Sydney - Santiago via Auckland on 787-9. Above average flight with an average meal, very good crew and reasonable IFE selection. However, the 9 abreast in economy is too tight. The seats are too narrow and the aisles are tiny. The meal trolley only just fits through. The tray table is also very small. On the return leg, a passenger fell ill immediately after takeoff. The crew managed this very well. About 2 hours into the flight, it was determined that we'd have to return to SCL. The airline put us into hotels. As a transit passenger through SCL, the airline arranged to pay our reciprocity fee (US$100) to enter into Chile. This was a long process (over 1 hour) but at least they paid for it. The airline wasn't able to arrange a single large bus to take us to the hotel at the last minute and so there was another long process (about 1.5 hours) of getting all of us into separate mini buses. The hotel was excellent and included free food. Back to the airport, this time in a big coach and a very long check-in process. Our bags were checked through to SYD, and we were advised we'd been put onto a Qantas flight from AKL to SYD. The flight was again reasonable - good crew, OK food (definitely not up to Emirates standards) and bathrooms kept clean. Due to our delayed arrival into AKL, we had to overnight there, and again LAN had arranged a hotel, meal and bus transfer for us. Overall, LAN managed this stressful situation which was out of their control quite well, ensuring we had a place to rest and food to eat and made sure we all got to our final destinations. My lower marks are for the standard and quantity of the food and the cramped seating (that almost all operators of the 787 have adopted).
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