When I arrived at the small airport on Easter Island for my return flight to Santiago aboard a Boeing 787-9 “Dreamliner” airplane which was operated by LATAM Airlines, I found out that the flight was delayed by two hours — which means that passengers would not arrive back in mainland Chile until approximately 11:30 in the evening.
Ugh.
The Only Reason This Was Better Than Regular Economy on This Flight Was Because…
Even worse was that when I was given my boarding pass after checking in for the flight, I was assigned a seat in row 39 or 748 or something like that. In other words, when the airplane lands in Santiago, I will still be somewhere out over the Pacific Ocean halfway back to Easter Island…
…so I asked to change my seat to something closer to the front. The gate agent — there is only one gate at this airport — could not have been any more accommodating and pleasant when she assigned a seat to me in row 15.
“¡Gracias!”, I said, as she handed me my boarding pass with a smile.
I did not realize until I boarded the airplane that I was somehow upgraded to an Exclusivo seat.
Exclusivo seats have extra leg room.
They are also equipped with foot rests.
The room between the seats was enough for me to be able to take a photograph of the entire rear of the seat in front of me without having to contort myself.
The foot rests can be used not only to rest your feet; but also to further secure your belongings underneath the seat in front of you.
The Exclusivo seats are also closer to the door where boarding and exiting the aircraft occurs — meaning less time walking down the aisle of the airplane before and after the flight.
Other than those differences, the Exclusivo seats are exactly the same as the regular seats in the remainder of the economy class cabin.
Passengers in the economy class cabin — regardless of whether or not they were seated in Exclusivo seats — had a choice of two meals with crackers, a wedge of soft white cheese, and a lemon meringue square for dessert. One meal option was a ham and cheese sandwich…
…and the other was chicken with quinoa, which was my preference.
The chicken with quinoa was good; but it was ice cold — and not enough food was offered for the long flight. The meals were quickly handed out shortly after departure; and once the plates and trash was collected, the flight attendants never came around again except for handing out cups of water a couple of times. If a passenger was still hungry, cold ham and cheese sandwiches were available — but nowhere near the quality of the sandwiches which were given out during meal service. Think more of a sliver of ham with a sliver of cheese hidden in two slices of white bread with the crusts cut off.
No, thanks.
Sneak Peek in Business Class
I thought I would give you a peek of the business class cabin offered by LATAM Airlines aboard the Boeing 787-9 “Dreamliner” airplane.
Other than what is seen in the photographs, I have no further details about the actual service.
Summary
When I first saw where I was seated, I mistakenly thought that I was upgraded to a premium economy class product offered by LATAM Airlines — but it was little more than an economy class seat with extra legroom and a foot rest.
As I originally wrote in this article last month, the Boeing 787-9 Y+ “Dreamliner” airplane was clean and somewhat quieter than other Boeing and Airbus airplanes; and the air aboard the airplane did not feel as dry. I would certainly ride as a passenger on one again.
Although members of the flight crew of LATAM Airlines were pleasant and potentially engaging on an individual basis, the service was nothing extraordinary or memorable. The food and beverage offerings were forgettable — although marginally better than with the previous flight — and not enough for a flight of a duration of greater than five hours, in my opinion.
The experience was pleasant enough that I would consider flying as a passenger of LATAM Airlines again — but I would not go out of my way to do so…
All photographs ©2019 by Brian Cohen.
