Flying to Cusco from Quito via Lima

a new one arrives flight report, and on this occasion I tell youóHow do you fly to Cusco from Quito vía Lima with LATAM Ecuador and Peruú on both Airbus A319 and A320.

Taking advantage of one of the many regular promotions that LATAM launches between Quito and Guayaquil to Cusco, We decided to travel to see one of the destinations más known and coveted in the world, which is much más increíble than expected or advertised.

This trip servedó spaghettién to understand the differences in Peruvian tourism that have made the neighbor país is one of those that más growth turístico has from the regionón, all thanks to good marketing and taking advantage of what they have. You can read my opinionón about it hereí: www.nlarenas.com/2018/06/aprendi-de-ecuador-visitando-peru.

Our flight from Quito to Lima was at 4 am, so that part of the flight talké very little and I focusé más on the Lima to Cusco section, where from díthere is a lot of máI know what to tell ?.

ticket purchase

The purchase process with LATAM is not new and I have reported it on several other occasions as it was flown from Galápaid the a Santiago de Chile. On this occasion and as usual, The purchase was made without problems with a credit card.éEcuadorian dito with the normal steps of its GDS system:

1. First the destination or destinations are selected, date and núpassenger grouper. In my case 2 people.
2. selectófare or flight number required. Being promotional price, each ticket costó $350 dóhomes, which is very good considering that only Lima can cost that value.
3. Personal data of the passenger(s), máwith informationócontact number in case of emergency.
4. book or pay.

It is good to remember that the aerosolínea allows you to make only one reservation without paying, in the event that there is no security to buy or you want to make a change of itinerary. This reservation lasts until 24 hours and caná be paid through the website or sales office.

LATAM allows the payment of all credit cardséEcuadorian dito as wellén international. Credit cards are not acceptedésmall.

Additional services

As now in almost all airlinesídenies, additional services offered, which are paid obviously. Some are normal in the industry, others each aerosolínea has implemented them to increase its income and make certain routes or all of them profitable.:

• Second or third suitcase in the hold.
• Cabin upgrade.
• I nod with más space (Emergency exit).
• Seats más ahead (from the fourth row, start atás de Premium Economy, up to the eighth row).
• preferential approach.
• LATAM Pass category customersía Black Signature, Black and Platinum access the above points free of charge.
• Special needs.

Luggage

This point is very particular and is worth explaining.. How will there beán realized since tíleakage, the flight to Cusco was not direct, but continueó with a stopover in Lima, what happens to be international in the section from Quito to Lima, to national from Lima to Cusco and the luggage is an interesting point.

as you well know, since it was implementedó the new way of fly on sun routeséstatics in LATAM subsidiaries, baggage in the hold has a cost, since the rate más discount or promo does not include this benefit in its value.

That's why I initially thoughté what a dutyíto pay for the suitcase in the hold on the section from Lima to Cusco, but the positive thing was that if you buy an international flight with LATAM, you connect with them and manage everything under the same reservation, they include the suitcase in the hold at no additional cost. A very positive point, since it allows tourists to fly más cómodes, with less worryón and save some dóhomes.

If there will beíHe bought the Quito to Lima section and thenés in another reservation the flight to Cusco, sí hornbeamíhad to pay for that suitcase in the hold, that despite having the optionón a 2, we only use one.

It is always good to remember that passengers are entitled to a carry-on bag up to 8 kilos of weight in Economy up to 16 kilos en Premium Economy, más an artípersonal ass like backpack, cáphoto mara, purse, laptop o similar.

If the items that the passenger takes into the cabin of the planeón exceeds the sizeñdetermined by the airlineínea, you are beingán sent to the warehouse, there may be additional costs. Now, In the departure lounges there are personnel hired by LATAM reviewing the sizes.ñof each passenger's belongings to determine if they meet the sizesños and alsoén offer to send these items to the hold free of charge on flights where space in the overhead bins is limited or fills up rápiously.

On all flights, both outbound and return, they carried out this verification.ón, sending at least 10 carry-on bags to the hold free of charge, it's a good optionón if you don't want to carry it, but dutyás wait at your arrival airport for delivery.

From Quito, the suitcase was checked until Cusco, but being an international port of entry in Lima, this shouldó pass customs control, pick it up and check it again at the Lima airport counter in row ráask for luggage delivery that does not take más de 20 minutes.

Check-In

As I have already told you, you can check your flight between 48 a 2 hours before flight departure time. Check-in options are página web, applyón móvile and airport (counter and kiosks).

To address you canás present your cell phone with the cóI say QR of the applicationón o página web (I recommend taking a screenshot in case you run out of Internet abroad), pass printed by you or the pass that the airline gives youínea.

Airport and Boarding

As you can seeíon an international flight with connectionónational, I had to remove the suitcase afterwardsés de pasar migrationón to continue towards customs. Once with suitcase in hand, you leave the arrivals area and Lima airport has improved that area, pilgrimédollar más spacious and offering a better serviceás official airport transportation order.

Despite these improvements, At the exit, as always, hundreds of taxi drivers will offer youán the service, recommendedón, use the ones inside or hire the buses to get to Miraflores, such as the Lima Airport Express that youé upon return to spend a few hours in Lima.

As has been stated several times, Lima airport isá collapsed and lacking space to grow, this is why the aerosolsíairlines share their check-in counters for both national and international flights. That stands out, that despite this collapse and little space, processes throughout the airport are ráYou order and they give you extra time to eat something.ípeak or do something to buy, this is very positive, despite the thousands of passengers per hour.

The boarding once passed the filters that were very surprisingly ráI ask that at that moment come outían 8 sun flightséstatic, comes trueó with a new way that LATAM isá testing and that was announced over the speakers.

This new méit's all about giving boarding priority, apart from the traditional Priority or Business, to those passengers who areén traveling «light», that is, they only travel with a backpack or bag and not a carry-on bag. For this it was determinedó a special row, where at least the 70% grandfather'són se formó to board, so it was nothing más ráI ask that the other optionón by núrow grouper.

Despite this new system, The boarding was at normal speed and there was noé a noticeable improvement, especially because the largest number of passengers did not carry hand luggage, so I assume that in other destinations this is méall beingá más cash, a detail, It doesn't matter what row you're in.és, if you don't have luggage, you use this row no difference.

The flight took offó with 20 minutes delay due to traffic controlánsito aécalm downún indicated the traffic agentsáair terminalínea.

Itinerary

The Lima route – Cusco – Lima is the máit's blown, busy and requested from the entire Peruvian market. Between these two important cities, take place dailyás de 50 flights, not counting other frequencies that link Cusco with Arequipa, Juliaca, Puerto Maldonado and the international ones of Bogotáá and the peace.

For LATAM Perú, this one tooén is destiny with más daily frequencies, coming to meás de 23 flights and being able to increase secún the season and demand from Lima.

From Quito on the flight of the 4 in the morning of LATAM Ecuador connects with a wait for 3 hours with the third flight to Cusco of LATAM Peruú, which is very favorable for the Ecuadorian market, that alsoén allows you to connect with all destinations in the Lima HUB.

On board

In the first leg from Quito on flight XL1449 operated by LATAM Ecuador that was fulfilledó on time was operated by the Airbus A319 HC-CPJ with núMSN serial grouper 3671 With almost 10 años.

Este está painted with Oneworld colors and LATAM image with a capacity for 144 passengers, but with configurationón special Business Economy that adjusts it to 138 seating.

This flight has a durationón of 2 hours and there were no blankets or pillows.

The occupationón of this flight was 60%, what surprisedó a little and secún the flight could be known to changeá to a new schedule, possibly to improve occupancyón, since this flight continuesúundressingés from Lima to Buenos Aires.

On the flight from Quito to Lima, the const serviceó úonly in a muffin máIt's a drink of choiceón of each passenger, this in economy class. I did not existó Duty Free service, but on the return to Quito where the flight was operated by LATAM Perú, sí.

From the Lima to Cusco section the planeóIt was an Airbus A320 matríbutt CC-BFK núMSN serial grouper 5548 with solo 5 años old and equipped with the beautiful sharklets and CFM 56-5B4 engines and has a capacity for 174 passengers in a single class.

On this flight the occupationón was from 100%, Fully loaded, what monún commented the average of this route always borders the 85% upwards. Passengers on this route are generally a 90% foreign, Cusco is the main tourist destinationíPeruvian stico.

As there will already beán anticipated, since this is a sun flightéstico the service is paid with Mercado Latam, given the time if it existsó an interesting sale of the products, but we already hadíAmos had a traditional Peruvian sanguche for breakfast.

The Market in Peruú It is different from the Ecuadorian one as was known, but calledó the attentionón that the regulationón local sí allows free sale of various types of alcohol on Sunday flightséstatic. In the photos above you can see the options that fit the traditional flavors of each country.ís.

In flight

From Lima to Cusco the durationóflight number is 1 hour, but I recommend that instead of watching a movieíass in LATAM Play, ask for a window and enjoy the incredibleíbeautiful view of the landscapes of the Peruvian mountain rangeú, really beautiful full of snow, valles, lagos, peaks and más.

Cusco is a tall airport, complicated and special for all aerolídenies. For this reason, there are several VOR and RNAV instrumental approaches, as well asén visuals, what was the one we did on this flight, who did it toún máIt's exciting and special to pass so close to the mountainsñthem in a safe way.

Tip, always ask for the left window on the section from Lima, where the landscape isún más increíble and back the right.

Concludedón

Both from Quito to Lima and from thereí a Cusco, they are short flights, so one does not expect great service, but at least the attentionónumber of airline personnelínea is good and makes it pleasant despite the early hour in which the flights take place.

Sí draws attentionón the big difference in the LATAM service between Ecuador and Peruú. In the Ecuadorian one, the service was úOnly a muffin and a drink from Quito to Lima and without duty free, while on the way back the flight was operated by the Peruvian subsidiary, where the service was a sándwich and 2 beverage services, más the duty free service that sí offeredó.

The service to Cusco is the estáLATAM floor, that aims to keep the LATAM Market, in Argentina it has already been closedó, as a kind of low cost, but it seems that it does not have much future, especially for the service that the other airlinesídon't offer, which is slightly superior by offering free drinks on sun flightséaesthetics for very similar prices.

Connect to Cusco víto Lima from Quito is a good alternative and the más direct from Ecuador, since alsoéYou can't do it from Bogotá. From Lima there are, as we have seen, muchívery high daily frequencies to the capital of the Inca empire and not only of LATAM, so do it with this aerolínea in a single reservation is one of the best options for luggage and waiting time issues in Lima.

Additional data

• It is recommended to travel with a passport to Peruú as ecuadorian, since you can get discounts on some tickets to tourist placesístics for being from the Andean Community. Lakeédula not serveá for it.
• Additional to discounts, in Machu Picchu for free they put a stamp that those ruins were visited, something very original and worth having.
• Between Perú and Ecuador uses the same time zone.
• Arriving in Cuzco, I recommend taking a taxi at the exit of the Airport in the street, it's máIt's cheap and can be negotiated like almost everything in Peru.ú. from thereí to the Plaza de Armas they charged S. 12 soles, some $4 dóhomes.