Review of Sky Airline flight from Santiago to Valdivia in Economy

Greetings, aviophiles of the world!
I'm flying home after spending the weekend with 81-year-old Auntie Olivia, who has been in fragile health these days. Poor thing. She says she misses "the good old times."
I don't. How could I! Times have never been better for air travelers! Here in Chile, for example, even though the choice is quite limited (only two main airlines vie for dominance in the domestic market) air ticket prices are at a historic low, thanks mainly to LCC Sky Airline wreaking havoc on LATAM's almost century-long monopoly.
"Troubled waters, fisherman's gain" the saying goes. I'm gonna take advantage of these "troubled waters" today. Here we go. ^^

Fishing online

My web browser was not well configured, so I was forced to purchase my Sky Airline ticket with help from a flight search engine. Even though this means a couple of extra bucks for the service, the price still beats LATAM.

Sky Airline's website is fast and easy to use on a large screen. And yes, it is much, MUCH faster than LATAM's painfully sluggish website.

But, alas, they lack an Android app. Navigating their website on a small tablet or smartphone can be a nightmarish experience. Just like this:

As for their prices, Sky Airline became an LCC some years ago and their lowest fares get very close to the price of a bus ticket. But you have to be fast. Even though I purchased my ticket several months in advance, I only could take the second cheapest option.

Any difference in service for the different fares? None that you might care about, unless you must get a seat in the front rows. I always go for the cheapest fares, which means I can't choose a seat until 48 hours before ETD. However, I have always been able to choose my favorite window seat. I don't know if higher fares let you select your seat any earlier.

Checking in

Checking-in is very simple. Everything is done with a couple of clicks on a single page (U hearing that, LATAM?). Check the box next to your name, choose your seat, enter your email address, and click on Continue.
The seat map. Sky Airline's has an all-A319 fleet. Aahh… my beloved row 24. Window and seat perfectly, armoniously aligned.

My boarding pass. You can print it or show it on your cellphone.

On my way to the airport

The Santiago Metro train is a legacy from Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. Killing communists was not his only pastime, you know?

Chile used to be a very homogeneous society until recently. If you saw colored people, they were foreign tourists for sure. This is changing thanks to a lot of immigrants coming from neighboring countries, and now from Haiti. You will read more about it further down.

I emerge at Los Héroes station. The buses to the airport wait in the park between the two strips of Bernardo O'Higgins Avenue (aka the Alameda)

The station is some streets west of Entel Tower, also built during the military regime.

The bus service is fast and unexpensive. 1700 CLP is less than 3 USD.

We arrive at the airport in around 30 minutes. Of all the pieces of art I have seen in airports, this is one of my favorites.

The Ministry of Public Works announces the new airport. The sign reads:
Investment: UF 14 980 000 (about 610 million USD)
Concession start date: October 1, 2015
Construction start date: July 2016
Construction completion date: July 2020

The domestic terminal seen from the bus.

At SCL

I get off the bus by this sign. SCL has a new app.

Tower cranes in the distance. The beginning of the new SCL? How exciting!

The hotel opposite the terminal.

Peu de monde today. LOL, I have been reading reports in French, too. ^^

Let's go inside. Smoking is disgusting. But what's the problem with pets?? They smell nicer and behave better than many people!!

First and most important… a visit to the restroom. Glad to see that the Chilean society is leaving its traditional machismo behind. Mothers …

…and fathers share the same responsibilities.

You can bet this is my favorite restroom amenity by far.

SCL is asking for assessment to improve their restrooms. Interestingly enough, there is no "bad" option. Only "insufficient". "Regular" means "not so good" in Chile.

"Muchas gracias!" By the way, the official name for SCL is Aeropuerto Internacional Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez. Stupidly long. People usually refer to it simply as Aeropuerto Pudahuel, which is the name of the area where the airport is located. Nuevo Pudahuel is the name of the group of companies that were granted the concession to enlarge and manage the airport until 2035, namely, Groupe ADP, VINCI Airports and Astaldi Concessioni.

From the restroom I head for the main terminal. I don't remember seeing this shop opposite international departures before. Must be new.

A rather relaxed time of day at SCL.

Iorana, moai. That would be Hello, moai in the Rapa Nui language (the language of Easter Island) The only other expression I know in that language is porotu maha maha. I learned it from a little child who lived on Easter Island. It means stinky ass. ^^ So, if you are looking for a quick, sudden death, just approach one of those tall, muscular Easter Island natives and greet him Iorana, porotu maha maha. You will be flying into a crater or the bottom of a cliff in no time.

Afraid that someone might access your baggage illegally? Wrap it up in plastic for only 8000 CLP (around 12 USD) !!

Plenty of these all over the terminal. You'll never be left without your boarding pass.

At the other end of the terminal is the domestic flights section. Sky Airline has an office here. This model plane draws my attention. I've been looking for one like this unsuccessfully for a long time. I ask the staff about it, but they have no idea where it came from, nor do they have Sky Airline model planes for sale. :(

Some aviation gossip:
LAW (Latin American Wings) is a new, controvertial Chilean airline. It serves destinations in Haiti and Dominican Republic only, and is bringing thousands of Haitians to Chile every month at incredibly low prices. The problem is that this made the Chilean authorities suspect that LAW might be involved in a case of human trafficking. People say something smells fishy in that company, and that LAW might not be very LAW-ful after all. See some TV reports here and here. (Video on that page won't play with AdBlock enabled)
LAW recently offered to buy the struggling (now defunct), three-aircraft-strong Alas Uruguay, an airline that replaced the also defunct PLUNA, but then they suddenly retracted. However, they kept two of Alas Uruguay's B737s and registered them in Chile: CX-OAB (now CC-ARQ) and CX-OAA. But only one of the planes in LAW's fleet is in use and keeps going back and forth between Chile and the Caribbean every day.

I continue walking towards domestic departures and come across my favorite shop in the airport: Punto Musical.

A little present for mom: the first season of Dinasty. ^^ She's gonna be ecstatic!

Security check is almost empty at the moment.

I'm airside in less than two minutes.

A bunch of caffein addicts. I'm one of them. ^^

According to the FIDS the flight to Valdivia is OK and it's departing from gate 24.

There it is. Let's hope it will stay that way. I still remember my last flight and the problems caused by the mist over Valdivia.

A walk around the premises takes me to this simple children's game in the shape of a bulldozer…

…and to a newspaper stand. Two days after the death of Fidel Castro the news is still on the cover. La Tercera is one of the serious newspapers in Chile. The one on the right, Las Últimas Noticias, is just yellow journalism, like me reporting on LAW. ^^

Not much to see from the domestic terminal. DAP has scheduled flights to destinations in the south of the country, including Antarctica! It also serves mining companies in the north. Hence the name, Mineral Airways.

And there he comes! Oh… OK… "she".

The whole Sky Airline fleet is made up of A319s and A320s

This is CC-AJG

And here comes this lady with the jetbridge, which, like a giant leech…

…bites the neck of the poor aircraft and feeds on her passengers. I'm feeling poetic today. ^^

Two more shots, just for the record.

Time to go to gate 24. The passengers are already queuing up. We are divided into those sitting in rows 1 - 14, and rows 15 - 29. I am expecting a rather longish wait to board, but my line starts moving all of a sudden and I barely have the time to get my ID card from my wallet and find my boarding pass on my cellphone! Not even the slightest hint of a smile or a greeting from the staff.

The jetbridge is lined with advertising. Being an LCC, Sky Airline has lots of advertising posted everywhere. LOTS.

Sheer crew-elty

Sadly, the crew on this flight left much to be desired. As I board, two flight attendants, male and female, are happily chatting, without paying much attention to the boarding passengers.

I see they are wearing a badge announcing a recent Skytrax prize on their lapels. Remembering the nice experience I had when I asked a LATAM FA to let me take a photo of the pink Breast Cancer Awareness Month ribbon she was wearing, I tell the male FA that I'm writing a report about this flight and ask him if I can take a photograph of his badge. To my surprise, he refuses awkwardly. The female FA doesn't seem to understand what I'm talking about, but she tells me that I can photograph this sign posted on the wall, instead. I do it, but I'm a bit embittered by the experience. But this will be only the beginning of my embitterment.

The cabin. Mouse-gray seats. LATAM 1 - 0 SKY AIRLINE

My seat is in row 24. As I reach my row I can hear the purser giving the welcome speech in Spanish, and then in something that is supposed to be English. She's just reading (or trying to read) from a piece of paper that must contain an approximation to the way English words are pronounced. She tries, but she fails miserably. I can't help cringing.

My seat. You see? I like that the seat and the window are aligned in this row, and the wing is not in the way. ^^

The leg room is not exceptional, but it's enough for someone like me. I'm 170cm tall.

The seat pocket…

…contains the inflight magazine, which has improved a lot in the last months. On the cover, a French chef who's working on Chilean TV.

Inside, one of the articles shows the attractives of the southernmost tip of the country.

The onboard menu.

On my last Sky Airline flight I tried a wrap. It was cold and completely tasteless. I thought my taste buds—numb because of the altitude—were to blame, but I couldn't prove it. Now I'm gonna put my theory to the test. I'll try a wrap again, and leave a piece for the end of the trip. Then I'll be able to compare the taste of the same wrap at cruising height and on land. Smart boy! ^^

The safety information card.

The standard overhead panel.

There is advertising everywhere. On the seat back…

…on the walls…

…everywhere!!

Two FAs come and check that everyone has boarded. They check seat by seat. Eight passengers have not boarded yet. However, seats 24D and 24E will not be taken!!

Then the weirdest thing happens. The FAs start the safety presentation and I get ready to take a picture of this, as I always do. Then one of the FAs stops her presentation and comes all the way to my row and tells me with a passive-agressive smile that "taking pictures of the crew is forbidden". I am taken aback and embarrased to be addressed like that in front of the other passengers, but I think this is her way to say "I don't like being photographed" and decide to respect her request, even though I am aware that the Chilean law guarantees my right to take pictures of a safety presentation.
However, the little Fidel Castro that all Latin Americans carry inside suddenly comes back from the dead and whispers in my ear "Rebel, Nelson. Raise your camera against this oppressive FA!!!" I know they have to turn around at some moment and… click!

With a satisfied grin on my face I look out the window. This is the view.

In the distance, two tails that can be confused easily: Copa and United.

The belt loader comes and the first piece of baggage to be loaded is this very scared passenger…

…who seems to be waiting helpelessly for its fate.

Pushback.

A nice assortment of tails: Alitalia, TAM (now LATAM), Qantas, AirFrance and Iberia.

A short taxi. We wait until this guy takes off…

…and this one lands.

We're all set.

Pedal to the metal, and we race past the LAW hangar. The two dark, striped tails belong to the former Alas Uruguay B737s.

Airbound.

Currently, the lower building on the right is the domestic terminal. In the future all the buildings you see here will handle the national flights.

All the parking areas will be replaced by the international terminal.

According to Wikipedia, Kalitta Air is a cargo airline based in the US, in a city called Ypsilanti. I wonder Y. ^^

Costanera Norte passing over the road to the airport.

Stark contrast between the dry hills south west of Santiago and the flat, cultivated valley.

About 50km south of Santiago is Aculeo lagoon. I saw it in the news some months ago. It was drying off due to the draught and to its water being used for agriculture.

It's almost completely dry now. We have our own little Aral Sea here. :(

Rapel lake, formed by Rapel dam.

At this point, the FAs start the BOB service at the front of the plane. I wonder if they will make it to row 24 before we land!

In the meantime, I watch the garland of towns that lie by the Panamerican highway (aka 5 Sur), which runs along the valley that stretches for around 1000km from Santiago to Puerto Montt. Most of these towns depend almost exclusively on agriculture, such as San Vicente de Tagua Tagua…

…or Curicó. A plane carrying the Uruguayan rugby team from Montevideo to Santiago crashed in the mountains near Curicó on October 13, 1972. The survivors were rescued on December 23. How did they survive 72 days at a height of 3600 meters? What did they eat? Try to guess, and read about it.

Parral, where Pablo Neruda was born…

As we fly over Los Ángeles (the Chilean, much humbler version) the FAs finally make it to row 24.

I get my wrap…

…filled with beef and vegetables. But, unlike the previous time, it tastes quite good now.

Hm. Are we flying at a lower altitude this time, perhaps? Flightradar24.com says we aren't.

Anyways, I'll put half the wrap away until we arrive at the airport and see what happens.
We are soon above Galvarino, the only town in Chile where a language other than Spanish is also official: the language of the Mapuche people.

We start descending south-west towards Valdivia while river Toltén winds towards the Pacific ocean.

We fly through the clouds…

…and I get sight a familiar place below them.

Mehuín! I went there on a family trip for the first time only a couple of months ago!

It's a small fishing town. Yummy! You MUST try some of their wonderful fish and seafood at one of their many cocinerías at ridiculously low prices!

The neighborhood on the left is called Mississippi. Don't ask me why. Some gringo from Mississippi came and settled down here, perhaps?

We continue our descent. As you see, most of the native forest has been eliminated in Chile. You will find the last remnants of it in natural reserves, mainly in the moutains… and in Patagonia!!

The last…

…fields…

…before we…

…approach the runway…

…and touch down.

U-turn and short taxi.

I think I'll never find out what this is.

LATAM is already using the jetbridge on the left. We will surely use the one on the right.

Wrong. We stop on the left of the LATAM aircraft.

It's gonna be a long wait before I can deplane. But wait. The FA tells us that we are going to use both exits. Great!

I get some fantastic views of the plane.

The reason for the palm-tree desing is a mistery. We do have palm-trees in Chile, but not the slim, tropical kind depicted here.

Some people say that the airline was founded in Cuba. I think I read about that in the About us section of the airline's website, but the page has been updated since then.

We flock towards the terminal.

I think it's a nice livery.

I don't regret not having a jetbrige. It's a beautiful day. It's sunny, but breezy and cool. Perfect for a walk.

Last view of CC-AJG. You deserve a better crew, mate.

Hm! The boarding room is on the first (ground) floor. It's just hit me that the second floor is the jetbridge, not a room.

This man here is wearing a chupalla, the traditional hat of Chilean countrymen. It's not common, unless you own some land, have achieved some good economical status, and want to show off. Poor countrymen wear a straw chupalla.

The jetbridge we didn't use.

Two things: First, I think it's time to change this "Passenger arrival" sign. And second,, I hope my aircraft will never land as depicted by this pictogram.

People gather around the only baggage conveyor.

I'm carrying a backpack only, so I go straight to the main hall.

Pichoy (ZAL) is quite busy at the moment.

The transfer counters are located by the terminal exit.

The ticket says 4500 CLP, but I pay 3500 CLP only.

The vans are waiting outside. The black one is taking me to the south area of the city.

As we leave, I see the very scared canine passenger that was loaded into the cargo bay being cuddled by its mommy. It made it home safe and sound.
My last view of the airport.

It's time to finish my experiment. Will my wrap taste better down here? I take a bite.

Verdict: It tastes the same! I can feel no difference at all. Maybe the wrap from my previous flight was too cold, which made it tasteless. Actually, these wraps taste much better when served warm. So, I can't draw a conclusion right now.
Anyways… it's a wrap! ^^ Thanks for reading!

Tourism bonus - Valdivia from the air

Aeródromo Las Marías is a tiny airport barely five minutes from downtown Valdivia. No commercial airlines land here. However, among other important uses, it holds the headquarters of the Club Aéreo de Valdivia. They offer rides around the city or beyond for very reasonable prices. You can contact the club on their Facebook page. I want to share with you some of the pictures I took when I flew with them earlier this year. Enjoy!
We are flying on this Cessna Hawk XP II today.

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The runway points towards the center of Valdivia, which is on the other side of river Calle Calle.

Aeródromo Las Marías and its tiny taxiway.

River Calle Calle, coming from the left, splits into two arms called river Valdivia and river Cau Cau. The latter goes around Teja island, and rejoins river Valdivia at the point you see right behind the top of that white building—Dreams Hotel and Casino—. The sea is 15km beyond.

Downtown Valdivia (left) and Teja island (right) are linked by Pedro de Valdivia bridge.

Teja island is a tourist hotspot, with good restaurants and well-off residential areas. That line of yellowish trees (poplars) on the right is the access to the Southern University of Chile.

These boats at Schuster Dock will take you for a ride around Teja island or to other picturesque places near Valdivia.

The spot where rivers Valdivia and Cau Cau rejoin, at the west tip of Teja island. That bridge on the right…

…is Cruces bridge, leading to the coast. Two or three km beyond that bridge is Kunstmann brewery, a testimony to the local German heritage. (Lots of German immigrants came here in the 1800s.) Try their crudos (steak tartar), a traditional local dish that keeps wrinkling the noses and raising the eyebrows of visitors. Of course, you can just try some of their many kinds of beer!

On my left, I get a glimpse of some less attractive neighborhoods in the south-east side of the city. That's where I live.

We continue flying over humedales (wetlands), that resulted from land sinking after the 1960 earthquake. You can find more information on Wikipedia or the first five minutes of the movie San Andreas, with Dwayne Johnson. :D

We are turning right over the south end of the city, starting our way back to the airport.

We can see some of the newest…

…neighborhoods…

…in the city outskirts.

Since Valdivia is surrounded by rivers and wetlands, the best choice to expand is to the south.

This road is the salida sur (south exit) of the city.

On my left, downtown is at the far end of that wide street, Picarte Avenue.

We head back to the airport along Picarte Ave. over some new housing projects…

…and river Calle Calle.

That road on the left is the salida norte (north exit), which is…

…across the Calle Calle bridge. At the bottom of this picture you see Picarte Avenue and the Cementerio Alemán (German Cemetery). Across the river is the Centro de Alto Rendimiento (High Performance Training Center). Rowing is a popular sport here because of the river.

Calle Calle bridge and Picarte Avenue.

Picarte Avenue stretches towards the south, up to the salida sur.

We eventually fly across the river back to the airport.

U-turn to the right.

Facing the runway.

Going down, down, down…

…for the softest landing I have ever experienced!!

I hope you enjoyed this tour around the city. Thanks for reading!! :)