Flight Report: Mvd - Bogotá on LATAM

I'm traveling to Bogotá this week for work. I flew with LATAM, with a layover in Lima. Here is the report on the Mvd-Lima and Lima-Bogotá flights, both on an A320.

To travel from Montevideo to Bogotá, the most common options are:

• With Avianca, with a layover in Lima

• With Copa, with a layover at the Panama hub

• With LATAM, with a layover in Lima

Starting this December, Avianca’s direct Montevideo–Bogotá flight—which began in 2017 but was suspended a few months ago—will resume service. More info at: https://www.elobservador.com.uy/nota/avianca-reanudara-vuelos-directos-entre-montevideo-y-bogota-201910221399

This trip was planned on very short notice, so when I looked at options, there weren’t many alternatives available on the days I needed. Avianca didn’t have any options at all. The option of flying with Copa didn’t appeal to me at all, since I find the 737 quite uncomfortable for a flight longer than 7 hours, such as the Montevideo–Panama City route. The LATAM option was very good for the outbound leg, with a layover of almost 3 hours in Lima, but the return flight had an 8-hour layover! In any case, I decided on that option because it lets me earn miles in the AAdvantage program, and since I have a Priority Pass, I can make the layover in Lima a little more pleasant.

Once I’d decided on the flight, I added it to TripCase and the LATAM app. It’s always a good idea to add flights to TripCase because the app notifies you of any delays and lets you keep all your travel information in one place. I used to do this with Google Trips, but since Google decided to discontinue it, I started using TripCase instead. That said, google.com/travel is adding many of the features that were available on Google Trips, so I recommend keeping it in mind. I created a shortcut, and it’s really convenient to access it that way. The LATAM app is also very useful and functional—it lets you add trips, check in, select seats, generate your boarding pass, and more.

The Montevideo–Lima flight departed at 7:29 a.m., so I was already at the airport by 5:00 a.m. I had already checked in using the LATAM app, and I didn’t have any checked baggage since I was traveling with just my carry-on. In any case, the LATAM check-in area was very quiet. Remember that there are also self-service kiosks, which are very convenient when you don’t have any checked baggage and don’t have a printed boarding pass, whether downloaded to your phone or accessed through the app.

The check-in area was very quiet at that hour

Starbucks was still closed, but McCafé was open because it’s open 24 hours.

Starbucks was still closed at that time.

Access to the boarding gate was very quick. There were very few people at security, and since I went through immigration using the self-service kiosks, I was in the duty-free shop in less than five minutes.

Very few people at security.

I walked through the duty-free shop very quickly since I didn’t want to buy anything, and I started plane spotting a little. There wasn’t much activity at that time of day, but there was a Gol 737 bound for São Paulo with a very nice livery featuring the Brazilian Soccer Confederation:

Gol Boeing 737 with CBF livery.

A few minutes later, the A320 arriving from Lima—which would be the aircraft assigned to my flight—pulled up:

Boarding began at 6:55 a.m., and it was done in groups, as is usual with LATAM. I was in Group 4, and boarding was quite organized. They were strictly checking carry-on luggage, weighing the bags, and verifying that they met the size requirements. They didn’t check mine, but I saw that they did check bags of “suspicious size.”

At check-in, I chose an emergency row—row 11—because when I checked seatguru.com, I saw that this particular A320 model had quite a bit of extra space. And there really is much more space—which is much appreciated!

Generous space in the emergency row.

The only “downside” to choosing the emergency row is that the seats don’t recline. I’d rather have more legroom than the ability to recline my seat, since I have no trouble falling asleep anyway, but it’s something to keep in mind!

And obviously, #TeamWindow:

Boarding was pretty quick and orderly. And within a few minutes, we were already pushing back, taxiing onto the runway, and taking off on a sunny morning in Montevideo!

And then… I fell fast asleep! I slept for almost three straight hours—I didn’t even notice when they came by with the in-flight service. When I woke up, we were crossing the mountain range, and they were just warning us about possible turbulence. And as is usual when crossing the Andes, there was some nice turbulence!

I took the opportunity to download the LATAM Play app—which, although you can download it beforehand from the Play Store or App Store, can also be downloaded during the flight by going to https://latamplay:

Downloading the LATAM Play app during the flight.

The app offers an interesting selection of movies, TV shows, music, and news:

Movies available on LATAM Play
TV shows available on LATAM Play

You can also view a map showing the plane’s location and information:

Map from the LATAM Play app

I slept for about another hour and a half, just as we were beginning our descent over Lima. The landing was very smooth, but it took quite a while for us to be assigned our parking position. Obviously, many impatient passengers were standing up even while the “fasten seat belts” sign was still on. The crew had to repeat three times that everyone should remain seated. After a few minutes, we deplaned, and that’s how I said goodbye to the A320:

The A320 on the jet bridge.

As is typical at the Lima airport, there were lots and lots of lines and waits; stairs and more lines, and more waits!

A 13-minute wait for security checks.

The user experience at this airport is really very poor. I counted three sets of stairs to climb without any escalators! Very impractical:

Very impractical stairs, and small elevators packed with people.

And to top off the bad experience, there’s only one hour of free Wi-Fi! And it’s very slow! It should be standard for airports to provide a very good Wi-Fi connection, especially since this is supposed to be a busy hub airport.

I took advantage of the two-hour wait to have a tiradito and a red Cusqueña beer at the La Nacional restaurant across from Gate 19:

Tiradito + Beer for $15.

After lunch, I went to the gate where I would board my flight to Bogotá. Boarding was again by groups, and I was in Group 4, with emergency row 11. Since it was also an A320, the layout was exactly the same, but I was also lucky that no one else was traveling in my row, so I had a super comfortable flight:

Plenty of space in the row where I traveled alone!

Boarding was quick, and we immediately began pushback and taxied to the runway. Along the way, we passed several Peruvian Airlines planes (the airline has been facing financial difficulties in recent weeks)

Many Peruvian Airlines planes—the airline has been facing financial problems in recent weeks.

It took us quite a while to take off since there was a long line of planes ahead of us. The takeoff and climb were very smooth:

Climbing over Lima.

After climb, the meal service began, consisting of a ham-and-cheese sandwich or a muffin with drinks. I opted for the sandwich, which was okay but could have been much better if they’d warmed it up a little:

Ham and cheese sandwich and drinks.

The rest of the flight was very peaceful. I slept a little and then took the opportunity to start this post :)

The descent over Bogotá was very smooth, with beautiful views of the mountain range.

Descent over Bogotá.

As a fun fact, Bogotá’s El Dorado Airport is located at an elevation of 2,584 meters.

We landed, and within a few minutes, we were assigned a jet bridge. Going through immigration was very quick since there were only people from our flight there. In the baggage claim area, everything was also very quiet:

Baggage claim area, very quiet.

I took the opportunity to withdraw Colombian pesos from an ATM in the baggage claim area, and went through customs, where the process was also very quick. Upon exiting customs, there are various taxi and remises options. I asked at two of them and chose the most economical one to get to my hotel, which is about 10 minutes from the airport. The fare was 59,000 Colombian pesos (about $17).

And that wraps up this mega flight report from Montevideo to Bogotá! Both flights were uneventful; I took the opportunity to get plenty of rest and traveled very comfortably thanks to my choice of the emergency exit seat.

In a few days, I’ll be posting the report on the return trip, so we’ll be able to compare both experiences :)

See you next time!