When I packed my backpack to head out the door a few days ago for a review trip, I didn’t think I’d end up crossing the Pacific, but that’s exactly what’s happening. Planning an open-ended review trip is kind of fun, eh?
Continue reading: My Latin America Review Trip Is Taking Me To… Japan?!
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
SO YOU’RE NOT GONNA REVIEW GOL AND/OR AZUL?!?! I was hoping so much for you to fly some lesser-known Latin American airlines. And what do we get in its place? A bunch of Delta and Korean Air?! I do understand that you’re on a mission to maximise SkyTeam elite status, but… (Though this might be a useful place to talk about how KE and OZ are perfectly nice airlines, but not as spectacular as those from Taiwan and Japan: EVA, ANA, JAL and Starlux. Kind of like Saudia or Gulf Air when compared to Qatar Airways.)
And having come all the way to Asia, it’s a shame that you’re going to return right back to the US, instead of flying new products like, um, the SQ 737 MAX (from Busan, yes!), and the soon-to-disappear Vistara A321neo and/or 787… (There’s only two months left for that to vanish, you know?)
I’m disappointed, Lucky. Sorely disappointed! 😉
LOL! I will be transiting through Narita to Sapporo this coming Monday and staying at the 9hr Capsule Hotel too, just for the novelty! Hope our paths cross. I also plan to visit the city of Narita during that couple of hours to savour their famous grilled eel rice bowl.
You clear departure immigration in CDMX. MTY is a technical stop of about 1 hour and you won’t get off the plane in Monterrey
No intl departures in Mexico.. it’s like the U.S. in that regard so no worries there . Excited for this one!!! And better choice than the -8 to Seoul!
At MEX T2, domestic and international departures were mixed together with domestic. I don’t remember having to do departure immigration at MEX in the last year.
Amazing stuff, Ben! This is why I love this blog - so much better than your competition!
Surprise surprise, you end up in Asia again … we all know the Asians do service better Ben, but the rest of us do enjoy travel to Latin America too. We would love to see some legitimate attention paid there to the real world airline options down south.
Just for our fun, and a dose of reality…Why don’t you fly the copa airlines 737 (old upright business class seat option of course) from EZE to Miami or NYC with the Panama City connection to get home?
Go to the Art Hotel outside Narita for the outdoor onsen under the departure path of runway 34L. Watch planes and relax in the hot water!
If you guys are going to whine, can you at least take 5 seconds to Google before doing so?
Search: copa site:onemileatatime.com
Can't wait to see your review. I really enjoyed my westbound overnight J trip on the AM 789. It was a bit sparse but certainly a nice product and great crew.
That's disappointing. So your "Latin America Review Trip" will consist of flying precisely two LatAm carriers (and the two most widely covered ones, for that matter). Trying airlines such as Azul, Gol, Aerolineas Argentinas, Avianca (now that they have resumed offering business class) would be much more useful than yet another Delta or Korean Air review...
Happy to know that you'll be flying KE again after a long time. But like others have been suggested, it's a bit disappointing that you decided to take a rather generic ending of this trip - missing chances to fly on other airlines (at least some of) the readers are more curious about.
But to be fair, your trip itinerary isn't all that bad, and I'm interested more than enough.
I’m very happy to be getting review content! Thanks for putting in the hard work for us after all these years
@ Nick — KE no longer sells first class on the route, though the cabin is there, so I guess some people get assigned those seats, and get business class service.
@ VT-CIE — I’ll do Boliviana de Avicaion and GOL together on one trip soon, MIA-VVI-GRU. But I had no way to get to GRU with an interesting review to position for that, which is why I went with this option. And I think KE’s 787-10 J is especially interesting, at least.
On the topic of Azul, it seems there’s never any J award availability, and fares are steep. Any tricks I’m missing?
(Though this might be a useful place to talk about how KE and OZ are perfectly nice airlines, but not as spectacular as those from Taiwan and Japan: EVA, ANA, JAL and Starlux. Kind of like Saudia or Gulf Air when compared to Qatar Airways.
I don't think so. Obviously, I know that you're not saying that KE/OZ pair is exact equivalent of SV/GF or similar airlines of ME, but that's an understatement. JL, NH and BR are for sure better than KE and OZ, but not to the degree where you should compare them to SV - no alcoholic beverages, mediocre services, etc. KE and OZ aren't as good as they used to be, but they're still keeping high standards, or at least higher standards than SV.
Gotta agree with your thoughts on Ben returning right away though. Especially the Vistara part - there might be no point of reviewing an airline that will not exist in two months, but in other words, Ben and us will never be able to know about what the airline was really like.
@Ben Schlappig - I think they're talking about Copa Airlines' 737 MAX business class (Collins Diamond seats).
Correct. The best lounge option in MEX T2 is the Amex lounge which can be quite busy in the morning and often has a line. The chilaquiles are good.
There are a couple of Aeromexico lounges as well that he will have access to, but they are very underwhelming and usually quite busy.
@ NS -- Well, that's what I would think, but he wrote "old upright business class seat option of course," so I'm not sure...
@Ben Schlappig - Azul sometimes release J award availability to/from MCO and FLL using TAP miles.
How about staying at the "Hotel Blanc Chapel Christmas Narita". It is a love hotel Christmas themed .7 km from Narita airport. Can get a room for $49.
Ben, I know you must have some very hard opinions about Brazilians. And I can definitely agree with you. Specially with the ones living in Florida....
But trying Azul and Latam 777 would pretty much piece all the major carriers.
GRU has changed a bit in terms of lounge since you last visited it.
Liam from TPG recently flew Aeromexico via MTY to Seoul in their video uploaded 5 days ago. You stay on the plane during the stop. You'll be very familiar with the seat as you say!
"Tokyo Narita via Monterrey. The flight operates via Monetary"
This should say "Monterrey", not "Monetary".
You can book Azul business sometimes with Aeroplan miles for 50k points. Or MileagePlus for 88k. You want to search from VCP.
@ Remote -- I know it's possible in theory, but I only ever see economy availability. I'm curious, has anyone actually seen a J award seat on a long haul through Aeroplan or MileagePlus in recent times? On any day on any route?
Better pray for cool weather if this stop is anything like the stop in Sudan coming out of Addis. Stay on the plane while they refuel with none of the power on. it was like an oven
You don't leave the plane in Monterrey so you will only be able to review the lounge in Mexico City.
I'm so happy to see that you will review this flight. I'm curious if was it possible to book the 737 MAX first to Monterrey and then the 787 to Tokyo so you could experience both planes and both lounges (MEX and MTY) or was there only availability to Tokyo departing from Monterrey?
"since they’ve been turning a hole in my (virtual) pocket."
You mean burn, not turn, right?
Ben – Looking forward to reading your review of the Korean Air flights. I very recently flew the same ICN to ORD route and thought the soft product (including the ICN lounges) ranked near the bottom of any long haul business class flight I have taken in the past couple years. Bedding was pathetic (thin blanket and no mattress pad) and food paled in comparison to BR, CI, CX, JL, MH, NH and SQ.
Lately, I've found much more award availability out of Seoul than Tokyo. Since I fly a lot to Japan, I usually return by way of ICN.
Flying Aeromexico is not that fun - I bet you’ll have to exit the plane in Monterey to get your passport stamped… And the food quality? Don’t get too excited! Hopefully I am wrong but at least you’ll have a chance to catch up on your sleep and take a shower before your return on Korean air.
APU should be hooked up during refuel. Maybe Sean M can offer insight into why this wouldn't be done in an African airport. But yeah, that sucks.
Would be nice if AM served actual Mexican food instead of super generic Western food. Unfortunately a lot of upper class Latin Americans look down on their own cuisines and would rather go for pseudo-Italian/French.
Just curious, if MEX had a longer runway would that have prevented the need for a fueling stop?
You don't get a stamp exiting Mexico. I've had great food on Aeroméxico business class. I agree it could have been a bit more Mexican, but I somehow don't think that European passengers would be excited to try chapulines etc.
Glad I could help with Aeromexico's asian long haul destination suggestions!
Please comment on the status of Mexican food on these flights, since their menus are planned by renowned Mexican chefs, the flights are departing the country of origin, and it would be strange if they didn't offer this well-loved cuisine.
Also, is the premium worth it for the relatively short flight from Tokyo to Seoul?
I've heard about this as well. It is super disappointing if they're not able to serve their own national cuisine on a flight departing the flag carrying country.
And you can catch a ride with the free shuttle to International Garden Hotel NRT from the airport, which is directly across the street from Chapel Christmas.
You need to be top tier or in full flex business fare to preassign those seats.
If you have 9 hours during the day, go to:
http://www.unagi-kawatoyo.com/foreign/index.html
The restaurant is one of few in Japan that grills fresh eel.
The restaurant is in the Naritasan Omotesando area. After you enjoy the eel, you can walk around the small town area.
https://www.nrtk.jp/translate/index.php?lang=en&path=/enjoy/attraction/omotesando.html
"Do you know if you clear departure immigration in Mexico City or in Monterrey?"
There is no departure immigration when departing MEX.
I have taken domestic and international flights from Terminal 2 and always left from the same gate area.
At NRT I'd book a day room at the Hilton and use the nice lap loop in addition to a bit of sleep if needed.
Quite likely, but not necessarily. One of the issues large heavy gets run into on heavy and high altitude takeoffs with powerful engines isn’t runway length but wheel rotation limitations. Wheels on planes are only certified to spin up to a certain speed, say 180kts ground speed, and even with an 18,000 foot runway, V2 may be above 180kts.
Monterrey local here. There is no departure emigration formalities at any mexican airport. You'll likely maybe will just be asked for a migration form that can be filled right in the gate area, if provided. This is more likely to happen in MTY, as AM also sells the MEX-MTY sector as a domestic fligjht (hence why I think that if they decide to ask for the migration form, that should happen in MTY). Quite a treat to flight a 1 hour domestic flight in a 787-9 if you ask me!
At the same time, other passengers will board in MTY, either originating there o connecting from other cities. About 10 years ago there used to be a flight to FCO that also originated in MEX but stopped here at MTY. I took it one and all passengers (those originating at MEX) had to disembark, wait at the gate area and then return onboard together with the new passengers (they gave those from MEX a special transit card). If the procedures are the same, maybe that will happen to you.