM.

i know for a fact they use both the domestic AC and the BF AC for the route. it just depends on when your flight is. since the flights is not officially sold as BF (yes, i know it says BF on co.com, and that the plane may have BF tickets), they can change the equipment at any time. i have been on to trips scheduled with BF 757's and when i got on board, it had switched. it was no big deal as they werent very long but beware. they could do it. to your advantage though, most flights to lima use a BF 757 most of the time.

Thanks for all of the info.

What would you suggest as a good amount of time to clear customs at IAH upon returning from LIM? The flight I am looking at gets in around 6:28am [CO1008].

The options for an award ticket through NW have IAH layovers of 1 hour, 1 hour 20 minutes, or 5 hours 30 minutes. I suspect 1 hour 20 minutes is still pretty tight?

If I took the 5 hour 30 minute layover, at least I would have lounge access while I waited (F award ticket)... probably wouldn't be too bad.

You don't get lounge access on a "first class" ticket, only a Business First ticket. Unless you are SkyTeam Elite Plus - inwhich case you get club room access on any international ticket regardless of class of service.

-Vincent

I'm a UA flyer, so I don't have any elite status on NW. But, the skyteam.com site says the following for the "general frequent flyer" level of Skyteam:

"You have access to most privately owned and operated SkyTeam partner airline lounges worldwide when flying First Class or Business Class internationally."

http://www.skyteam.com/EN/benefits/skyteam_ff.jsp

Am I reading it incorrectly?

--waiting 20 seconds on hold with Elite Line--
was just told yes you can use PClub

--calls back, wait 30 seconds on hold--
was just told yes again

-calls back, just to make sure holds 45 seconds--
was told yes again...


Okay looks like I was semi wrong LOL - have fun

-Vincent