As I recently wrote about, I’ll once again start taking ”pure” review trips, where the journey is quite literally the destination. Since I’m trying to spend as little time as possible away from home, the goal is to review as many interesting airline products as possible in a short period of time.
Continue reading: BOOKED: Copa, LATAM, Fiji Airways, And Air New Zealand
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
This looks like an exciting trip and I'm looking forward to reading your reviews.
Maybe I missed it, but I cant tell where you're flying on Copa? Are you flying just to Panama City and back? or are you flying all the way down to Santiago on them, then taking LATAM to LAX? It wasnt clear. Thanks and I look forward to following along.
Or are you taking COPA to Lima and then LATAM from Lima to LAX? Wasnt sure and it's not clear. Either way, looking forward!
NZ bad :(. I found the service to be aligned with US carriers but with a much narrower seat Hopefully it has improved.
The jet lag on your quick trip to and from New Zealand could be brutal even at your young age. My advice, stay hydrated and keep the alcohol to a minimum. Looking forward to your reviews!
Hi Lucky,
Lounge access at LAX while flying Fiji. If you are a Oneworld emerald on AA. That gives you access to Qantas F?
Please share how Copa business is easy to book with star alliance miles. I've been trying to book Copa business class from LAX to South America and I see no business availability and one way economy is 73k miles, which is outrageous.
Me and my wife flew from Sydney to nadi to lax on fiji airways A350. Economy class and the flight was better than we expected. I had a glimpse at business class and it looks good. Hope you will love it.
Ive never found jet lag to be brutal, or even an issue, on short trips. Your body never gets the chance to adapt to the new time. I once flew to HK for a 24 hour trip. Landed in the evening, left the following evening. I was tired from some long travel days and 2 15 hour flights within 36 hours or so, but I never was jet lagged.
Looking forward to Copa review. We have them booked RT to EZE IN January. No overnight flights and lie flats PTY-EZE.
I am thrilled and looking forward to reading about these really cool trips. While I couldn't be happier for you and Ford and you new family... I have missed you on-board !
I just did this flight in August. I am Emerald, did get access to One World. Checked Qantas first, but they were still closed. So, cant answer your question directly, but you can definitely get in to One World.
Ben, I am a Black Signature in LATAM, the highest tier (sadly quite useless outside LATAM ATM), so I get to fly the new product over 20-30 times a year.
AVOID at all costs the 767 with the new cabin, in fact, they are not going to install it in any new planes.
If there is no other options, assuming it's LIM-LAX (LATAM Peru flies 767 to USA and 787 to Chile and Madrid) be sure to get seats in row 1, otherwise you won't fit, and will have the most unpleasant 7 hours there are on a business cabin. Seats in row 1 are blocked for Black Signatures in every flight, and if there is no HVC traveling in that flight they will release them, so make sure to ask for them.
If you get to fly the new cabin in 787 it's also row 1, and in 777's all seats are better but pitch is limited, so you have to try row 1, or best ones row 7 or 8 in the windows.
Avoid 767, trust me 🙂 you'll be reviewing a product that shouldn't exist and will never come again as well.
Yes, you can use Delta miles (95K LAX-LIM or 100K JFK-LIM in biz). You can search on Delta site but my preferred method is with Qantas
Good tip about Qantas ! Thanks Tim. I found delta to not open up much latam space (especially long haul within South America).
I feel like I’m in one of those action movies from the 80’s, where I turn to my old partner and say, “It’s good to have you back my friend.”
We really enjoyed both hard and soft product flying Copa in business on the 737 Max. Perhaps not the best-of-the-best globally, but a really solid option here vs. U.S. domestic competitors!
you should stop by sao paulo and try Azul's international business class! David Neelman's br airline 😉
Again, you dont say where you're flying to on Copa, nor where you're flying back from on LATAM. Please advise.
Latam left me stranded in Sao Paulo for being a US citizen. I will never use that bunch of frauds again
you can use asiana miles to book on copa for the flights from LAX - you have to call, but there is plenty availability for 75k rt in business. we transferred points from bonvoy to asiana.