Hello from a chilly Santiago, Chile (in fairness, I’m a Florida man, so anything is cold to me), as I just kicked off my Latin America review trip!
I flew LATAM’s Boeing 787-9 business class, on a flight featuring the carrier’s new(ish) cabins. Specifically, I took the 7hr25min redeye flight from Miami (MIA) to Santiago (SCL), which I booked using British Airways Avios. I wanted to report back with some initial impressions from this flight, and then soon I’ll have a full trip report.
LATAM’s 787 business class seats are comfortable
LATAM has a staggered configuration on its Boeing 787-9s (at least on the jets featuring the new cabins), in a 1-2-1 configuration. LATAM offers the Vantage XL product, which you’ll find on a variety of airlines, including Qantas.
While this isn’t my favorite business class seat in the world, it’s competitive, and among the best in Latin America. The seat is comfortable, well designed, and in particular, I like LATAM’s finishes, which are elegant.
I found it pretty easy to get comfortable in bed mode, with the caveat that I had to sleep facing the fuselage (which is my preference anyway). I’m a side sleeper who likes to bend my knees a bit when reclined, and the location of the side armrest plus the footwell makes that hard to do if facing the aisle.
While LATAM’s 767 business class features similar seats, I found the cabin to be much more comfortable on the 787, as you’d expect, given the wider cabin.
This is truly a solid product, though keep in mind that LATAM plans to introduce yet another new business class soon, as the airline keeps evolving.
LATAM’s business class bedding is phenomenal
Good bedding is highly underrated in business class. You can have the most comfortable seat in the world, but if the pillow and blanket aren’t good, it can be hard to get comfortable.
Fortunately this is an area where LATAM excels — the airline has some of the best business class bedding, perhaps only after United. LATAM offers a plush pillow, a thick duvet, and a mattress pad, and it really improves the seat comfort.
As far as other amenities go, upon boarding there was a cute amenity kit waiting at my seat, as well as some slippers.
LATAM has good entertainment, no Wi-Fi
LATAM’s entertainment system on the 787 is excellent, with a huge library consisting of over 240 movies, over 740 TV shows, and an awesome interactive map.
What I’m a less a fan of is that the carrier doesn’t have Wi-Fi on its 787s. Now, that didn’t bother me on this quick overnight flight, but on a longer daytime flight, it would be a reason that I’d book away from LATAM (since I often book flights with the expectation that I’ll be able to be productive during them).
LATAM’s meal service is efficient but good
On this fairly short overnight flight, dinner was served after takeoff, and breakfast was served before landing. The focus was clearly on efficiency over having a drawn out meal service, and personally I really appreciate that on a flight like this, where most people are looking to maximize rest.
Within 20 minutes of takeoff, the crew came around with a tray that had the choice of champagne or water, along with mixed nuts.
After that, the entire meal was served on a single tray. Despite this being a single tray affair, the quality and variety impressed me.
Everyone received the same crab appetizer and side salad. Then there were four choices for main courses, ranging from steak to a salad. I selected the salmon with red pepper sauce, roasted bok choy, and black rice. Lastly, for dessert I chose the brownie with toffee sauce, cream, raspberries, and pistachios. Everything tasted great, though the side salad was mighty unimaginative.
Then there was a large breakfast served on a single tray a bit over an hour before landing. This included several types of bread and carbs, fresh fruit, yogurt and granola, and the choice of a main dish. While there were the traditional choices of an omelet or cold cuts, I chose something I’ve never seen on an airline breakfast menu before — a quesadilla. It was actually quite good, and a nice change of pace from the airline omelets I usually have.
LATAM’s flight attendants are great
LATAM has subsidiaries in several countries in Latin America, and as you’d expect, the service will differ a bit depending on which subsidiary you’re flying with (largely reflecting the cultures of the home country of that subsidiary). I’ve gotta say, I’ve had nothing but good inflight service experiences with LATAM Chile over the years.
I actually remember when Ford and I flew to Easter Island on LATAM many years back, and we had the same amazing flight attendant — Claudia — on two separate sectors. It’s rare you remember a flight attendant by name so many years later, but that name immediately came to mind.
Fortunately the trend of great service continued on this flight. The cabin manager Paula and flight attendant Andrea did a stellar job. For example, during boarding, Andrea came around to each passenger in her section, addressed them by name, introduced herself, and explained the details of the flight.
Service throughout the flight was friendly and efficient, without being overbearing. I’ve had similarly good service experiences on LATAM Peru. It has been some time since I’ve flown LATAM Brazil, and for that matter, I remember a LATAM Argentina flight over a decade ago that had some of the worst service of my life (though that subsidiary no longer exists). I digress…
Bottom line
LATAM offers an above average business class experience on its Boeing 787 Dreamliners, at least if you get the new cabins. The cabins are stylish and comfortable, and the soft product is impressive as well, with an efficient but tasty meal service, great bedding, and friendly crews. I’d say the biggest area for improvement is the lack of Wi-Fi.
I’m not going to go so far as to say that LATAM has one of the world’s best business class products, but I think it’s competitive, and I’d gladly fly it again if the schedule and value were right. I will say that I think LATAM is underrated, in the sense that the airline tends to have a reputation that’s unfairly bad (at least in some circles), when the airline is clearly the best global airline in the region, and is on the same level as many global carriers.
If you’ve flown LATAM’s 787 business class, what was your experience like?
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