When heading to South America, you don’t have the wide range of choices you’ll find for Europe. You’ve got the US carriers, three main South American ones, then a few serving just one or two countries. The largest one is of those is LATAM Airlines, based in Chile. Unlike Avianca, it has kept the characteristics of a full-service legacy airline all along and it has a good business class product for all international flights.
I have flown LATAM multiple times since Luxury Latin America launched nearly two decades ago. I’ve flown them to the Atacama Desert, to Santiago and back for skiing and wine, and back from Santiago after a Scenic Eclipse cruise in South America. My latest journey was all the way down to Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales for hiking and boat tours around Patagonia.
I used to say that LATAM will nearly always give you a superior flying experience if you choose them over their American counterparts flying to South America, but their regular economy offerings have gotten more cramped and United has upped its game quite a bit, so it can be a toss-up now between those two in the back of the plane.
In the front they’re quite good though and this airline often wins awards. For six years in a row as I write this, they’ve won “best airline in South America” in the annual Skytrax survey, which is the most respected one out there, based on user reviews. They also got accolades for their staff and were called out for their excellent lie-flat business class seats with doors and a premium economy section that’s better than most.
LATAM came about with the merger in 2012 of Lan Airlines of Chile and Tam airlines of Brazil. (Not to be confused with Tame — pronounced TAH-may — the main airline of Ecuador.) The airline flies to 65 destinations in 26 countries, including all the way to Australia and New Zealand. They fly to 6 US destinations and 2 Mexican ones, plus Costa Rica in Central America and 7 countries in Europe.
Besides the extensive international routes, they also operate robust domestic routes in several countries.
Based in Chile, they have around 300 planes and also have hubs in Lima and Sao Paulo. You’ll often end up stopping in one of those on the way to Chile if you’re headed there, so factor that into your plans. It’s a plus if you are stopping off, not so great if it just lengthens the time it takes to get to where you’re going and has you sitting around in the middle of the night.
On the Plane in South America
The main downside of LATAM is clear if you’re sitting in the back of the plane. Even on a long-haul flight, the economy seat pitch has been squeezed to the point where it feels like a domestic budget airline flight on the likes of Allegiant or Viva Aerobus. According to the seat maps you can find online, you usually only get 31 inches when the seats are not reclined, despite seats that aren’t very thick and have a carve-out design to fit in more of them. Then when the person in front of you leans back, that person is practically in your lap.
If you bump it up to premium economy, you’ll get 35 inches, which doesn’t exactly feel generous. Business class can vary widely but the newest configuration is more than double that, at 75 inches, with lie-flat set-ups for sleeping.
This is one of those airlines that uses a 3X3X3 configuration in economy too, which means one-third more middle seats to get stuck in than on an airline that uses a 2X4X2 option. I managed to avoid that, but more of my flights were full than not, so it’s a serious consideration, especially for a couple who can’t sit together without one of the two being in a middle seat.
On the plus side, my flights had a great seat-back entertainment system with a 15-inch screen and a wide selection of movies, including current releases and classics. There was music I could listen to if I wanted, games to play, and an ongoing map of where we were on the globe. The airline got the nod for “Best Inflight Entertainment in South America” at the latest edition of the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) Awards.
Meals were just so-so, enough to keep us refueled but nothing they served was memorable. Here’s one example below and I can’t even remember what it was. Some kind of meat, rice, and an apple pastry dessert. They did serve wine with dinner though and the service was friendly. Kudos to LATAM for not using so much plastic as many competitors: the eating utensils were made of bamboo.
In my experience, service on the planes was much better than outside them. Check-in and boarding were often chaotic and in Lima the gate agents confiscated all the bottles of water people had just bought (despite the fact they didn’t serve much on the upcoming flight.) Naturally you’re going to have an easier time of it if holding a business class ticket, especially if checking a bag at the counter.
Domestic LATAM Flights
Based in Chile and Brazil, the airline is strongest in those two countries, but they also cover many other countries in South America.
Chile: 19 destinations stretching from the Atacama Desert down to Tierra del Fuego in southern Patagonia.
Brazil: Over the past decade, connections here have doubled from 12 to 24 destinations and the domestic flights within the country can be quite a deal in that market, which is more competitive than most.
Argentina: Their coverage here has dropped over the years and is now just to the four largest cities in the northern half of the country. For whatever reason, there’s no connection between Chile and Argentina within Patagonia on this airline or the Argentine one.
Peru: 18 routes in Peru hitting the tourist and business destinations throughout.
Ecuador: a smaller footprint here serves 3 mainland cities plus the Galapagos Islands.
Colombia: competing on Avianca’s home turf, LATAM serves 13 cities via Bogota and internal flights are a deal.
LATAM also flies to Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia.
See the full route breakdown here.
International Destinations for LATAM
This airline has gotten larger and more ambitious over the years and now has an impressive number of international flights, including ones stretching to Australia and Europe.
North America: currently flying to more 8 North American destinations, with flight options including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Mexico City.
Europe: flying to destinations in Portugal, Spain, Italy France, Germany, UK, and Netherlands.
Africa, New Zealand and Australia: one flight connects Brazil with South Africa, which will go daily in April 2019. Other routes connect Chile with new Zealand and two Australian cities.
There are a few dead spots on that route in the Americas. In some cases you will be better off flying on Copa Airlines, Avianca, or even Aeromexico, especially for Central America.
Business Class on LATAM
You’ll get properly pampered on long-haul flights with this airline, including lie-flat bed seats, good food, and a renowned wine selection. Prices are often the same or better than with U.S. airlines and since LATAM has continually improved its service in the front of the plane (unlike its South American rivals), this is usually your best bet in the region.
The experience can vary greatly depending on the plane and configuration though. You would often previously get 2 X 2 X 2 seating, which left singles sitting next to someone they didn’t know. Now they’ve remedied that with a 1 X 2 X 2 set-up that’s more standard across the industry and they’re the first in Latin America to install partitions and doors in the newest design to provide more privacy. (Though unfortunately, if you’ve got a wide body, the seats looked awfully narrow to me in person and do in this official airline photo below too.)
The set-up is often not as uniform as it looks above though so pick your seat carefully. Some aisle ones are close together for couples, others sit next to the aisle. Some of the window ones are up against the exterior of the aircraft while others have their extra space there.
These Boeing Dreamliner set-ups are getting favorable reviews overall though and that’s good for North Americans since this is what you’ll get now if flying from the USA or Mexico. You’ll get an 18-inch media screen, multiple charging outlets, an amenity kit that’s well-stocked, and full meals with Chilean wine (two whites, two reds) and other options.
There’s a lot of info on the company website about the biz class options, including video, seat configurations, and meal menus.
What is the LATAM Airline Alliance Situation?
LATAM used to be part of the OneWorld alliance, so you could earn or use those miles here with the same partnership that includes American Airlines, Qantas, British Air, and others. On one of my flights last decade, I was able to use my AAdvantage miles to book all the way to Salta.
Unfortunately, the situation has gotten a lot more limited since then. LATAM is not a partner with any worldwide alliance now thanks to an investment from Delta that voided the other arrangement. They didn’t join Skyteam though, instead forging singular alliances with Delta and Alaska Air.
So now there’s a mixed patchwork of partners, some of them in the OneWorld alliance, some of them not. The most notable ones for North America are Delta, Alaska, and Aeromexico.
I did earn Delta points from my flights, but a rather paltry amount despite the distance and multiple segments since it’s based on price paid and fare class, not how long you were in the plane or how far you went. So with all my legs of going from Los Angeles to the bottom of South America and back, four separate flights on the way back, I received a grand total of 7,875 points. Obviously you’ll get closer to a free flight much faster if you’re using the Amex credit card.
Redemptions are a better deal though, with some fliers reporting that they got a business class ticket between the USA and Chile for as little as 40K miles one way, a true bargain. If you work it out right, that could include a stopover in Lima or Santiago as well. That credit card above is offering a 50K signup bonus right now, so that could be enough to get you to Patagonia or Atacama.
Check the company website at www.latam.com for frequent sale promotions and check prices against others at Skyscanner. Most of the time, the LATAM prices are compatible or better, especially in the front of the plane.
