Introduction: Two Times To Latin America

Introduction: Two Times To Latin America

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Welcome to my next trip report series, covering the recent review trip that I took to Latin America. Actually, it was two trips to Latin America, sort of, but I’ll write it all as a single review series.

So often I fly to distant places to review some of the world’s best airline products, though there’s also value in reviewing experiences closer to home. Living in Miami, there’s no shortage of opportunities to fly to Latin America (I mean, in all honesty, Miami basically is Latin America).

On this trip I flew a total of eight segments and covered just over 20,000 miles. In this series you can expect flight reviews of LATAM’s 787 business class, Delta’s A350 business class, Delta’s 737 first class, Aeromexico’s 737 MAX business class, Boliviana de Aviacion’s A330 business class, GOL’s 737 MAX premium economy, and Copa’s 737 MAX business class. There will also be reviews of several lounges, plus some hotel reviews.

In this post I’ll outline all the basics of the trip, and then I’ll publish the entire trip report series in the coming days and weeks.

Why I took this trip

This was a pure review trip, plain and simple. That’s to say that I took this trip exclusively to be able to review certain premium airline products, all while being away from home for as little time as possible. I booked pretty last minute, and due to how award availability opened up, I ended up taking this trip in two parts, with two days at home between the journeys (which was honestly great in terms of being able to catch up on sleep).

Sometimes when I plan review trips, I have one specific product that I’m looking to try, and then I plan everything around that. In this case, I just knew that there were a lot of premium airline products in Latin America I hadn’t reviewed, so I was open to any of those.

So I planned my trip only days before departure. The great thing about living in Miami is that no positioning is really required, given the vast number of southbound flights from there.

The routing that I flew on this trip

The airlines I flew on this trip

I booked this itinerary as six separate tickets, so let me share the details of the tickets in the chronological order that I traveled.

To kick off the trip, I flew LATAM’s Boeing 787-9 business class from Miami to Santiago. LATAM doesn’t belong to any of the global alliances, but there are a variety of programs that let you redeem for LATAM business class. I ended up booking the following for 123,500 British Airways Avios plus $45.30 in taxes and fees:

9/17 LA503 Miami to Santiago departing 9:15PM arriving 6:30AM (+1 day)

Let me acknowledge that this is a substantial number of Avios, though I had a good number in an account that I had acquired with a transfer bonus, so I preferred that to using another currency. However, there are other programs with lower absolute redemption costs.

LATAM Boeing 787-9 business class

Next up, I flew Delta’s Airbus A350-900 business class and Delta’s Boeing 737-800 business class from Santiago to Atlanta to Mexico City. Usually it can be hard to redeem Delta SkyMiles and get good value for premium cabin travel, but the trick is that if you don’t start or end in the United States, the value is much better.

So I booked the following for 65,800 Delta SkyMiles plus $87.32 in taxes & fees (if I had terminated in Atlanta, the award would have cost 5x as much):

9/19 DL146 Santiago to Atlanta departing 8:40PM arriving 5:15AM (+1 day)
9/20 DL602 Atlanta to Mexico City departing 12:21PM arriving 1:55PM

Delta Airbus A350-900 business class

After that, it was time to head home briefly, so I flew Aeromexico’s Boeing 737 MAX 9 business class from Mexico City to Miami. I booked the following for 24,000 Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles plus $113.22 in taxes and fees:

9/21 AM412 Mexico City to Miami departing 7:10AM arriving 12:40PM

Aeromexico Boeing 737 MAX 9 business class

After a couple of days at home, it was time to head out again, starting with flying Boliviana de Aviacion’s Airbus A330-200 business class from Miami to Santa Cruz de la Sierra. I can’t even say how excited I was about this flight, given how much this airline has intrigued me.

The catch is that Boliviana de Aviacion doesn’t have useful airline partners, so the only real option is to pay cash. So I booked the following for $695.42 (quite a good fare for business class, eh?):

9/23 OB767 Miami to Santa Cruz de la Sierra departing 11:00PM arriving 5:50AM (+1 day)

Boliviana de Aviacion Airbus A330-200 business class

After a long layover, I flew GOL’s Boeing 737 MAX 8 premium economy from Santa Cruz de la Sierra to Sao Paulo. I was able to redeem American AAdvantage miles for this, and booked the following for 17,500 American AAdvantage miles plus $94.20 in taxes and fees:

9/24 G37717 Santa Cruz de la Sierra to Sao Paulo departing 1:00PM arriving 4:40PM

GOL Boeing 737 MAX 8 premium economy

Last but not least, it was time to fly Copa’s Boeing 737 MAX 9 business class all the way from Sao Paulo to Panama City to Miami. I managed to book the following for 50,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points plus $57.34 in taxes and fees:

9/25 CM702 Sao Paulo to Panama City departing 3:10AM arriving 8:00AM
9/25 CM334 Panama City to Miami departing 9:23AM arriving 1:31PM

Copa Boeing 737 MAX 9 business class

In addition to flight reviews, you can expect reviews of the following lounges:

Amex Centurion Lounge Atlanta Airport

The hotels I stayed at on this trip

On these review trips, I spend most of my time in the air, and not in hotels. On this trip I had overnight(ish) stays in Santiago, Mexico City, and Sao Paulo.

In Santiago, I had a bit of time to enjoy town, as I was arriving early in the morning, and departing late the following evening. So I decided to stay in town, and booked the Ritz-Carlton Santiago. I booked a club room through the Marriott STARS program, as this is one of the more reasonably priced Ritz-Carlton properties out there (though as I found out, for good reason).

Ritz-Carlton Santiago

Next up, I had an overnight in Mexico City, but given my very early morning departure, I decided to stay at the Hilton Mexico City Airport, located within the terminal. It’s a convenient property that was recently renovated, though has some quirks.

Hilton Mexico City Airport

Lastly, I had a very long afternoon and evening in Sao Paulo, as I landed around 5PM, and was departing around 3AM. So I decided to book a stay at the TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport, which is the transit hotel located within the terminal. A proper nap can make such a huge difference on trips like this.

TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport

Bottom line

While perhaps not as luxurious as a review trip to the Middle East or Asia, I really enjoyed my journey to Latin America, as it’s always fun to try products I’m a bit less familiar with. Living in Miami, a trip like this was overdue. Stay tuned, as I’ll have lots of flight, lounge, and hotel reviews, with experiences ranging from very good to no bueno.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned!

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  1. Andreas Guest

    The SCL Latam lounge is really great with excellent food and high class wines

    1. Larry B Guest

      @Andreas
      my family and I were in the SCL LATAM Signature Lounge and loved every minute of it. Huge selection, small number of fellow travelers, nice decor, attentive staff. What's not to love?

  2. D3kingg Guest

    How bad was the turbulence between GRU and Bolivia ? Yikes

  3. Csongr Guest

    A request from the bleachers: Would you consider putting the hours flown in addition to departure & arrival times ? Easy enough to figure out times as stated, but off the top of my head I don't know what the zones add or subtract.

  4. tom Guest

    Hypothetically, what would have happened to your Delta Skymiles account had you simply ended the trip in MIA without continuing to MEX? Are there any repercussions for no-showing on the connecting part of a trip? Many airlines charge fewer miles for making a connection through their hubs or larger stations rather than point to point bookings.

    1. Eskimo Guest

      Hypothetically, when someone starts a question with hypothetically, they already know the answer.

  5. Mason Guest

    Moral of the story:

    Screw all premium carriers, because you should fly a Copa 737 and "visualise yourself flying Qsuites or Air France or JAL or something of that kind! ;)"

    Thank you Proximanova, fomerly known as VT-CIE, for sharing your wisdom.

    1. quorumcall Diamond

      All of this is so stupid. Ben can fly a Copa 737 and then fly Air France or JAL or QSuites later. In VT-CIE's defense, changing it up isn't a bad idea

    2. yoloswag420 Guest

      VT-CIE's idea was pretty terrible, but I'm sure they were well-intentioned and thought it could be interesting at the time. I did personally critique at the time, but it's a bit much to keep bringing it up all the time.

      I reckon if VT-CIE makes peace, then we can let bygones be bygones.

  6. Jason Guest

    I'll be interested in your review of the Ritz Carlton in Santiago.

    I stayed there last month. While overall it felt like it was straight out of Atlanta in the 1990s, overall I liked the property. Solid bones that are dated, but updated enough with new carpet, wallpaper, etc. And friendly service. I was good with it. And satisfied at the price paid.

    What was your issue with it?

  7. UncleRonnie Diamond

    Super trip, really looking forward to seeing it all.

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yoloswag420 Guest

VT-CIE's idea was pretty terrible, but I'm sure they were well-intentioned and thought it could be interesting at the time. I did personally critique at the time, but it's a bit much to keep bringing it up all the time. I reckon if VT-CIE makes peace, then we can let bygones be bygones.

1
Csongr Guest

A request from the bleachers: Would you consider putting the hours flown in addition to departure & arrival times ? Easy enough to figure out times as stated, but off the top of my head I don't know what the zones add or subtract.

1
Larry B Guest

@Andreas my family and I were in the SCL LATAM Signature Lounge and loved every minute of it. Huge selection, small number of fellow travelers, nice decor, attentive staff. What's not to love?

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