Introduction: Battle For South America -- TAM vs. Korean

what a great itinerray. when i grow up i want to be you.

OMG, the Marriott at GRU is a dump.

@ MEOW -- Have you been there since the renovation? I was really pleasantly surprised.

@ Lucky - considering spending some time in Victoria and Vancouver when I come up to Seattle for FTU so was also looking at Fairmont though FHR. What's your general verdict -- is that a good option for 1-2 nights or should I consider one of SPG properties on points instead?

@ Ivan Y -- The Fairmont properties through FHR are a phenomenal choice in Vancouver and Victoria. I would absolutely stay there. I just did the Fairmont Waterfront and will be doing the Fairmont Pacific Rim shortly, so expect reviews of those coming up. But I'd do Fairmont over SPG there.

@ Lucky - thank you! Is Fairmont Express in Victoria available through FHR if I call in? Not showing up on the site.

For Victoria I was actually thinking of Westin Bear Mountain which seems to have very nice reviews and pretty low rates ($ or points - just Category 3).

@ Ivan Y -- It's not part of FHR though it is part of Virtuoso.

Not actually familiar with the Westin Bear Mountain, though looks beautiful!

Hmm, so you believe that Korean's offering to South America is better than American's new first class on the 777-300ER?

Looking fwd to the report, esp to see how Cathay's newish product has changed and TAM's product.

Why ONE installment per day?

@ hkairlinenews -- What do you propose?

And, apart from that, why don't you ever review the Alaska leg? Unlike when you usually omit reviewing Delta or American domestic non-transcontinental business class since you've reviewed it many times in the past, you've never reviewed Alaska Airlines on One Mile At A Time. Apart from that, looking forward to your trip report. 🙂

@ Lucky - As many as you can (usually you sometimes cram in 2 installments per day)? I like your trip reports, but (I may be biased, since there's pretty much nothing interesting for me to do besides reading/writing trip reports) they seem to come slightly slowly. That said, I'm really looking forward to your trip reports. 🙂

@Ben,

I have the same question as Euro above: You feel that the Korean Air product to GRU is better than the new AA 1st class product? I haven't flown either one, but from trip reports and pictures, to me it appears that AA has the upper hand (in particular the hard product.)

I would bet that anyone who thinks AA F could possibly be better than KE F has never experienced Korean service.

I would opt for KE (or OZ) ten times out of ten over any US carrier.

@ Coutureguy @ Euro -- At the end of the day I think a top Asian carrier beats a US carrier hands down when it comes to service and food. The hard product is great on both. Korean has an upper hand on the bedding, while the "shell" of American's seat might be marginally better.

@Lucky: You're searching for JFK-YVR award space on BA right? There's not a lot of it in first or am I doing sth. wrong?

@ Tobias -- Yes, I searched on ba.com. They don't release all that much space in advance, but within a couple of weeks of departure they release quite a lot of award space.