Sydney to Santiago

QF27 to Santiago 747-400 is the direct flight of around 12 hours and 40 minutes, arriving at around lunch time in Santiago.  After an easy flight, and, in Tim's words, "including a great view of the coastal regions of Chile (great rivers, snow-capped mountains and volcanoes, beaches and farm land) for the hour or so before landing", we arrived in Santiago only half an hour behind schedule.  Then, having smoothly negotiated the payment of the reciprocity fee, immigration and customs, and quickly collecting our baggage, we then found that our hotel transfer wasn't there and, when contacted by the very helpful officials, turned out to be more time away than the time it took to get from the city to the airport.

It was a relief to finally arrive without mishap at the Hotel Ismael 312, conveniently located in the Barrio Lastarria.

Pros

• direct from Sydney to Santiago
• 12 hour flight means you don't need to change your watch (although you arrive at approximately the same time as you left!)
• Last minute change of plane meant we lost all our seats, but managed to get all 3 of us in the upstairs Business Class cabin
• QANTAS pajamas!
• Plenty of time to wallow in the Business Class lounge at Sydney Airport, which was just as well as we needed to have breakfast
• Only 24 people in the top cabin and there are 2 toilets!

Cons

• Plane was delayed an hour due to late arrival
• Seppelts champagne in the lounge??
• This plane was clearly not one of the refurbished ones, and the seats are NOT flat lying (they were in the original plane!)
• Updated amenities packs are pretty ordinary compared to those you get on Emirates (but there ARE pajamas)
• Waiting over an hour at Santiago airport for our long ago booked transfer.

Food

• Salad of Roasted eggplant with haloumi, buckwheat, pomegranate and palm sugar vinaigrette
• Herb panko crumbed chicken breast with soft polenta, braised silverbeet and capsicum sauce
• Vanilla panna cotta with strawberry salsa and pistachio wafers