With a bit of extra legroom and a blocked middle seat, European airlines would have no compunction at the thought of selling as business class what LATAM markets as premium economy. While you will get a disappointing experience flying domestically, on international routes LATAM really knocks it out of the park: lounge access, amenity kits, decent food…for regional flights of 2-3 hours, the level of service for quite a small upcharge over economy is exceptional. If they could just fix their website and establish some consistency in service standards, LATAM would be not only the biggest but also the best airline in South America.

Introduction

LATAM offers three classes of service: premium business, premium economy, and economy. Business class is only offered on widebody routes, and premium economy only on their narrowbody, regional fleet—meaning on short-haul flights, premium economy is to LATAM what business class would be in Europe, or on their main competitor, Avianca. As with Avianca, LATAM has pivoted to a low-cost model in economy: their base fares get you nothing more than a random seat and very little legroom. If you want a checked or carry-on bag, you pay extra. This frequently means that, once you factor in the cost of baggage and selecting a seat, LATAM premium economy is cheaper than economy, or a very small upcharge. On this flight between the capital cities of Peru and Costa Rica, it was worth every penny.

Website Woes

It’s not usually worth commenting on how to book an airline ticket: you open a website, select a flight, and get an email with a confirmation number. LATAM has somehow not managed to drag itself into the early-2000s yet, though: its IT infrastructure is notoriously horrible. When I went to book online their website was simply not functional, an issue that persisted for over a week. The only upside of their website being rubbish is that LATAM knows it, and fees for booking over the phone are easily waived…when I called to book and started to explain “I tried to book online, but…”, the helpful agent said that he knew all about it and that there would be no added fee. That’s great and all, but really I’d rather not spend half an hour on the phone for something that should take five minutes online.

If you're able to buy a ticket online, and if you actually end up on board the flight(s) you paid for, consider yourself lucky.

Once LATAM finally issues you a ticket, there is at best even odds that you’ll actually wind up on the flights they sell you. For this ticket, my full itinerary was Cusco to Arequipa to Lima to San José. My flights were changed four separate times, including adding an overnight stop in Arequipa (which I actually didn’t mind, seeing as my original booking would not have given me much time to explore what turned out to be a charming city). This has consistently been my experience with LATAM: on a flight from Salvador to Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, LATAM moved me to a flight leaving four hours earlier, adding a six-hour layover in São Paulo, and didn’t bother to tell me. When LATAM does have the courtesy to email passengers about changes, its website routinely shows rebooking options that simply do not exist. Knowing how bad the booking process is with LATAM, I have avoided them in the past and only booked this ticket since, as is often the case within South America, they were the only option.

Check-In and Security

LATAM premium economy passengers have access to priority check-in lanes. The airline ended their partnership with Alaska Airlines after I had booked this ticket and, as I really should have expected by this point, their website of course didn’t allow me to change my frequent flyer number now that I could no longer earn Alaska miles. The check-in agent was able to switch this to my LATAM Pass number in a few minutes, and I was on my way.

In addition to their own higher-status members, LATAM's partnership with Delta means that Medallion members also enjoy perks like priority check-in.

Priority security was neither available nor necessary in Arequipa or Cusco. It’s worth noting that Lima is a horrible airport for domestic-to-international connections: there is no transfer option, and passengers must exit the domestic section, walk landside to the international section, and re-clear security. No priority access is given to premium economy or business class passengers, unfortunate since both security and passport control staff were slow and lazy. The entire process, from disembarking my flight from Arequipa to entering the LATAM lounge in Lima, took around an hour, and this was with my being the second person off the plane. You shouldn’t risk any connection in Lima of less than 90 minutes, and even then it won’t be a smooth experience.

Lounge

For most other premium economy products, this would be a very short section: the only other instance I know of where premium economy passengers get lounge access as part of their ticket is with Japanese carriers. All LATAM premium economy passengers on international flights departing from Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Lima, Miami, Santiago, or São Paulo get lounge access. There are some noticeable gaps in this rather limited list: Rio, Quito, Montevideo…major cities where LATAM has a large presence, but does not offer lounge facilities. It also does not have any domestic lounge presence whatsoever, something to keep in mind if you are connecting from an international flight.

Despite this being the lesser of LATAM's two lounges in Lima, the Premium Lounge still lives up to its name.

Nevertheless on this specific itinerary, lounge access was a welcome bonus. The LATAM lounge in Lima had only been open for around five months at the time of my visit, and there was a visible management presence making sure that everything was running smoothly. Premium economy and LATAM Platinum members have access to the Premium Lounge, while LATAM Black and business class passengers may use the Signature Lounge. Both share a single entryway, which is not well marked: the main escalator leading up to the lounge was closed when I visited, and there was no signage directing guests to an alternative escalator about 30 metres away. If you know where you’re going, the lounge is only about a two-minute walk from security in Lima.

Breakfast options were filling, tasty, and varied.

I spent just over an hour here, which encompassed the tail end of breakfast service: lunch trays were being brought out when I left. The food and drink selection was phenomenal, significantly better than any Admirals or United Club, or Maple Leaf Lounge, that I’ve ever visited. There was a full-service bar with an extensive cocktail list, all handmade, as well as self-serve beer and wine. Bathrooms were spotlessly clean and large enough for the space, with shower suites available though I didn’t use these.

Pages two and three of the four (!) page cocktail menu, all free. You can also request off-menu items, as I did (an old fashioned).

The space is beautifully appointed, with soft lighting and calm shades of brown and grey. I usually don’t notice stuff like this, but I think that’s because most lounges are bland and uninteresting: when you enter a truly relaxing space, you notice it immediately (the Alpine Lounge in Zürich comes to mind). The one and only downside is a lack of natural light (and consequently of ramp views), but the high ceilings and spread-out seating options meant that the space didn’t feel stuffy in spite of this.

It felt like a waste of talent and equipment just ordering a glass of sparkling wine...

It’s a really, really nice lounge that, in my view, single-handedly justifies the upgrade to premium economy on this route.

Boarding and Seat

While premium economy on LATAM will always put you in group one, boarding is where the consistency challenges I mentioned earlier start to come in to play. Across 13 flights with LATAM on an extended South America trip, all in premium economy, I encountered wildly different boarding procedures. Sometimes LATAM Black Signature members were plucked out of the group one line and boarded first. Sometimes passengers with supposed accessibility needs boarded before, sometimes after group one (in Brazil especially, this group often accounts for one-third to one-half of the plane). Sometimes you “board” a jetbridge and stand around for ten minutes, with priority boarding being a negative. On this flight from Lima to San José, I arrived after group one had been called and gate staff were on to group three, but the priority lane had been kept clear and I was able to “board” immediately. This being a bus gate, priority boarding was meaningless: there was no dedicated bus for premium passengers.

As with U.S. airlines, group one doesn't always mean group one.

After waiting on the tarmac for a few minutes for the queue to thin, I climbed aboard and settled in to my home for the next three-and-a-half hours, seat 2F. Today’s flight would be on an A320-200, registration CC-BJF, with five rows dedicated to premium economy. Narrowbody aircraft on LATAM usually have three dedicated rows of premium economy, with reserved overhead bin space, though on this flight the two rows of LATAM+ seating were also sold as premium economy.

It's a seat. For sitting.

LATAM premium economy is, in Eurobiz fashion, a regular economy seat with the middle seat blocked. Both premium economy and LATAM+ offer additional legroom of between 32-34 inches, depending on the aircraft. This is comparable to what Avianca offers in business class, slightly less than you’ll find in U.S. First, and slightly more than most Eurobiz seats. I was very comfortable on this short daytime flight, but the seats would not be suitable (for me at least, at six foot three) on an overnight flight.

For a short regional flight, any amenity kit at all is a bonus. The bag itself is quite nice.

Waiting at each seat was a water bottle, small pillow, blanket (which I used as back support), and really quite a nice amenity kit that I still use at home, as a sort of catch-all for small things I throw in a day bag (keys, headphones, chapstick, etc). I enjoyed the theming of these kits, with different options devoted to the colours you will see at the wide range of altitudes you’ll experience across LATAM’s route network. It’s a creative touch. Between each seat you will find a universal plug.

Boarding wrapped up quickly, a manual safety demonstration was performed, and we departed reasonably on-time.

Meal and Service

The cabin crew member serving the premium economy cabin (assisted by another crew member for the meal service) was excellent, with frequent passes through the cabin offering refills of drinks and anything else the 20 of us might need. I seemed to be the only one taking advantage of the strong service, and towards the end of the flight it seemed to be a race between me drinking a G&T and another appearing. It did take about 20 minutes to clear meal trays, though this wasn’t horrible considering the final row was just being served by the time the first row had finished.

An attentive crew can turn an otherwise forgettable flight into a positive experience.

One experience I think highlights the impression that is made when you have a crew who genuinely care about the service they offer. After the meal service, when I asked for a gin and tonic, the flight attendant apologised profusely for having to serve it in a plastic cup, saying the usual amount of glassware was not loaded and every glass available was used during meal service. Fair enough: I do find plastic cups in premium cabins to be cheap, but in no universe is this the crew’s fault and, really, there are bigger issues in the world. A few minutes later she reappeared with a fresh G&T, this time in a real glass, said she had found some more, and again apologised. This is the sort of crew member that creates loyal customers.

The meal itself was good, though LATAM really didn't think through the big tray, small table combo.

Lunch was served on this flight, with no printed menus. The options were beef gnocchi or chicken salad (there either was no vegetarian option, or I just didn’t look like the plant-eating type). I chose the former, and again considering this was a sub-four-hour regional flight, thought it was reasonably good: the butter was served at room temperature (again a nod to a crew who care about the details), the beef was tender, and the gnocchi was soft. The dish was covered in a sweet balsamic-like sauce, which I felt should have been served on the side and in about half the quantity. Still, a solid effort.

In-Flight Entertainment

LATAM offers free full-flight messaging (excluding images) for all LATAM Pass members and, unlike competitor Azul, allows you to sign up for an account in-flight and use the WiFi immediately, without confirming your email.

The extent of the IFE on this flight.

In theory LATAM offers stream-to-device entertainment, though it failed on this flight in the most irritating way possible: LATAM has two ads before every IFE video, one of which would not load. Since the ads can’t be skipped, there was no way to actually get to what you wanted to watch. Ads in premium cabins are bad enough, having them break your IFE system adds injury to insult.

A basic, 2D map did work.

The Consistency Challenge

I enjoyed this flight. It was excellent value, and I would fly this route, with this crew, every day of the week and twice on Sunday. This was, however, far and away the best LATAM flight I have ever had, and indeed the only one I would consider good. LATAM is a holding group for different national subsidiaries across South America, and I have found that standards vary wildly: LATAM Brasil is by far the worst, LATAM Peru (the operator of this flight) the best, with Chile, Colombia, and Ecuador (I haven’t flown with the others) all being average. On domestic flights of up to two hours you’ll sometimes only get a snack service, with a very limited selection of drinks (Coca-Cola, water, or coffee). The “premium” food and drink selection LATAM advertises is often simply non-existent. Sometimes the forward lavatory will be reserved for premium economy as it was on this flight, in my experience however this usually isn’t the case. Sometimes the curtain divider will be closed, other times not. There will usually be a safety card in your seat back pocket, once there wasn’t.

This particular flight with this particular crew was good. That has not been my usual experience with LATAM premium economy.

That being said, since LATAM economy offers such poor value, if you have a checked bag, carry on, and want to select a seat, on domestic flights you will routinely be better off paying for premium economy rather than adding all of these to an economy fare. Once baggage and seat fees are factored in, you will often either pay less or nominally more for premium economy: in my book, ~$10 is worth it for the blocked middle seat and human-sized legroom alone.

LATAM seems to bring their A-game to international flights out of major hubs with lounges, like Lima. It’s a shame they don’t make much of an effort on domestic services.

Cost and Final Thoughts

Flying past Jorge Chávez International Airport in Lima, Peru shortly after departure.

I paid $388.07 USD for this three-flight itinerary, from Cusco to Arequipa to Lima to San José. For the same price I could have flown from Cusco to Lima directly, but wanted to see Arequipa as well so chose this indirect routing. Looking at this same route three months from now, prices have dropped a bit: you can fly for $338 in premium economy, or $221 for economy. This just gets you a random seat and personal item, though: if you want a carry on, checked bag, and to select your own seat (with as little as 29 inches of pitch), you’ll pay $307. So for just $30 more, you get a blocked middle seat, a human-sized amount of knee room, lounge access, full refundability, a free onboard meal, free alcoholic drinks, and priority check-in, boarding, and deplaning. That’s a pretty good deal in my book.