If you have a good seat booked especially on a long flight, this simple question can cause a huge amount of stress and inconvenience.  So there we were, safely ensconced in our middle section bulkhead seats on a 10 hour flight from Auckland to Santiago feeling relaxed and comfortable.  Shortly afterwards, a couple with 3 young kids (3-7ish) came in and took the 3 seats on one side and 1 seat next to us in the middle section.  The father approached us and asked if one of us would mind swapping seats with him so he could sit next to his family.

Wait for it………………………

As it turns out, his company had paid for him to fly in business class but he had paid for economy for his family.  He must have had some kind of elite status to get them the bulkhead seats as you can’t select them before departure without status.  He was willing to swap his business class seat with one of us so he could travel with his family!

HELL YEAH!!!!  I couldn’t say “Yes” fast enough!  There was no question who would get the business class seat.  I had done an all-nighter before departure as I was worried about not waking up in time to get to the airport.  My husband can sleep sitting up and I can’t.  And he is a gentleman!  I gleefully swapped boarding passes and after checking that the crew were cool with the swap, moved into my new seat.

LAN’S DREAMLINER 789 BUSINESS CLASS

This is a review I wasn’t expecting to write but really glad I got the chance.  Business class award seats between Australia/New Zealand and Santiago are rarer than hen’s teeth using AAdvantage miles!

The seats were very comfortable and of course went fully flat.  I slept like a baby (minus the crying) for most of the flight.  The purple glow in the overhead lights and windows was really nice.  The chair had all kinds of functions and positions.

The food was pretty good but to be honest I was so exhausted I just wolfed it down so I could sleep sooner.

Meanwhile, my husband was being a good sport back in economy.

I woke up well refreshed and ready to tackle South America.  It was pretty cool to see one of our lodges – Sachatamia in Mindo, Ecuador being featured in a travel video!

It’s really a shame it’s nearly impossible to book these seats with miles.  It didn’t used to be this bad.  Back in 2012, we got a return flight from Santiago to Sydney on Qantas in business class.  It really made a difference to be able to hit the ground running for the transit in Santiago and flight to Guayaquil.