I just arrived, inebriated and well, at the Ritz-Carlton in Santiago, having done the following flights with LAN:

• FRA-MAD-SCL in F
• SCL-IPC-SCL in J

I'll write up a full trip report for the relevant forum, but I'd like to offer some words of praise for LAN, with whom I had not flown in the last four years, and even then that was but a single MIA-SCL flight in J. I'll offer my comparison if LA F to my experiences on BA and CX. My first ever long-haul AA F flight is coming up soon, going from GRU to JFK (in coffins).

I am truly impressed with the service and quality of catering (especially the wines) on LA. The F meal on the Frankfurt to Madrid flight was much better than many a long-haul meal in J (I'm spelling out the cities here so that the blasted search function can find them). To compare it to more common flights, I'd say it was better than CX F on HKG-TPE but less than CX F on HKG-NRT. For a two hour flight that is pretty darn good, and I'd take it anytime over a J meal on AA LHR-ORD (which I had to take recently due to irreconcilable scheduling issues). The steak on FRA-MAD was one of the better ones I've had in the air, only exceeded by extraordinary steak flying CX from HKG to NRT in F. It was tender, juicy and succulent, and the LA steak was only slightly less good. Strangely enough it was billed on the menu as veal, but it was most certainly beef. The worst steak I've recently had on any flight was BA F on LHR-MCT: a horrible hard desiccated lump of grey mass that may have been protein, perhaps half a galactic revolution previously. It really was teetering on the edge of fitness for human consumption. On the wrong side of the edge.

The steak on the MAD-SCL segment was less good. It was overcooked and had started to lose its flavor. For the rest, I loved the appetizers, the bresaola, the chorizo, the assorted Mediterranean cold cuts� perhaps I just like the style, but it was an excellent meal. What they're lacking is the kind of on-demand food that BA or CX offers. I rather like the pasta in BA First, for instance.

And then there's the wines. They're phenomenal. Coupled with the Pisco Sour (a horrible, horrible habit I picked up in Chile) they have left me well and truly ecstatic that I don't have to drive anywhere after a LAN flight. Some of the wines are shared between J and F: for instance, the Don is amazing. I had it first flying from FRA, then again to SCL, and both ways to and from IPC. The other wines are stellar too, especially in F. For medium-haul J (where I think SCL-IPC should reside) they're unbeatable. CX F as usual is in the same league, if not one better.

The biggest problem with LAN is the hard product in F. It's simply way behind the privacy offered by BA or CX, and also behind the AVOD that CX offers. The new business class is actually pretty good (flew that on SCL-IPC), while the old one is pretty painful (IPC-SCL). The flight map was also peculiar, as it never showed either distance to destination or time to arrival, which are the most useful features. On the flight back from IPC with the old business class it in fact only showed outside temperature.

I have read the horror stories about LAN's appalling ground handling when things go wrong. Fortunately I have not had to deal with that, but on my experience of their product in the air, I'd be happy to fly them again. And I will add my voice to the oft-heard lament about the discontinuation of the F product on the North American routes. I have never flown them on that route, but now I wish I had. It's still not CX level service in F, but it can hold its own.

And did I mention I like Chile? So many wines, so many steaks, so little time�

Chile's secret weapon, specifically designed to make you forget its cuisine.

Pardon me but what exactly is there to show on the flight map between SCL and IPC ? And by the way, what diversion airport do they quote ?

Or at least dull your tastebuds and foil your brain into thinking you're in argentina.

"What the hell is this? Okay, who put EGG in my empanada?!?!?!?"

Gotta watch that stuff straight, though. I think the only thing close to crap pisco is crap aguardiente. Amazing how a bit of sour mix and egg whites can turn bathtub hooch into such a delectable drink.

Nice to see that Lan still has a good product. Too bad there aren't any F flights to the US anymore. I am actually surprised they stopped F in both LAX and JFK because they get quite a bit of connecting traffic from JAL. Lan is still the only airline on which I have received a rare steak.

Did you catch the registration on either of the 767-300s you flew? If you did, can you post them over in this thread? Thanks.

Ah great. The computer just ate my reply. How appropriate.

I am in the LAN lounge at SCL, while I should have been in the air flying to GRU. After the fulsome praise I lavished on LAN earlier, I guess I am being brought back to reality now. The flight to GRU will be leaving five hours late, meaning I'd miss my connection to the AA flight to JFK. As I am on an AONE4 ticket I wanted to fly F up north, even if it meant flying AA (and besides, I've never flown AA F before).

I hit the great LAN Wall of Inflexibility, with only two options being offered: either take the delayed flight today and fly to JFK tomorrow evening, or be rebooked on the SCL-LIM-JFK flight tonight. My various and insistent entreaties to be FIM'ed/endorsed over to either the TAM or Gol flights to GRU were met with a KLM-like "That Is Not Possible."

In the end I opted to go on the SCL-LIM-JFK flight tonight as it was more important to get to NY tomorrow than to get the extra miles from the SCL-GRU-JFK routing. It's galling nonetheless and will set me back in attaining EXP. I'll still make it, but I wanted both the miles and the experience of flying F on AA, even if it was only coffins.

I suppose the bright side is that the overall service on LA J may be better than AA F, but I would have liked to find out myself. Ah well. Just leaves a bit of a bitter taste after such a good start.

You call that a great wall of inflexibility? You must have a dream run with all the other airlines all these years.

Seriously though, I'm sorry about your plans going south.

Actually going North!

Well, yes to both. Considering that in the last three years I've done 100-150 flights a year, and this year I am on track for almost 200 , I will say that I have been very lucky in not getting hit by many problems. Luggage delayed just once, no misconnects.

I guess it was my turn today.