Review: LATAM A321 Economy Santiago- Sao Paulo
Intro
For the next portion of my LATAM adventure, I would be taking a flight from Santiago, Chile to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Ever since I was a kid, this route has fascinated me due to the flight path consisting of flying over the Andes. Perhaps some individuals reading know about Infinite Flight? My favorite route would always consist of either GRU/EZE-SCL or vice versa.
Once again, LATAM hit the nail on the head with this flight. Even if the flight was severely oversold, they provided an incredible experience on this 4-hour hop over to Sao Paulo.
Let's get right into it.
Route- Santiago- Sao Paulo
Plane- A320
Seat- 24F
Flight Number- LA750
Date- March 22nd 2024
Flight Time: 3 Hours 42 Minute
Price Paid- Around 700$ (4 legs)(It's complicated)
How I Booked
Number one rule of flying: If your plans aren't flexible do not book book through a third-party agency such as Expedia. Well, guess what I had to do was book through Expedia. As you will read about in the upcoming week, LATAM is a fantastic airline but they also don't accept payments for one-way bookings, other people have had this issue as well😒.
My original ticket was booked on the exact route on the 24th of March. The total came out to 326$ for a one-way fare in economy. However, due to changing my ticket, I had to pay a cancellation fee of 175$ before I could use my trip credit to switch onto the flight to GIG. The differential came out to 338$ additional dollars. To add to that, I paid an extra 15$ to select a seat, which, of course, never got refunded😒. My fault though, not LATAM's.
Boarding
Somehow, somehow, I managed to make it through the 100 people in transit immigration. By this time it was already 3:10 pm and I had to trek to departures. It was a good thing I used to be a cross-country runner😅. After my flight from La Paz, I was getting quite tired with two flights still to go today!
Once I arrived at the gate it must have been around 3:20 pm and they had only just begun boarding. I quickly grabbed a snack and used the toilet before joining the back of the queue.
Countless people were pulled aside to be told that they had to take another flight. Every single seat was booked on this flight and more. To follow that, they were gate-checking bags as well and attempted to take mine. I mentioned I had a tight layover in Sao Paulo and "My apologies but that isn't going to work".
By 3:40 pm I was stuck on the jetbridge like the I-495 to the Hamptons on a Thursday afternoon during summer. Slowly but surely at the pace of a snail, I made it onto the plane.
Once again, LATAM, you will never fail to impress me! Waiting upon my window seat was a blanket and pillow. With a flight time of about 3 hours, this was a very generous touch for economy passengers!
Departure
By 3:54 pm boarding was completed and the boarding doors were closed.
12 minutes later we pushed back, about 23 minutes behind schedule. For once in my life, a delay worked in my favor. I should buy a lottery ticket for how lucky I have been on this trip😅.
5 minutes later we were rolling out to the SCL runway to depart South.
It was interesting to see a couple of American Airlines Dreamliners down here, especially since I came back 2 days later and the same ones were there as well!
After an inbound aircraft landed we lined up at 4:23 pm bound for Brazil!
A minute later we departed. From what I heard, I believe we were quite heavy this afternoon due to it being a full flight plus added cargo.
We banked right and headed out over some mountains. Not entirely sure, but I believe most flights do this when leaving Santiago to gain altitude to cross the Andes, I could be completely wrong (please don't hold it against me😅).
Here is a better look at the Santiago airport!
Preparing for the Andes crossing.
Andes Crossing
Once we gained enough altitude, we banked right again. There was an announcement from the cabin crew stating that due to the crossing of the Andes, service would begin after.
After the amount of cloud I have experienced, I treasured every ray of sunshine I got🥰.
I'll attach a couple more pictures from the crossing to a slideshow! Truly memorable although there was some moderate chop.
One thing I have to mention, which sort of bugged me. There was a man behind me who must have taken a hundred pictures as we crossed the Andes. It's beautiful I get it, everyone wants pictures. However, the sound was on for his iPhone which resulted in numerous loud snaps. It was not the end of the world, and I felt bad since I didn't think he knew.
Once over the Andes, the views remained gorgeous.
A perfect day for flying. 0 turbulence after the crossing, at least until descent😅.
Meal Service
Erm, how do I put this? Due to a long day of flying, I dozed off and woke up at the sunset🥴. This means I didn't see what was on the menu for today's flight. However, I do know that LATAM offers a meal in economy during this flight as someone across the aisle had finished when I woke up. My apologies, I was exhausted🤨.
IFE
I know I know, I didn't show you the IFE for the last flight. However, good news! I took a couple of pictures on this flight! I have to keep you readers on your toes😅.
Here is what the map looked like. It's very simple to connect; head over to the wifi and it pops up. If not, just type in the URL play.latam.com
There were plenty of great options for movies with new releases such as Barbie and more!
The one thing I will mention is how patchy it was throughout the map update. Every time I refreshed the map to update it, it would show "server stopped responding". However, once I disconnected and reconnected, it worked fine again.
The Seat/Cabin
During this report, I won't go into too much depth when it comes to the cabin. Feel free to check out my flight with LATAM from La Paz to Santiago if you are interested. All the details are there, and they are vastly similar!
However, due to my carry-on bag being in the very last row and me ahead; I ended up being last off of the plane. Not all is lost as I got some shots of the cabin.
The only small difference between the A320 and A321 is that the seats seem to have a bit more padding in the belly and the head area.
The pitch remained very similar.
The cabin does look sleek, I'll give LATAM that!
When it comes to premium economy, there are a couple of rows. The difference consists of a blocked middle seat/extra legroom as well as other added benefits.
Even though I prefer the A321, I do think that the A321 had tighter legroom than the A320. Perhaps not or perhaps, I didn't bring out the measuring tape for this😂.
Woah! Turquoise safety card! Turquoise is my favorite color along with pink, it matches my hoodie! There was a tray table that popped out as well making for a good napping surface😅. Does anyone else ever do this?
Sunset
Due to the perfect departure time and perfect arrival time, we were able to witness an unbelievable sunset.
Thanks to low cloud cover across Brazil, there was nothing interfering with these views!
Just a couple more pictures as the sun goes down- Hey Alexa queue Sun Goes Down Robin Schulz!😅
Arrival
By 7:24 pm local time, we were on initial descent into Sao Paulo (GRU). Sao Paulo is a crazy airport which also means there can be a line to land.
The city lights shined upon us. Not as cool as my flight on Sansa, but excitement filled my mind. Brazil holds a very special place in my heart. I hadn't been since March 2020, but I had the most incredible time at Awasi in Iguazu and the FS. Why did you close the FS in Sao Paulo? It is so sad😅.
We had a bumpy approach yet again. There was an extremely low cloud cover, resulting in some chop on the descent.
However, we managed to make it onto the ground with a relatively good landing. Props to the captain as the conditions weren't great.
By 7:58 pm we had pulled into the gate.
Since my bag was in the very back of the plane, I didn't think it was worth it to try and push my way to save myself an extra few minutes at immigration. I decided just to be patient.
There was a ridiculous line for international transfers, but luckily, there were only about 5 people ahead of me in the international passport immigration.
With two hours to kill before boarding, let's explore Sao Paulo GRU!
Final Thoughts
Another fantastic flight onboard LATAM Airlines. Thinking back on the flight, I realize there is nothing I can really fault them for. Amenities-wise, there was a blanket and a pillow on a 3-hour flight. Regarding the meal service; a full meal was offered on this flight along with drinks. IFE consists of a decent network, albeit a little glitchy, and fantastic views over the Andes/sunset.
I think LATAM offers a very competitive product in the South American market and wouldn't hesitate to fly with them again. To add to that, I find the FA's to be warm and charming, unlike my experience with Avianca😒.
JETTOAJET SCALE
Meal Service | 7.5/10 |
Seat (24F) | 8/10 |
IFE | 7.5/10 |
Ground Experience | 8.5/10 |
Overall Service | 8.5/10 |
Total | 40/50 |
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