In 2018, South American mega-airline LATAM announced it would spend $400 million updating the interiors of its fleet. To me the most exciting aspect of this was the introduction of a new business class product, given that the carrier’s offering has historically been pretty lackluster.
It has now been five years since LATAM announced its cabin retrofit project, so I wanted to take an updated look at how the airline is doing with this, especially since a lot has changed since then — LATAM has gone through bankruptcy, LATAM has retired all of its Airbus A350s, etc.
In this post:
LATAM’s new business class seats
LATAM’s new business class product consists of Vantage XL seats, similar to what you’ll find on many other airlines, including RwandAir, Qantas, and SAS, among others. These are fully flat staggered seats with direct aisle access and 18″ personal televisions, so it represents a huge improvement to the passenger experience.
I had the chance to fly LATAM’s new business class from Lima to Miami in 2022, and you read my review here.
Below is a video giving a tour of the cabin of these new jets.
When the project was first announced, LATAM did an amazing job with the pace at which it reconfigured planes. How’s that project looking at this point, given all that has changed in recent years? Let’s look at where things stand by aircraft type.
Which LATAM planes have new business class seats?
LATAM’s long haul fleet consists of Boeing 767s, Boeing 777s, and Boeing 787s. Since LATAM is an airline with several bases, these fleets are split up between airlines, with the two biggest bases being in Brazil and Chile. There’s an exciting, as two of LATAM’s three long haul aircraft types now exclusively feature the new business class product. Let’s look at all the details.
All LATAM Boeing 777s have new business class seats
LATAM has 10 Boeing 777-300ERs, all of which are based in Brazil. Fortunately all 10 of these planes feature the new business class product. That’s fantastic news, since these were also the planes most in need of a refresh — they previously had angled seats in business class.
LATAM’s reconfigured Boeing 777-300ERs feature 38 business class seats, spread across 10 rows in a 1-2-1 configuration. The only bad news is that LATAM has seen a huge reduction in premium seats when reconfiguring these planes — they used to have 56 business class seats, but now have 38 business class seats.
All LATAM Boeing 767s have new business class seats
LATAM now has nine Boeing 767-300s, all of which are based in Peru. All of these planes feature the new business class product. LATAM’s reconfigured Boeing 767s have a total of 20 business class seats, spread across five rows in a 1-2-1 configuration.
Up until recently, LATAM Brazil flew 767s that weren’t reconfigured. However, these planes have been retired from passenger service, and are now being converted into freighter jets. So if you fly a LATAM 767, you’re guaranteed the new business class product (unless you’re cargo, in which case…).
Some LATAM Boeing 787s have new business class seats
LATAM has a total of 31 Boeing 787s, including the following:
- There are 10 Boeing 787-8s, flying for LATAM Chile
- There are 21 Boeing 787-9s, flying for LATAM Brazil and LATAM Chile
The bad news is that LATAM Boeing 787s delivered before late 2019 don’t feature the new business class product, and there are no plans to retrofit the new business class on these jets. Since all Boeing 787-8s were delivered before 2019, none of those planes feature the new business class.
Meanwhile the Boeing 787-9s with the following registration codes feature the new business class:
As you can see, you have a roughly 43% chance of getting the new business class on the 787-9, while you don’t have a chance of getting the new business class on the 787-8. LATAM’s reconfigured Boeing 787-9s have a total of 30 business class seats, spread across eight rows in a 1-2-1 configuration.
In the past couple of years we’ve seen a big increase in the number of 787-9s with the new business class, and that’s because LATAM has grown its 787-9 fleet by acquiring aircraft that used to fly for Norwegian. Those planes have been reconfigured as they’ve joined LATAM’s fleet, and that includes the new business class. There are a couple more of these joining LATAM’s fleet, so the percentage of planes with the new business class should increase even more.
Bottom line
LATAM announced its new business class product back in 2018. The airline initially made great progress with rolling out this product, though not surprisingly the pandemic slowed things down a bit.
Fortunately the airline is in a pretty good spot at this point. All LATAM Boeing 777s and LATAM Boeing 767s feature the new business class. Meanwhile only some of the LATAM Boeing 787s feature the new business class, though the percent of planes with these cabins continues to grow.
Hopefully this is a useful update for anyone who has long haul travel planned on LATAM.
If you’ve flown LATAM’s new business class, what was your experience like?
You can add the last and modern 787-9 LATAM got from ex Norwegian last February. I flew it last week it has the new seats.
CC-BGZ
I flew both the new business class and original B787-9 Business class MIA-SCL-MIA in 2022. The new business class is fine, nothing special IMO, but I also thought the original B787-9 Business class is fine, in fact it felt roomier with a large ottoman that turned into a comfortable bed. It’s a typical previous gen Business Class seat that if well maintained actually isn’t bad at all, especially if traveling with a companion. Since I...
I flew both the new business class and original B787-9 Business class MIA-SCL-MIA in 2022. The new business class is fine, nothing special IMO, but I also thought the original B787-9 Business class is fine, in fact it felt roomier with a large ottoman that turned into a comfortable bed. It’s a typical previous gen Business Class seat that if well maintained actually isn’t bad at all, especially if traveling with a companion. Since I flew to Chile, thankfully I didn’t experience the LATAM Brazil angled seat which I agree would be subpar!
I plan to purchase (with miles) a flight from SCL to AKL in July 2024. As far as I know, LA uses B787-9 on this route, so "43% rule" mentioned in the article will apply in this case. However, considering that this route (which goes futher to SYD) might be considered by LA as "premium" (just my personal thought), I wonder if my chances for a plane with new business cabin are a little higher?
I have flown from Syd- Auk; and am about to do again next week in business class. The previous time i travlled, we did get the older Business class cabin. After some research it seems that Melb- Santiago might be the only chance to get the newer cabin setup. But i still loved it!
I’ve tried numerous different dates for with Syd to akl and give versa this year and all have shown the 6 2x3 row configuration at the seat select page.
Haven’t found a date that reveals a 1 - 2 - 1 layout seat select yet?
CC-BGQ 789 also has new business config
Some missing information about Latam Peru who have 787-8 and fly to LHR.
LATAM
Boeing 787- LA 2489
Plane and crew by Latam Airlines Peru
Flying LIM-JFK in a couple weeks on 767, so glad to hear it's new business class!
Incidentally, booked with Avois, but the BA booking reference can't access the LATAM site to select seats. Any tips on this (other than calling...)?
Hi Ben,
Do you have any updates on the business class seating reconfiguration on LATAM 350Ls that were purchased by Delta? Our Delta flight #222 from ATL-ATH in May of 2024 is still showing the 2 X 2 X 2 configuration. And no wi-fi.
Thanks very much.
Hey Ben, so a couple of weeks LATAM Brazil’s last 767 departed GRU to the US to be converted to a freighter jet. It was being used solely on the GRU/MEX route and has been replaced by the 787.
And apart from this, have you seen that just today AZUL announced that it is retiring their A350 as of next month and increasing their A330neo by 7 airframes? Thought you would like to know,...
Hey Ben, so a couple of weeks LATAM Brazil’s last 767 departed GRU to the US to be converted to a freighter jet. It was being used solely on the GRU/MEX route and has been replaced by the 787.
And apart from this, have you seen that just today AZUL announced that it is retiring their A350 as of next month and increasing their A330neo by 7 airframes? Thought you would like to know, as I recall you saying something about trying their A350!
Nevertheless, hope to see you in GRU soon!
@ Leo -- Hey, thank you so much for confirming the Brazil 767s being converted into freighters. I updated the post to reflect that. I have a post publishing a bit about the Azul A350s. :-)
Looks like we’ll get the old plane from Mexico City to Santiago to Easter island… still was a pretty stellar deal on points with Alaska and all lie flat.
Super helpful content -- thanks Ben!