Wamos Air - a review of an A330 flight for LATAM (charter)

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Hi there all,

this is a bit of a review of Wamos Air - specifically a single flight I just did with them from Santiago, Chile, to Bogota, Colombia.

Wamos Air is a Spain-based company that does charters, and a few scheduled flights of their own. They operate a fleet of 6 747s and 5 A330s. At the moment in South America the two main airlines, LATAM and Avianca, are suffering loss of availability of their 787's due to delays in engine servicing, so have had to get Wamos to do quite a few of their mid-range international flights with A330's wet-leased from Wamos.

When I discovered that my LATAM flight SCL-BOG was one of these, I did some research and read a lot of very bad reviews. I know that most AFF readers are not affected by this, but in fairness to Wamos, I want to provide a detailed account of my experience, as it was much better than I expected. It is also the first time I have gone into a flight with a mission (ie this report), which in itself was fun!!

This will be long, so I give two versions.

The first version is simply that my flight was great. Not a flash aircraft, but great crew and hard product ok (I was in business) Wamos gets aircraft from other fleets, so each aircraft will be a different experience. My A330 was aquired last month from Air Berlin. So if you are going to travel Wamos, it could be a vastly different experience!

The long version will follow - will break it up into a dozen or so separate posts dealing with different facets.

Give me time to finish.......

 

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The situation:

I was booked on a LATAM flight SCL-BOG, LA576 to be precise. About a week prior LATAM advised that the flight would be conducted by Wamos, using Wamos flight crew and staff, with a LATAM supervisor aboard.

I was booked in J, and LATAM advised that the Wamos aircraft had 19 "full-flat" J seats. It took me a while, but using a variety of tools and research I worked out that my A330 was an ex-Air Berlin plane. I was alarmed by many reviews of Wamos experiences, but these seem to relate to travel on other aircraft, older ones. Stories of non-existent IFE and the like.

I am not really happy about charter airplanes - personal thing. (think of the recent disaster here in Medellin with the football team....) But I saw that this Spanish company seemed solid, and this particular aircraft has been flying back and forwards SCL-BOG for the past month. I wa sstill a bit nervous, and the late departure of QF27 from SYD almost made me mis sthe connection. I left it all in God's hands (and also ran from arrival to checkin at SCL) and in the end I made the flight.

I was on two tickets, that should have had 4 hrs in between (had to do immigration and customs and re-check-in) But the late QF flight stretched that.... My Wamos / LATAM flight was departing at 15:16.

I got off QF27 at about 13:20 local, got my bag at 14:05, and managed to race and get checked in again with LATAM by 14:15!! I did pull one stunt I have learnt - I went to the queue for Chileans in Santiago - was so much quicker than the one for foreigners

As usual, the checkin at the LATAM preferential area in SCL was spectacular. No queue and done in 2 minutes. Everything was standard procedure for a LATAM flight - no difference for it being a charter.

 

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Pre-departure:

All flight reviews I see appear to start with a photo of the plane. I will not do that. I had a couple of minutes, so raced into the LATAM lounge for a quick vino.

Today's selection for the wine-lovers:



I managed two quick glasses of the Petit Verdot

 

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Boarding:

I headed down to the gate, and coincidentally QF28 was boarding next to us. As usual the scrum of people trying to board that one:



By comparison, my flight was far more organized. LATAM did as they usually do, respecting priority boarding.



As I boarded, the greeting at the door was nice. Combo of a LATAM person and Wamos crew, very friendly as they welcomed me and directed me to my seat.

 

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The plane:

As I walked down to board, was able to get a quick shot of the plane:



It appeared to have both engines, no panels missing, no fire, and a decent paint job. I found that reassuring

 

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Staff:

All the cabin crew were wearing Wamos uniforms. Quite nice. There was also a lady in LATAM's red - it turned out she was the official CSM for the flight.



I must at this point clarify I am not a professional airline reviewer, nor photographer. I don't really feel comfortable taking photos in an aircraft - so forgive the quality!

When later the CSM introduced herself, I asked and she told me that all the crew were Spanish nationals, employed by Wamos, but that they also had three LATAM staff aboard.

The crew were young, enthusiastic, and professional. Loved them.

 

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Departure:

The original official departure time was 15:16, with boarding commencing 14:31. Actual boarding commenced at 14:40, which I will use as reference time "B" for the following.....

B + 0 minutes. boarded plane. I was amongst first due to good preferential boarding control.

B + 5 minutes. offered sparkling wine and plate of nuts. (I was disappointed that no Pisco Sours were offered - I enjoy these as a LATAM feature)

B + 15 minutes. CSM "Patricia" did the rounds, greeting every pax in business. She was friendly and professional. Nothing wooden or false.

B + 17 minutes. staff offered magazines and amenity kits.

B + 20 minutes. staff did round explaining they would offer two meals in this 5.5 hr flight, so asking if pax wished to be woken if they were sleeping.


Although everyone boarded quickly, we then seemed to wait a long time before moving. Finally I heard the cargo door being closed, and we pushed back at 15:28 (which was about B + 48 minutes) I suspect a cargo loading issue caused the delay.

After a leisurely taxi, we took off at 15:43 hrs.

 

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Pre-flight drink and snack:

 

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The seat:

Despite my best intentions, could not really get a good photo of the seats. The cabin was full and I am shy...

I was in 3K. Coincidentally I suspect this was the same seat that the Points Guy was in when he did a review of this product when it was still Air Berlin. So now I have sat where someone famous once did....

The J layout is 1-2-1. I noticed immediately that with this staggered pod arrangement, I had made a good choice selecting the row where the seat was against the window. Far more private than the alternate, which is right against the aisle. Photo of an aisle-adjacent seat shows what I mean:



These seats against the aisle are so open! (To clarify, in the 1-2-1 arrangement, it is only every second row in which the aisle seats are like this)

 

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The back of each pod is also very low, especially when you recline, as half the divider is missing. This shot is taken when reclined, looking back into the pod behind me:

 

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Seat continued:

The footwell is quite small, as shown here (with the supplied quilt and pillow)


The seat control panel was easy to use. No rocket science involved....


The power outlet was easily accessible, but despite it having a light on, when I finally found a socket that would plug into it (should take aussie, but didn't) there was no actual power.

The storage spaces were woeful. A narrow sort of ledge for some things, with a cup holder. (and a magazine/safety card holder that was thin)

 

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Seat continued:

The tray was novel. When deployed, it just folded down, and then could be swivelled back to bring it closer. It was not big, but with this layout you can push it forward, with whatever on it, and easily get in and out of the seat. I liked that.



The light looked weird initially, but was actually very functional. It features two lighting capabilities - a focussed (and movable) beam, and a general lamp. Liked that too.

 

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Seat continued - "full flat"

When I tried out the full-flat setting, it was exactly that. Not bad at all. But blooming short. So if you are not tall, would be great. And apart from the lack of length, the footwell is very tight. Although the cabin was a bit warm, the lush quilt was great. I really think a plush blanket is awesome on a sleeping flight.

 

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IFE:

This is an area that those familiar with me would know is important. I don't sleep well so watch a lot of movies, etc. I had read reviews of other Wamos planes where IFE was non-existent. But on this flight (in J at least) it was above average. Heaps of movies, music, etc. But the controller was an abomination. It is tiny and has a minute "scroll" device that was truly evil.



That little black square (second from the top) is a scroll device. And it seemed to change sensitivity continuously. In a way it was fun to whil;e away the hours just attempting to select something....

This plane was obviously purchased from Air Berlin "as is". The entire IFE menu is still Air Berlin stuff. German, Air Berlin promotions, the lot....



The headphones cancelled noise only via their bulk. But I could hear the movies

 

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The amenities kit:



The kit appeared to be a standard LATAM medium-haul kit (these have changed recently - the true long-haul LATAM ones are better)

The kit bag itself is quite large - maybe useful for something? (I have every other size kit in the world ) The contents are ok. LATAM has had far worse ones for their medium-haul sectors.



Other than the usual rubbish eyeshades, socks, cheap toothbrush, ear plugs, this had a couple of L'Occitane items - hand cream, lip balm, and some sort of refreshing towel. Very basic, but i far prefer a couple of quality items like this to just lots of rubbish.

Close up of the L'Occitane stuff for the girls:

 

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Magazine:

Just as a side comment, it appears that pretty much all the soft-product details are standard LATAM, not something offerred by Wamos. Food, drinks, kit. magazine.



It is a bit ironic that the LATAM inflight magazines are called "Vamos" - spanish for Let's Go! Which is quite a coincidence when you are in a "Wamos" aircraft. (BTW, Wamos does not mean anything in spanish - I do not yet know where they got their name)

 

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Meal 1:

After takeoff there was no post-departure drinks trolley which is the norm in most airlines. This could be due to the shortish duration of the flight (that is good - who else offers two meals on a 5.5 hour flight??)

So instead of stuffing around with that, very soon after the seatbelt light went out, they did an actual meal run. First up, let's look at the menu:

Food:



Wine list:



Drinks:

 

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Meal 1 continued:



I chose the steak and the Don David malbec to accompany.

This was standard airline fare, but quite tasty. The steak was nice, the onion relish great, and the potatoes OK. These spuds are popular around South American airline routes - seems flavour of the month. The y have a purplish tinge to their flesh, which adds novelty factor. It looks good on a menu to say "Chiloe Island potatoes". . Really though, they taste about the same as any other potato roasted with the skin on. At least the menu descriptions have not reached the absurd flowery stuff like the Neil_perry-inspired waffle on another airline.....

My only complaint would be that it was served luke - warm - but probably the delays on the ground before take-off stuffed them up there.

The side salad was good - fresh lettuce, avocado delicious. I am averse to balsamic vinegar as it is served almost universally with airline meals - so I am sick of it as a concept. But i have learnt a trick where you do not shake the little bottle, and instead pour off the olive oil onto your salad, and add some salt BTW, I tested both the salt and pepper shakers and they each worked perfectly.

The white bread roll I asked for was nice - fresh, slightly warm still. And the butter perfect.

I particularly enjoyed the fruit - the strawberries has a delicious aroma, the pear was perfectly ripe, and the pineapple decent too. I rarely eat the fruit on an airplane.

I did not touch the chocolate, not my thing.

All in all, the meal was decent, not flash, but perfectly acceptable.

Within minutes of the first service, the staff were patrolling the cabin offering wine top-ups and more bread. I really appreciate this style of service. It is so unlike many other airlines (not naming aussie ones), where it appears that service is a "tick the box" affair - ie, "meal and one drink served - TICK", no need to offer more.

At all times during meal service the staff were friendly, happy, and efficient. Not a fault there.

 

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Meal 2:

This was a smaller affair, which due to the flight length was only 3 hours after the first. I was not at all hungry but got it anyway just to take a photo:



The poor presentation is my fault - the untidy table covering and lopsided sandwiches. I just asked for the sandwiches which were a ham, etc one, and a cheese/turkey loaf(?) one. With another nice glass of argentine malbec of course They were OK, but just like hot food, I am difficult with semi-stale bread. Average.

 

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Staff attentiveness:

I am not usually someone who "presses the bell" very much. But in the attempt to actually assess the staff, I decided I would try this.

The first time I did this was cunning. It was about an hour after the first meal service finished, and almost all pax were asleep. I got up to stroll around and saw that the stewardess was in the catering area, sitting down making her own meal. I wandered back to my seat and cheekily hit the bell. She took no more than 60 seconds to arrive, smiling, not a hint of that "how dare you need something" you get from some airlines. I enjoyed another glass of wine

The second time was during the second meal service. They were busy attending to those pax that were awake. Again I hit the bell, and within two minutes they appeared, again smiling, and another wine I had....

Almost as good as Emirates in First