Quick facts: Capital city of Chile; GPS: -33.437827, -70.650501; GMT-4; Altitude: 1810′
Santiago – Last night I had a few reminders of a new reason I didn’t like that restaurant. Luckily, by the time I was ready to leave the hotel I was feeling better and ready to go. I ate breakfast at the hotel and packed my stuff. The hotel offered one free transfer so I took that to the airport and checked in for my flight.
I checked in at the counter after checking in at the kiosk which seemed like a useless step as it spit out a baggage ticket which I then had to take to the counter any way. Not sure why it all couldn’t be done in person but as I would later find out this seems to be a problem with Latam and their policies in general. I was sort of worried about this flight out of Cusco because of what I had read about flights being cancelled or pushed back due to weather and the tight time frame to connect in Lima. While checking in I asked about how much time I would need to connect in Lima and the lady wasn’t very helpful, she checked me in and that was it. I went to find a customer service desk and ask about what my options were so that I didn’t miss my flight and after some back and forth I was ultimately helped by someone who’s job was for something else. In the end I paid a small fee to get put on an earlier flight which gave me another 45 minutes to catch the flight in Lima. I had to go back to the same lady I started with and she issued me a new ticket. Again, not really sure why she couldn’t have just taken care of all this when I asked originally but I worked it out regardless. The weather was perfect so I was ready to go before anything changed .
Since I was taking an earlier flight I had to get to the gate ASAP as the flight was leaving shortly. Got through security and made it there with no problems. We all boarded and took off without issue. This flight is pretty quick and only lasts about 1.5 hours to get to Lima. Lima is not really a busy airport but since the next leg was an international flight I didn’t want to take any chances. I had to exit the airport and come back in to check in my bag since that was the other thing Latam seems uncapable of doing, checking my bag all the way through even though it was all their own flights. Not only did I have extra time because of the early flight but I had a business class voucher to the lounge since I was upgraded at a reduced price through an email Latam sent me a few days earlier.
Once I got through security and got my exit stamp to leave Peru I found the lounge. It was a nice place and I settled in to relax for a bit before the next flight. Some of the things they offered was a small selection of different foods, snacks, and drinks. Also with the voucher you’re entitled to a couple of drinks from the bar. I sampled most of the small finger foods and got a couple of beers while I waited. The time here went by quicker than I realized and before I knew it I had to make my way to the gate. I boarded the plane and we were off.
The flight to Santiago isn’t really that long at 3 hours but when is an upgrade not welcome? The seats were nice and I would love to travel like this more but in all my travels it’s only the second time I have been on this class level. Lunch was even served, I went with the fish.
The plane arrived into Chile a little before 19:00 local time, the sun had already set and it was overcast so I couldn’t see much of the city coming in. After going through customs and getting my bag I asked around about how I could catch the shuttle to my hotel since it includes a transport. The hotel I arranged was only a few minutes away since this is really just a long layover and I don’t plan on spending any time in town (this is not my first time in Santiago). I checked into the hotel and watched TV for a while before hitting the rack early once again to catch up on some sleep.