PaulST
Established Member
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2014
- Posts
- 1,194
Hi all, I’m over in NZ for a conference (RANZCP national conference if anyone else is going) and thought I’d try out LAN’s trans-Tasman J class in their new 787-8. QF’s hard product seems to struggle here with their narrow bodies vs LAN’s 788, EK’s A380/777s and I’m assuming NZ have wide-bodied as well as narrows on this route. The ticket was, IIRC, $540 one-way which was the same as QF J (on 738s). Unfortunately I couldn’t get a QF flight number of the LAN flight (for the extra SCs and points) unless I wanted to pay $1050 for the fully flex fare.
Here's the video and more comments below.
[video=youtube;VowKZgBPgNQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VowKZgBPgNQ[/video]
Anyway, you start with priority check-in which was great as the line was quite long. It’s staffed by QF check-in staff who were quick and friendly (this is a hint to my thoughts of LAN’s service on the flight…) and directed me towards the express path and the Qantas Business Class lounge (LAN don’t have their own lounge). The QF lounge was good and a pleasant place to spend an hour and a half before boarding.
Boarding was a mess with J passengers welcomed to board with families with young kids and the Catholic church’s (which is quite influential in S. America) attitude towards birth control was quite evident. I was greeted on board and directed to row two.
The seats are quite large and the cabin is quite spacious. The first thing I noticed was how upright the seat back was. I was able to sneak it to a more comfortable angle before takeoff, fortunately. A OJ arrived but other than the initial greeting (not by name, which I’ve had a QF and CX J short-haul), the FAs weren’t all that friendly. This was possible a language issue as they were far more chatty with the Spanish speaking passengers. Shortly after take-off, the breaky arrived which was only average (dry bread and frozen cheese). Fortunately I had a lot in the lounge beforehand so I wasn’t worried. There was only one drink offered throughout the flight and after my food was taken, I had no interaction with the FAs until they rather forcefully adjusted my seat for landing (no smile or request, they just leant over and pressed the landing button on the seat adjustment panel and stared up at the roof)…
One of the Y FAs, in particular was quite unpleasant. She walked through J on two occasions when I was in the isle and she looked straight through me (I usually make eye contact and say hello, as I understand how much people in the service industry are under recognized), and did the same later in the flight.
There’s heaps of space and the angle-flat seat seemed fairly flat to me (more so than the QF Mk1 seat). An unfortunate side-effect of such expansive leg room is that the TV screen is a long way away. There was also a minimal amount of TV/movies (quite a few of the series were quite a few years old, ie. Game of Thrones was Series 4). The seat’s massage feature also doesn’t work very well. While the system works fine in the Skybed mk2, the one here feels like someone has accidentally knee’d you from behind (like when you’re in economy and the guy behind adjusts himself in his chair).
The flight itself was smooth and I still believe that the Dreamliner has one of the best engine notes.
Unfortunately I wasn’t that impressed with every other aspect of LAN and won’t be flying them again.
I’m returning to SYD in EK F so on Wed so I’ll be sure to have a trip report up later this week for that
Here's the video and more comments below.
[video=youtube;VowKZgBPgNQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VowKZgBPgNQ[/video]
Anyway, you start with priority check-in which was great as the line was quite long. It’s staffed by QF check-in staff who were quick and friendly (this is a hint to my thoughts of LAN’s service on the flight…) and directed me towards the express path and the Qantas Business Class lounge (LAN don’t have their own lounge). The QF lounge was good and a pleasant place to spend an hour and a half before boarding.
Boarding was a mess with J passengers welcomed to board with families with young kids and the Catholic church’s (which is quite influential in S. America) attitude towards birth control was quite evident. I was greeted on board and directed to row two.
The seats are quite large and the cabin is quite spacious. The first thing I noticed was how upright the seat back was. I was able to sneak it to a more comfortable angle before takeoff, fortunately. A OJ arrived but other than the initial greeting (not by name, which I’ve had a QF and CX J short-haul), the FAs weren’t all that friendly. This was possible a language issue as they were far more chatty with the Spanish speaking passengers. Shortly after take-off, the breaky arrived which was only average (dry bread and frozen cheese). Fortunately I had a lot in the lounge beforehand so I wasn’t worried. There was only one drink offered throughout the flight and after my food was taken, I had no interaction with the FAs until they rather forcefully adjusted my seat for landing (no smile or request, they just leant over and pressed the landing button on the seat adjustment panel and stared up at the roof)…
One of the Y FAs, in particular was quite unpleasant. She walked through J on two occasions when I was in the isle and she looked straight through me (I usually make eye contact and say hello, as I understand how much people in the service industry are under recognized), and did the same later in the flight.
There’s heaps of space and the angle-flat seat seemed fairly flat to me (more so than the QF Mk1 seat). An unfortunate side-effect of such expansive leg room is that the TV screen is a long way away. There was also a minimal amount of TV/movies (quite a few of the series were quite a few years old, ie. Game of Thrones was Series 4). The seat’s massage feature also doesn’t work very well. While the system works fine in the Skybed mk2, the one here feels like someone has accidentally knee’d you from behind (like when you’re in economy and the guy behind adjusts himself in his chair).
The flight itself was smooth and I still believe that the Dreamliner has one of the best engine notes.
Unfortunately I wasn’t that impressed with every other aspect of LAN and won’t be flying them again.
I’m returning to SYD in EK F so on Wed so I’ll be sure to have a trip report up later this week for that
. If you fly to Sth America on QF (or AA from the north), you'll be stuck on arrival if you want to keep on oneWorld.
