I know that LanEcuador is not in OW, but since they are affiliated, I assume that someone here might be able to help me. Does anyone know any information about LanEcuador, especially what their Business Class cabin is like? I can't find anything on the LAN website, because most of the information seems to pertain to LanChile.

Thanks

http://www.lan.com/compania/aeroline...anecuador.html

Thanks. I actually found that page, but I am looking for more specific information, like a seatmap and information on service.

I am fairly certain that XL's fleet was given out of LA's fleet. From what I am told, the fact that XL is technically a different entity is due to the ownership laws in the various countries. See the LP problems a bit back when the scuzball that owns Aerocontinente tried to shut down LP. It was based on ownership. That being said, if it is correct that LA gave XL's planes, then they have a few 320s and a couple of 767s. These are my observations from LA not XL but I think similar. The 320 is two class. The business class cabin is nice. Seats are the deep recline type like AA uses. The 767 is either three sold as two or converted two. I think the latter. Again, the seats are fine. They aren't motorized, recline a decent amount, and are as comfortable as to be expected. Nothing earth shattering but nothing you can't spend a few hours in. Food is fine. I have had few bad meals and many great ones on LA. Wine is good. Service is efficient and prompt. The staff is trained to be very professional. Think how you treat your friends versus how you would treat your CEO.

As far as what seats are good, I suppose everything is relative. But I don't recall specially seeing a *bad* seat. Like one that doesn't recline or whatnot.

Hope it helps.

I didn't realize LanPeru's not in OW. Why isn't it, I thought all LanChile's subsidiaries are Lan now.

LanPeru -is- in OW; LanEcuador is not.

samsonyuen, the situation is a bit more complicated than it seems. LAN is an alliance, not an airline. It is made up of Lan Chile, Lan Cargo, Lan Express, Lan Peru, and Lan Ecuador. I don't know if Lan Dominicana still exists legally, but the airline isn't flying.

Lan Chile is obviously the big member. The airline owns all of Lan Cargo and Lan Express and it owns about 3/4 of Lan Peru. In Peru, Chilean companies can own majority stakes in Peruvian enterprises but that there still needs to be a certain amount of local ownership. Because of the degree of ownership, these three airlines are considered subsidiaries of Lan Chile and therefore enjoy their inclusion in Oneworld under Lan Chile's membership.

Lan Ecuador (and Lan Dominicana), however, are less than 50% owned by Lan Chile because the foreign direct investment laws in the respective countries don't allow majority foreign ownership of airlines. Because of their minority position, Lan Chile has majority voting rights but legally cannot swallow the companies. To get around this, the company a couple years ago started LAN, which is more or less a marketing alliance. Like a mini Oneworld. However, because Lan Ecuador is a completely separate entity, the airline would need to be made a Oneworld member on an individual basis before being considered a part of Oneworld.

There has been a lot of speculation that LAN wants to start airlines in Colombia, Argentina, and Brazil, especially if Varig and TAM merge which has been speculated upon for more years than I care to think about and if Aerolineas Argentinas goes under which looks a bit less likely at this point. The problem of FDI rules still exists, though, I think at that point that they will try to flex some muscle to get approved their ability to have majority ownership and become subsidiaries of LAN.

As I said, it's a mess right now but the company seems to be moving forward. So at this point only Lan Chile (mostly longhaul), Lan Express (mostly domestic Chile), and Lan Peru (mix domestic and longhaul) are members but Lan Ecuador is not.

If you are looking into taking the Lan Ecuador flight from JFK to GYE, this flight is operated by a Lan Chile Aircraft. The aircraft arrives at JFK in the early morning from SCL and LIM as LAN 530 and then retrns to GYE. The flight from GYE to JFK next operates as LAN 531 to LIM and SCL. It is a three-class aircraft, but only two classes are sold.

This is very interesting. I am in fact looking at the JFK-GYE flight. When it is should as 2-class, do they allow seating in the F cabin, as US does on its A330s, or is everyone seated in C? If they do allow some passengers in the "F" cabin, would a D fare qualify for that, or is it only Elite's in LanEcuador's program and passengers on J fares?

Thanks

Don't know the specifics of Lan Ecuador, but I have been able to snag an F seat on two-class Lan Chile flights twice before. Once to Easter Island (while ticketed in D Class as part of an AONE5) and once to Buenos Aires (from SCL) while ticketed in U (award) class. Being Oneworld elite helped with Lan Chile, but should technically carry no weight with Lan Ecuador.

I flew JFK-GYE-UIO last summer on LAN, booked in econ.

I am oneWorld Sapphire. I was allowed to check in
using the Biz lines in JFK and UIO, and had no problem
using the Aer Lingus lounge in JFK. No miles.

On the way over, I sat in the back and didn't pay much
attention to the front. On the way back, on check-in, I
asked how much it would cost to upgrade to Biz. They told
me to wait for someone to call me at the gate. At the
gate they gave me new boarding passes that said Business
Class on them, and we were indeed seated in the middle cabin.

The meal service was Economy.