As one who has never (so far) stepped foot south of Trinidad, I read every word of this with a lot of interest -- you did a beautiful job. But it does little to encourage faith in LAN; if they are so careless of details big and small on an important inaugural flight, what does that say about their general level of attentiveness and care? Nobody's perfect of course, but I think if/when I get to head for one of your destinations, I would look around for another carrier.

Now as to that cesspool place 340 miles SE of SFO -- well I'm sure you're not referring to my little Long Beach home, so therefore I must assume it's Phoenix; try LAX next time you are in a pinch and fogbound up there! ;)

No, not LGB, but rather the place just to the northwest of you up the 405 :p . (PHX is another few hundred miles...) As for LAN, I have racked up countless miles and I have no idea how many segments, including a lot of domestic segments within Chile, but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm at 100+ takeoffs, and until this past trip, I only had 2 notable delays, never a cancellation, and never a missed connection. My advance concerns about an LP crew based upon prior experience on shorter flights held true.

But for awhile, I've said to myself, and I've said to others, one day they are going to blow it big. I'm already shopping for my next trip on LAN :D

Great report! It's funny that you comment on LAN serving the arrival meal two hours before arrival. I flew them about four years ago in J on SCL-MEX and they did the same thing. I found it quite odd then, and I still do now.

Phoenix is 600 miles away. I always use hell in the description. :)

postscript: The next trip is booked.

Thanks for the detailed and informative report. I will be doing SFO-GRU in December and this gives me an idea of what to expect.

If you want to complaint all the way to the top you might want to write to

Lan Peru
Lorena Sousa (chairman)
Av. Perdo 513 - Piso 3
Miraflores, Lima - Peru

Somehow I missed this back in July. Thanks for this excellent and informative report, Eastbay. I accept that LAN is considered to offer the best overall Business Class to South America (though I'd like to hear more about TAM someday) but on the whole, I think their Business Class service is generally, as you put it, uninspired. On a larger scale, LAN's inflight service is far below most Asian and some European carriers. Their Business Class seat is amongst the best, however.

Great trip report, am heading to South America next year from Auckland, NZ to both BA and Santiago, so have the choice of LAN or Argentinas Aerolinas, so this has been helpful although lans premium product seems a bit lacking

Great TR, Eastbay1K - thank you! I, too, am sorry for your friend's loss.

Now that I'm really getting started with a lot of LAN premium travel, there's one thing I haven't foigred out yet:

I have checked-in at the premium check-in room, but I cannot find the premium get-out-of-the-country line. Where is it? Is it to the left side of the maze of the regular line (which I thought was for crew) or somewhere else completly?

(1) I just spent a lovely New Year's Eve (at his brother's house in Puerto Montt) and New Year's Day (in the campo with a whole lamb cooked over wood) with his family and they are doing pretty well, and it was a very nice time.

(2) The entrance is just to the right of the premium check-in room. There is a sliding glass door from the premium check in room (which has been closed on several visits, including yesterday), but you simply go out of the check-in room, and do a quick U to the left. There is a single security station just past migraciones and then you are dumped out on the other end of Duty Free.