Welcome to this trip report, I hope you like it! This flight is the second leg of my BOG-LIM-SCL-EZE flight. It was on a LAN Airlines Boeing 767 with brand new interiors.
So…that morning I arrived from BOG on a LAN Peru night flight from BOG. I got there at 4.30 AM and I still had four more hours for my SCL flight.
FIDS
Air Europa A330
As I still had a lot of time I wandered through de terminal, I spotted some planes, and read my book for a while. When there was just an hour for the boarding to start I decided to find out which gate was I departing from (all my boarding pass was printed in BOG). So I heard a lady who was talking to an agent and he told her there gate was on the opposite side of the terminal, so I decided to follow her.
When I got there, there were a lot of people waiting to get in. There is a door which separates the international from de domestic airside terminal. Even there was a LAN agent waiting the door to be opened. The plane was already oustide.
Once they opened the boarding lounge, the agent told us to sit and wait for the boarding to begin.
Meanwhile I could watch the whole boarding process. How the agents perform their tasks, how they detect which passengers is going to need assistance, the ones who travel with little children, the ones who carry big carry-on luggage which needs to be dispatched, and so..I was entertained for a while. Finally at 7.50 the boarding was started.
Boarding call
As I said, the plane was a Boeing 767-300 with brand new interiors! The registration is CC-BDD. I found it very nice and comfortable. On my flight from EZE to LIM some weeks ago I flew the Boeing 767 with the older seats and you could note the difference.
Cabin interiors
Legroom and electric outlet
At 8.40 the plane was taken to the north side of the runway, and after the departure of a really small aircraft and the arrival of an A319 we could take off.
At 8.50 am we took off and headed south
Some minutes later we headed southeast. I explored the new IFE PTVs, which is really cool! It has touch screens, and no remote control. There is a wide variety of film, TV series and music. There are also some tourism documentaries.
Then I found a travel documentary about dining and gourmet places in my city, Rosario. So I took a picture of a part they were showing a fish restaurant which is near my home and we dine frequently there. It’s called “Puerto Gaboto”.
Most of these documentaries were about LAN (and its subsidiaries) hub and focus cities.
Then they served the breakfast. It included a ham and cheese sandwich (cold, not hot at the one I was served from EZE to LIM), some fruit pieces (very good!), crackers, jam and butter. Pretty similar to the breakfast I had on the other flight. The sandwich was smaller. The drinks were Juan Valdez coffee, tea, juice and water. It caught my attention that most of the crew (100% Chilean) were adult ladies (+50), way older that I was used to see in LAN’s flights. But I think this is very positive because for me, experience and attitude matters the most. It reminded me, some years ago when I flew American Airlines from EZE to MIA all the FAs were ladies in their 40’s – 50’s. Even one of them was retiring after that flight!
Breakfast
After an hour and something I could see land below us, and the captain announced we’ll be landing soon. We entered Chile by La Serena.
At 13.55 we landed
The first that caught my attention were the planes parked far away. I could see a QF 747. Then we passed near an Aeromexico 787. They started flying this aircraft to SCL a couple of days before.
It was funny that, that day I could spot all the “latin” 787. At BOG I spotted Avianca’s plane, they had started flying it some days before. Then at SCL I saw this Aeromexico. Then I finally flew LAN’s 787 to EZE (next trip report).
So we parked near another LAN 767.
It was my first time at SCL. I had already been to Santiago, but that time I came by land. I was a bit disappointed. The terminal looked a bit old-fashioned and used, same as EZE’s Terminal A which needs a refreshing.
As there was sill 2 hours for my next flight, I walked through the terminal and found the plan that will take me to EZE, the CC-BBI.
Well, it was all by now. In the next days I’ll be uploading my report on a 787 from SCL to EZE across the Andes.
I hope you enjoyed this TR!
See you soon!
Thanks for the FR!
It looks like LAN has a really good product. The newly refurbished cabin looks good and the 2-3-2 layout of the 763s is always pretty comfortable for Y. To see a real glass glass on a meal tray in economy is shocking.
Older crews aren't always a bad thing since they have far more experience, provide more consistent service (contrary to what some airlines believe, a pretty face can't always cover up deficiencies in service), and it shows that the airline treats them well enough to keep them there.
It's always nice to have a widebody for a regional flight. A 767 with new seats must be a comfortable ride. The cabin looks really modern for a 767 with the Boeing Sky Interior and new seats with IFE. The meal also looks good for this regional flight. How fancy that you got a real glass in Y! Thanks for sharing this next leg in your trip!
Hello. I couldn't agree more when you say that Santiago airport needs to be updated. And it's not only a matter of giving it a hand of paint. Some essential services, like decent transportation, are just inexistent at this airport! I can't believe that an airport serving a city of seven million inhabitants is not connected to the metro, for example. On any given day you must queue for ages in order to take one of the buses going to Santiago. Thank goodness I have never been there when the airport is really crowded!
There are plans, though, to enlarge it and modernize it. Three years ago they said the new buildings would be ready in 2019. Now they say the project will be completed by 2020. Hmmm... I hope I'll live to see it. :/
Here's a video with some information about the plans for the airport: http://www.t13.cl/videos/nacional/nuevo-aeropuerto-santiago-tendra-estacionamientos-cobren-minuto