There are few things I love more than a good fifth freedom route, be it Cathay Pacific’s flight between New York and Vancouver, or Singapore Airlines’ flight between New York and Frankfurt. There’s something exciting about flying between two countries and experiencing the service of an airline from somewhere completely different.
Arguably the single best first class product between North and South America is Korean Air’s fifth freedom flight between Los Angeles and Sao Paulo. I flew Korean Air’s Los Angeles to Sao Paulo flight on a Boeing 777-300ER last March, and had a great flight.
Korean Air first class bibimbap
It also happens to be a fantastic use of Korean Air SkyPass miles, as they charge just 70,000 SkyPass miles one way for first class, and availability is generally good.
However, it unfortunately looks like this route will be undergoing a pretty serious downgrade.
Per airlineroute.net, Korean Air will be operating an Airbus A330-200 on the Los Angeles to Sao Paulo route as of March 29, 2015. This replaces the Boeing 777-300ER currently operating the route.
Korean Air 777-300ER
The route operates on the following schedule:
KE61 Los Angeles to Sao Paulo departing 6:25PM arriving 10:40AM (+1 day) [Mon, Wed, Fri]
KE62 Sao Paulo to Los Angeles departing 12:45PM arriving 9:40PM [Tue, Thu, Sat]
The catch is, Korean Air’s A330 features a completely different first class product. There are six seats per row, in a 2-2-2 configuration. That makes it more like a mediocre business class hard product than a competitive first class one.
Korean Air A330 first class
Compare that to Korean Air’s 777-300ER first class product, which is in a 1-2-1 configuration.
Korean Air 777 first class
Korean Air 777 first class
Ultimately Korean Air’s A330 is probably still one of the best ways to fly between North and South America, given the lack of alternatives (TAM had a pretty good first class product on the 777, though recently discontinued offering first class service).
TAM’s former 777 first class
Here’s to hoping this is just a seasonal downgrade for winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and not a permanent adjustment.
Have you flown Korean Air’s flight between Los Angeles and Sao Paulo yet?
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