Review of Sky Airline flight from Santiago to Valdivia in Economy

So, was the concert good?
It was absolutely FANTASTIC!
The BEST OF THE BEST!!
It was two unforgettable hours of singing and dancing like there's no tomorrow!
In fact, I still feel a little ashamed/amused when I think of my behavior during the concert. An adult guy screaming and waving his arms at his favorite artist like a teenage girl gone mad?? I'm sure that even Jay Kay rolled his eyes when he was singing Seven Days In Sunny June, which is a slow song, and during a long "youuuuuu…" he suddenly streched his arm toward the place where I was, and I started leaping and yelling and waving my arms in the air while everybody else around me was quietly enjoying the song. It was impossible not to see me from the other side of the Movistar Arena!! XDDD

Before we board my plane back home, let me share some photos of my weekend in a brief…

FUNKY PRE-FLIGHT BONUS

Early morning on the day of the concert - December, Sat 16 - I pay a reconnaissance visit to the concert venue.

As shown in my previous report, the Movistar Arena is in the middle of a large park in downtown Santiago.

The park is a nice place and Santiago is not the usual frantic pandemonium on Saturday mornings, but it's gonna be a hot day today - around 35°C - and I don't have to cope with that if I'm just 2 hours away from the much cooler coast.

So I dash to Parque O'Higgins Metro station - just outside the park entrance - and in 30 minutes I'm on a bus that takes me on a supersonic ride to my beloved Viña del Mar!

The road is beautiful. There are vineyards…

…and more vineyards.

In fact, Viña del Mar means Vineyard of the Sea!

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The O’Higgins Hotel, which used to host the stars performing at the Viña del Mar festival.

Those old carriages are very popular among tourists here, especially among couples. So romantic. :P

I don't think I will ever go on a ride on one of those. I prefer to stay away from the foolosophy of love. :D

However, Viña is a wonderful place to go for a stroll.

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Of course, some corners are quieter…

…than others.

Wondering where stormtroopers go for their holidays? Viña is VERY popular, indeed!

At lunchtime I come across an offer of grilled octopus posted outside this Peruvian restaurant, which doesn’t look like anything special. But the price, 8000 CLP (13 USD) is tempting, so I get in, hoping for the best…

…and I get this! The whole eight tentacles on a bed of potatoes prepared with God knows what heavenly Andean spices. A very nice surprise. And the mango juice was equally good.

That grilled octopus was… dynamite!!

The concert is at 9, so at around 4pm I take the bus back to Santiago…

…and get to the Movistar Arena at around 7. Very good timing. From what I see here, fans will make use of any means of transport to attend a Jamiroquai concert!

O’Higgins park is in the midst of a mostly residential area in downtown Santiago.

I can hear the music from loudspeakers from here. Jamiroquai, of course. How exciting! Been a fan of this band since the early nineties and I’m gonna see them for the first time live!

“Official merchandise”? Make way!

The crowd is just starting to gather. A sound test is under way.

I wanted a seat down there, in the corner in the lower left, but even though I purchased the ticket back in October, almost all the seats were taken!

Half an hour before the concert…

…the place is packed.

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And the concert starts!! Oh my God!! There he is!! It's Jay Kay!!!!

The repertoire includes all the songs I like the most! I'm ecstatic!!

When the concert finishes we demand for one more song. The whistling is deafening! The band comes out again and plays…

…Deeper Underground, from the Godzilla movie soundtrack.

What a fantastic evening! I can hardly sleep that night, but early the next day I have to take…

The flight back home

The next day (Sunday) I find that both west piers of the future international terminal are…

…slowly taking shape…

…and there is a lot of building work going on at the place where…

…the "main body" of the terminal will be.

Everything seems to be alright at SCL! :D

There are lots of new signs everywhere, reminding passengers of some restrictions, like not taking taxis on the third floor…

…or feeding stray dogs or pigeons.

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On the domestic side I can see three interesting specimens on the right.

From right to left, an Aerovías DAP BAe I would love to fly on, a Peruvian aircraft that must be a charter because that airline has no regular flights to Chile afaik, and a 737-300 that used to belong to the now defunct Latin American Wings.

Yes. I posted this Latin American Wings report last year, when it was a promising airline. They tried to stick to a legacy model, with nice free meals and lots of leg room, but the fierce competition from LCCs like Sky and JetSmart, plus the bad reputation it earned for its role in the immigration of thousands of people from Haiti who stayed in the country illegally, finally made it go belly up. Really sad. I was lucky to be able to fly with them once. Their FAs had the best English I have heard among Chilean FAs. BTW, I was going to fly with LAW last January, but they canceled all domestic flights only days before my flight, which jeopardized all my plans for the summer (and for the nine reports that will originate from them!). Luckily, I was able to find a ticket with JetSmart!
We can’t feed the dogs, but we can kill ourselves, right?? >:(

It’s a placid Sunday morning in Santiago, and also inside SCL.

A very short queue for screening. In spite of this, here’s where the most terrible thing happens to me. I just don’t want to remember!

I go through screening, come down those stairs and sit here. I take this photo and go to the nearest restroom. When I’m leaving the restrooms I realize that… nooooooo!!!… Where did I put my Jamiroquai baseball cap???!!!!! I frantically search everywhere… to no avail. I'VE LOST MY JAMIROQUAI CAP!!!!! I’m devastated!!! :’’’’(

I still have the one I got from the official merchandise store, but the one I lost was one that I bought in the street, and I liked it more than the official one. I’m so stupid! I went back to the security checkpoint, but nobody saw it. And even today I can’t remember where I left it. I’m going old. :’’’(
There's nothing I can do. Dejected, disheartened, my eyes on the floor, I drag my feet around the boarding room like an automaton.

Where am I supposed to go? Ah, gate 27.

What could cheer me up? Who could throw me a lifeline?

Of course! Why didn't I think of it before?! This loss is a great excuse to attend another Jamiroquai concert somewhere else in the world, and write a new, unexpected report! What a great idea!
SCL has just started a book swap project. I have lots of books at home, but I feel a bit attached to them. I don’t think I could give them away. :/

Maybe if I get some old books from the old book district in San Diego street and leave them here next time? You should visit that place. It’s one of my favorite places in Santiago. Millions of second hand books and vinyl records!

Before long it’s time to board.

Much to my dismay…

…the single line boarding scheme has come to stay. :(

Good old CC-AFY! If you haven’t read my older reports, you might not know that CC-AFY took me to beautiful La Serena last year, where I indulged in all kinds of papaya candy and beverages. It also took me on a roller-coaster-like ride when we tried to land at ZAL with thick fog, and had to be diverted to ZCO. Aahh… memories.

I usually leave some information from flightradar24.com - where I have a silver account with this purpose - at the beginning of each flight. Unfortunately, flight-report.com’s server had a hiccup last week and swallowed my screenshot, so I have to get some help from flightaware.com, which keeps older records.

We taxi past the planes I saw earlier. R.I.P Latin American Wings.

My guess that this was a Peruvian Airlines charter flight was correct. According to desdescl.com, this airline’s only scheduled international destination at the moment is La Paz, Bolivia. They are planning to fly to Santiago, but the LIM - SCL route is already served by five different airlines. Maybe now that LAW is out of the way?

While this long French visitor is being towed, giggles fill the cabin when one of the female FAs forgets that the PA system mike is still on…

…and she candidly asks another FA 'Toy media chascona, no cierto? ("My hair is a bit messy, right?")

I think this is the most interesting place at SCL. The junk yard! What fascinating things there must be there! Too bad my cellphone doesn’t get good close-ups.

The building work at SCL…

…seems to have included…

…the runways and streets.

But I’m not sure…

…what they are building here.

Anyway, this asphalt looks new.

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And here we go. We’d better hurry, because…

…"time won’t wait for you, keeps on tickin’ away, burnin’ up ev’ry day"!

We take flight towards the south…

…past Chena hills, which flank the south of the Santiago valley.

Talagante is a town south-west of Santiago. Never been there, but when I do some research for this report I learn about the local colorful handmade pottery figurines depicting everyday life in the countryside. It's an old tradition, but it's the first time I hear about it! Why do we Chileans know nothing about our own land??!! It’s outrageous!! So guess where I’ll be going next time I visit the area!

You can visit a virtual museum with 360° samples of these figurines.

South of Talagante is the flat top of Cantillana hill. I had no idea there were trekking and horseback excursions to the top! You can download a brochure (in Spanish) with beautiful sights of the place!

South of the hill is Carén tailings dam and, a bit closer to the sea, lake Rapel, where I used to go fishing with my uncles.

Back onboard, the BOB service has started. I think I’ll give these cheese and basil scones a try.

For some unknown reason, every time I have tried a salty pastry at SCL or aboard a Chilean airline it’s been an utter disappointment. No flavor at all. Just extremely salty!

The engine is about to swallow Linares when I notice something funny.

See that face? She’s peeking from behind the bulkhead waiting for instructions from the other FAs to warm this or that sandwich during the BOB. It’s very funny because she tries not to be noticed, but the effect is exactly the opposite! XDD

According to some airlines’ standards, I’m travelling Business Class today. Great for my little souvenir of the concert! :D

From above Victoria, in spite of the limitations of my cellphone…

…I can see Mocha island, which can be reached on a 12-minute flight from the town of Tirúa. Only recently tourism has become an important activity on the island. Some interesting websites here and here.

Banking to the right, we get closer to the sea.

The Queule area…

…and Mehuín, both only a bit north of Valdivia.

And we finally descend towards ZAL.

The lovely corner of the earth…

…that I call home…

…smiles at me.

A smooth landing is the grand finale…

…for this funky weekend adventure.

Where will CC-AFY take me next time?

Who knows.

For the time being, I will just shake it on!!! :D