Coming up today is one of the absolute best business class seats I’ve ever flown on long haul,
but not all seats on board are created equal.
The full trip report including the best and worst seats begin in 15 seconds.
A very good afternoon from São Paulo’s Guarulhos airport in the north of the city.
My name is Kevin and I’m going to bring you along on this trip report to London.
If you’d like to know the incredible fare that I paid for this trip, how I booked it
and what my next five videos coming up are, please check out the pinned comment below.
Earlier this morning I came in from Rio de Janeiro and then had a 17 hour layover.
I spent 9 of those hours at the Pullman Airport hotel and now
I’m making my way through immigration to go airside and access the lounge.
Of course on the way though, I needed some flip flop retail therapy leaving Brazil and all.
I spent the next six or so hours in the open and spacious Latam Lounge, just past security.
If you’d like to see a full tour of the lounge,
check out my British Airways review above, where I gave a full tour.
Latam’s intercontinental routes are out of Terminal 3 and they have a large bank of flights
between 10pm and midnight, so from around 8pm on you can expect the lounge to be pretty busy.
Our flight to London tonight was the 2nd to last of the evening and boarding was about to begin.
Or rather, it had already begun, almost an hour and a half prior to departure.
Slight problem though, seems someone was trigger happy as we were stuck in the air
bridge for a solid 15-20 minutes- a lovely experience with no AC in Summer in Brazil.
Finally we were on board and I was truly in a state of shock.
From my research I knew that the bulkhead seats- as
they often do- have a bit of extra space, but this was crazy how much extra space I had!
Let’s take a closer look. To answer someone’s question recently, yes- I do build these
graphics to match the actual interiors of the plane. So, if you look close enough- you’ll
see some grey and burgundy tweed and black and gold faux marble- just as there is on board.
Latam has finished installing these exact cabins on their entire 777 fleet which they use primarily
to London, Milan, Frankfurt and occasionally Miami and Manaus. Business class seating is in a 1-2-1
all aisle access configuration with honeymoon seat pairs available in odd numbered rows.
Let’s start with the worst seats. Row 7 in the center, hands down. The service area in front of
these seats is a serving platform and only around four feet high, so everone can see right over it
and stare at you while they’re waiting for the bathrooms. Which brings me to the seats to try to
avoid, anything in row six just for the proximity to the bathrooms and the lack of privacy.
For the best seats. Hear me loud and clear, bulkhead window seats-
extra especially for row 8. First, I love that they made all of the bulkhead seats
true window seats- something many airlines don’t do. So for these seats, are they the
largest business class seats on earth? That I can’t say for sure but it’s close, but what
they are are the largest one off bulkhead seats compared to normal seats on earth.
Look carefully at the space between the end of the seat and the tv screen. Or the amount of
space to access the aisle. Plus I get the top of my TV to reorganize my bags when necessary.
Besides the size of the seats, I really do also like the fit and finish inside. The colors are
really unique for an aircraft interior and the finishes all feel premium and solid.
There are a couple literature pockets and then as if you needed more storage in this seat,
you can also store some small stuff under your foot cubby.
Next to the seat behind the open surface is a well designed area
to keep all of the nick nacks you’ll need during your flight secure. Upon boarding,
ours was filled with our amenity kit, a bottle of water and slippers
with a satisfyingly squishy material surrounding the interior of the seat shell.
The adjustable headrest was flush to the seat- something that stomach sleepers
or those who like thinner pillows will appreciate.
Next to your seat you’ve got all of your controls for the seat as well as a do not disturb button,
a universal outlet and a USB port.
Over your shoulder a small reading light and then behind you, a small compartment which
was built as if it was a fire proof safe that could keep your small items tidy during flight.
The slippers, though too small for my size 12 feet- as usual-
were much higher quality than most, but the headphones were just average at best.
Next to your seat and lower was another simplified set of seat controls,
the tray table release and a small compartment for the not so great IFE remote.
The space was more or less perfectly designed for the things I keep within arms reach.
About tonight’s overnight flight- we’d be taking off from runway 9L and climbing to just 36000 feet
for our 10.5 hour journey to Heathrow, also runway 9L.
Pushback started soon and the in flight safety video began to stream. I might be the only one,
but since the return to traveling I’ve fallen in love with a multitude of safety videos.
I remember my first flight out of Saigon after our military lockdown, the fact that
I was actually on my way to the US hit me when Singapore Airlines’ safety video music began.
They’ve become my subconscious symbol of a return to a new normal. And for all of that,
Latam’s video was beautifully presented featuring scenes from all of the countries they represent.
It also reminds you how large Latam’s footprint is- serving as the hometown
airline for 6 countries with a land area more than 30% larger than the whole of the US.
In case you didn’t know, Latam is the airline created in 2012,
a result of Chile’s LAN and Brazil’s TAM airlines merging.
A brief taxi had us lining up with the runway and
ready for our powerful takeoff to the north east. The spool up is up next.
Am I the only one that likes this sound just as much as the spool up?
Let’s take a look at the amenity kit before meal service begins.
The pouch itself is very practical and of a nice quality.
The contents were nothing too special, but I always do appreciate a pen in an amenity kit.
Menus were handed out during boarding and our orders for dinner and breakfast were taken-
quite hastily- along with the menus before we even took off. As I normally do during a long flight,
I started off with an exciting vodka soda. Feel free to pause to take a closer look at the menu.
It was fairly basic with three options for dinner and two options for breakfast.
The tray table popped out from the side table like so was a bit floppy but otherwise served
its purpose. Both meals were single try services. For the main I chose the Slow-cooked beef with red
wine sauce, pureed carrots, sauteed collard greens and roasted farofa and red onions.
The main dish was actually excellent, best I’ve had in the air in a while. The rest of the meal
was tasty but it was a strange assortment with the cheese plate as an appetizer and only the
fruit available for dessert, with no ice cream or classic dessert as printed on the menu available.
The service was very efficient- everyone wanting to go to sleep. Around five minutes after my
tray was cleared, I asked for another Vodka soda, which- would have been my second- and
the response I got was “no, food and drink service is now over, now is the time to put your mask back
on” and he took my glass out of my hand. Of all of the COVID regulations and nowadays, excuses that
airlines have used- I’d say this one is way past its expiration date and actually pretty shocking.
Masked up and drinkless, I decided to take a look at the decent selection of movies on offer.
I do the same thing on almost every flight.
Spend 20 minutes choosing which movie to watch, only to fall asleep half way through it.
The bathrooms on board, were super standard and didn’t feature any business class specific
products in them- that is, assuming they give Economy passengers soap.
Here, I invade row 6’s privacy a bit to show you how open they are to anyone near the bathrooms
and equally so, I show you those center seats in row 7 which I highly recommend you avoid.
If nothing else, the lower console here makes for a nice open feel during boarding
without any typical traffic jams.
The seat goes flat and is plenty long. I am six foot and my stretched toes didn’t find the
end of the bed. I just wish the armrest on the window side would go down in bed mode.
The bedding on offer itself was decent. The pillow was really good quality actually,
the blanket though- felt like a duvet without it’s cover- not sure why everything had to be white.
Finally the mattress pad was thin and did nothing more than make a barrier between you and the seat.
Breakfast service started around 90 minutes prior to arrival and we were automatically
brought a single tray with the items we ordered prior to taking off. I got the comically small
omelet. Along with the yogurt and granola and rolls and fruit- it was enough, just barely-
but the once quiet and reserved passenger to my right wasn’t having it and was truly flipping
out to the crew over the size of the meal. Had they had a snack menu available in between meals,
which they should have had, it would have made this meal more than enough.
On our approach into London we would make a few squiggly lines before approaching from the west.
The views flying over southern England were beautiful if not a bit hazy. By the way,
if you enjoy this video so far, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe and click the bell to keep
up to date with my twice weekly videos. Also, if you enjoy longer format take off or approach and
landing videos like you see here, please feel free to check out one of my two new channels.
The full 31 minute video from our approach today will be posted on Roam Above. Links to
both are in the description below. Many thanks in advance. For now, please enjoy the landing.
A very short taxi brought us to our gate, where we sat for around 20 minutes before
the jetbridge was connected and then deplaned row by row.
A lengthy walk brought us to the baggage collection area
and our bags came out around 15 minutes later.
By the way, I’m not sure how long this will continue for but if you have Star Alliance
Gold with any carrier, remember it gets you a free upgrade on Heathrow Express…
which lets be honest isn’t really that big of a deal, but extra legroom is never a bad thing.
Just buy a standard class ticket, sit in first class and when they come around to
check your ticket- show the ticket and your Star Gold membership card.
Alright that is all there is to write for this one, let’s get into The Flip Flop Score.
If the seat’s armrest lowered, I probably would have given the seat an 11.
Service on the ground and in the lounge was good- on board not so great.
Otherwise, just wish there was some sort of snack menu for in between meals and
perhaps allow passengers to you know, have a 2nd drink. Overall a pleasant surprise of a 91/100.
I’d fly a LATAM 777 again in a heart beat as long as I could secure my beloved 8 alpha.
I really hope you enjoyed this video, if you did- please like it and subscribe for two new
hotel or flight videos each week. And just in case you were counting, this flight crossed
the 25000 mile mark for the 13 flights I’ve taken so far on this trip. Lot’s more to come.