The southern city of Santiago, Chile in South America is a long ways from home in North America. With LATAM having a dominant share in air market in the Southern American airspace, they were pretty much the “go to carrier” when flying to and from Santiago, Chile. Our long haul flight with LATAM would have us departing Mexico City to Santiago, eventually connecting onward to Easter Island.

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This post is one chapter on our trip to Mexico City, Mexico and Easter Island, Chile. This trip was enhanced through Alaska Mileage Plan and through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

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Review: LATAM Preferente Business Class B787-8, Mexico City International Airport – Santiago Arturo Merino Benítez Airport

The flights’ availability for boarding was announced from the Iberia Business Premier GIS Lounge Mexico City. We packed up our stuff and headed over through a bleak and dated Mexico City International Airport over to Gate 23.

It was pretty busy at the gate. There were signs were up with designated boarding zones and it was about as organized as it could be given the space that was available. The airport didn’t seem to offer a lot of real estate for the boarding area and we were all squished into the hallway. There were about 15 people in the Priority Line when we arrived.

Latam Airlines
Business Class (Z)
MEX – SCL (Mexico Juarez International Terminal One – Santiago Arturo Merino Benitez Airport)
LA 621
Oct 11, 2017
Booked: Boeing 787-800
Flown: Boeing 787-800
Departure: 7:55 PM
Arrival: 6:15 AM + 1

On Board LATAM Business Class:

We boarded via door 2L with single jet bridge boarding. Once on board, we found our seats. The LATAM business class cabin is in a 2-2-2 configuration and the seat are similar to those on Turkish Airways The welcome and greeting was wholly in Spanish, which was a first for me. It was neat to watch everyone else come on getting greeted in Spanish.

Unlike the seat map, the LATAM cabin is split into two cabins. Rows 1-3 are the first cabin, and the second cabin are rows 4-6. There is a small storage compartment between the two cabins and a crew seat on the outsides but otherwise there is no curtain separating the two cabins; making it a very spacious business class cabin. I usually don’t like the bulkheads but our seat there was perfectly fine.

At the seat itself, it offered similar seat controls that you could expect. There were recline features along with a lumbar support and a massage feature. The 2 – 2 -2 LATAM Business Class seat is similar as to what you would expect on Turkish Airlines A330 product, as they’ve installed a similar business class seating product.

Pre Departure Services:

A pre-departure beverage order was taken consistingof water, orange juice, sparkling wine or pisco sours. Missing South America, we easily went with the pisco sours. It was served with nuts, and an additional glass of water, which was a nice touch. It is probably worth noting that these are “instant” pisco sours and since they were Chilean, they don’t come with that wonderful Peruvian froth on top of it.

While we were enjoying the pre departure beverage, the purser came around and thanked us for flying with them. She asked us to enjoy the flights and made some small talk about where we were headed. She was excited to hear that we were headed to Easter Island; having been there herself with work.

As we sat on the ground in Mexico City, the menus were distributed.

Rather conveniently, the menu recommended wine pairings with each course. This is really appreciated, although it’s not something that I see frequently offered in international business class.

There was also a wine list provided. I have to say that the wines were quite good and were among the highlight of our time with LATAM. As expected, the wines featured a South American focus with Carménère and Malbecs featured on the list. The list was also very extensive for business class and offered varietals for everyone; similar to our Qatar Airways Business Class experiences. There was no actual champagne offered, which was unusual for international business class. Instead, they offered two varieties of sparkling Chilean’ wine.

The Amenity Kits: Salvatore Ferragamo

The on ground presentations were followed by a newspaper / magazine trolley and presentation of the amenity kits. The kits are Salvatore Ferragamo branded and contained quite a bit of stuff.

There were 3 Salvatore Ferragamo creams, socks, combs, mirrors, pens, disposable tote bags, ear plugs, eye masks. It was one of the fuller kits that I remembered ever getting and the case itself was quite nice.

The In Flight Entertainment System:

Departing Mexico City International Airport, we got underway. With an evening departure time of 7:55 PM, the lights were dimmed almost immediately. I browsed through the in flight entertainment which was “on demand”. It featured a moving map and a selection of quality movies.

I noticed that most of the travellers in business went to sleep right away, despite the early evening departure at a few minutes before 8 PM.

The Meal: A Three Course Dinner

The dinner service started at about 9:30 PM and was quite a leisurely affair. Typically this wouldn’t matter, but the flight was quite short at 7 hours so it didn’t leave a lot of time for sleeping.

I had the soup to start with the wine chardonnay pairing.

For the main course, I had the Braised Beef Ribs in Mezcal Sauce, Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Grilled Artichoke Hearts. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the red glass of wine to go with it until after the the meal was well done and over as the crew had disappeared.

For the first round of desserts, I took the cheese and cracker plates.

I then finished with Haagen Daaz Dulce de Leche ice cream as well for desert. Sumptuous!

It was about 10:30 PM by the time that the dinner service was completed. This left only about 3.5 hours left in the flight with the time zone changes.

The crew handed out very thick white duvets which were quite comfortable to have on a plane. The pillow was the usual skinny fabric and it made for a bit of an odd combination having such a great blanket and a flimsy pillow. I attempted to sleep but it didn’t go so well. I was too excited or something and I just lay wake the whole time. Seven hours is not a great length for flights since by the time you have finished the meal, there isn’t much relaxing time and get to sleep.

The Second Service: A Full Breakfast

I opted for the complete breakfast. This was completed by filling out a card after the main meal service. We were among the only few that did have a complete breakfast. Most seemed to be from Chile on the business circuit, and stayed asleep the whole time. The breakfast was served slightly outside of Santiago.

The breakfast was nothing special. The coffee, “Juan Valdez instant” was particularly dreadful. This was surprising considering the amount of great coffee produced in South America.

We had a dark landing into Santiago International airport at 6 AM. The crews were especially interested and keen to hear that we were traveling to Easter Island. It seems that many of the crews have previously traveled there being on LATAM’s route network so many had Pisco Sour bar recommendations.

My Thoughts on LATAM Business Class:

Overall, we had a great crew flying down from Mexico City which was complimented by a terrific and substantial wine list. The amenity kits were terrific as was the B787 plane. Unfortunately, the overnight flight itself is too short to allow for any relaxation or enjoyment if you plan on getting the meal service. I would really like the opportunity to be able to try LATAM out on a daytime long haul flight that doesn’t involve a sleep.

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If you’ve flown LATAM Business Class, did you find it a comfortable way to travel long distances?

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