If you’ve been following my posts, you know on Jul. 24th my husband Ian and I flew to the UK. I decided to go on holiday now that I’m between jobs, because once I get another one, it will be a year before we can travel again. And since Ian is from Wales, the choice was to spend a few days in London and then 2 more weeks there visiting his family.
We normally fly TAM (now LATAM) to London, because I try to use my points with them to issue one of the tickets for free. Except for last year, when I didn’t have enough points and sought a cheaper option. We flew Alitalia e stretched the holiday an extra week to visit Rome. Rome was amazing, Alitalia wasn’t. I’m never flying with them again. I have a feeling they don’t have return customers.
The problem with this GRU-LHR is that it is really long. It’s almost 12 hours and that is too much time. Too much time to sit on a cramped seat, without stretching my legs, sleeping with my head either against the window or against Ian’s shoulder (poor hubby). But the price of the Business Class ticket is prohibitive. I bought my Economy ticket for the lowest fare available and paid a little more for the exit row in the return flight (going there it was already sold out), for a total of R$ 4.001,62, with all taxes and fees. The cheapest Business Class ticket was around R$ 12.000,00. And since I used points to issue Ian’s ticket, his cost was around R$ 850,00 – we just paid for the taxes, fees and the extra space in the return flight. So that’s about R$ 5.000,00 for two people in Economy vs. About R$ 24.000,00 in Business (I didn’t have enough points to issue a Business Class ticket for free).
Then 6 days before the flight LATAM sent na email about the possibility to make an offer to upgrade our flight to London to Business Class, for the lowest amount of R$ 1.455,00 / pax. What?? I rushed and made my offer and waited for their answer, which would come between 12 and 8 hours before the flight. On the morning of the 24th we were worried our offer was too low, so Ian suggested increasing it a bit. So I changed it from R$ 1.505,00 to 1.615,00. We got it ? And you know what, we didn’t even need to increase it, as there were still 6 seats left available in Business Class.
What comes with this R$ 1.615,00 increase? Fast check-in in the exclusive desk, access to the amazing LATAM VIP Lounge in Terminal 3 of GRU Airport, with plenty of space to relax while waiting for the flight, sockets to charge electronic devices everywhere, large clean bathrooms, showers and beds that can be a lifesaver for those waiting for a connection, food and drinks at large. And far from the hustle downstairs, around the gates.
And that’s just the pre-flight experience. In the flight itself, in addition to preferred boarding, you get the much better service – and to be fair, I can’t complain about LATAM’s service normally, I’ve been on flights with such good attendants I made sure I formally complimented them.
But here they start by greeting you by your name and serving you champagne and mixed nuts, he amenities kit (inexistent in Economy) is made by Salvatore Ferragamo and comes with various creams, mirror, socks, mask… You also get a pillow and duvet. Ah, as soon as we boarded, we got the menu to choose our dinner. Since I upgraded the morning of the flight, my vegetarian meal wasn’t delivered. But one of the options was an artichoke pasta which was delicious! Ok, carbs, I know. But I allowed myself to enjoy the whole experience. Among the dessert options I chose the cheesecake. It was really good too.
Then came the best part: watch a film on a screen bigger than the laptop I’m using right now and then sleep. You know, sleep laying down in a plane is a luxury. The seat really becomes a bed. Of course it isn’t as comfortable as the one at home, but it is still a bed. And I slept for 7 hours! I couldn’t believe it when I woke up and there were only 3 hours to go. And Ian slept too! He never sleeps in flights, just walks around to stretch his legs.
Now I got my laptop to write this while I wait for breakfast and Ian watches another film. What can I say so far? It was worth each of the R$ 1.615,00 invested on the upgrade. I won’t arrive in London a completely useless mess. I might even be able to enjoy the afternoon and evening doing something there. And considering our initial cost was less than R$ 5.000,00, we are still within the price of two regular Economy tickets, with a total cost of around R$ 8.000,00 (so far). If they offer the chance to upgrade the return flight as well, I’ll take it. Even then, it will still cost us both a little less than the price of one regular Business Class ticket.
