#946337 by ColOrd
27 Sep 2018, 21:37
I have wanted to try out the very well known LATAM flight between Madrid and Frankfurt for a while and the opportunity finally come when I was burning some Avois and put together a geeky little trip, the full itinerary of which is as follows:

BA1441 Edinburgh - Heathrow - 767
IB3167 Heathrow - Madrid A330
Hotel in Madrid.
LA704 Madrid - Frankfurt 787
Hotel in Frankfurt
ICE up to Amsterdam and then:
BA443 Amsterdam - Heathrow.

Today was the LATAM day and I am so impressed that I wanted to share it with you.

I booked the LATAM flight itself as a revenue flight, and it cost me a total of £130, so hardly a bank breaker, and its quite commonly available for similar amounts.

I had flown Business with Iberia a few weeks earlier so I was well versed in Terminal 4 at Madrid. Straight through the Fast Track lane, although the dragon guarding the gate wasn't keen to allow LATAM customers in, her colleague soon put her right.

Straight through to the Iberia Lounge in T4S, it was mayhem when I arrived, but a Bogota, New York and Mexico City all called about the same time and it was back to being a haven of calm. I really like this lounge and it shows what IAG CAN do. (Saying that, I had a really good time the previous day in T5B Galleries!)

I wanted a bit of duty free so I headed out and had an explore. I had seen my flight come in and park up as S44, so a trek to the end of the building. Boarding was just about to start and a lot of weary passengers who had come from Santiago were all queued up in the lines for each set of rows. There was no one in the business line, so I dived in. I cannot comment on the boarding process other than business was smooth.

Welcomed on to the flight by their Flight Service Manager, crew introduced themselves to new passengers, so the crew clearly work this flight all of the way through and had a very good relationship with their existing passengers.

CC used names with passengers which I thought was good, and even this 800 mile hop J Class pax were given a welcome drink. It was a Chilean champagne which was really delicious!

Cabin is 2-2-2 business class lie flat seats. A bit behind the times with the 2-2-2 layout, but the seats were comfy. IFE was a bit limited, but I didnt intend on using it other than for maps, which themselves were a bit limited compared to what I am used to.

Food was a light meal, now, I should comment here, that it was disappointing that there was one option, unless you had pre-booked a special Veggie or Vegan meal. I skipped the pork, but the cheese, walnuts and crackers were lovely. The Raspberry and Chocolate tart was simply to die for!

The crew were very very proud of their wine knowledge and of the Chilean wines they had on board. It was clear they had a good level of understanding and my glass didnt go empty for the whole two hours.

We broke land again over Marseilles, and then proceeded over the Alps. Other than going over Greenland on West Coast flights, I don't ever recall such a breathtaking view from a plane. I would do this flight again just to watch the view.

Continuing North we got a great view of Frankfurt as we landed from the East and straight onto Stand in Terminal 1, through and in the hotel within about 20 minutes.

Overall I loved this flight, the views were outstanding and blew me away, but the service was on point from a crew who had been working for a long time and represented great value for Money. Would I consider them on a proper long haul? 100%, however, I would like to see them get direct aisle access!
Virgin Atlantic

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