Review of LATAM flight from San Andrés to Medellin in Premium Eco

The $1 upgrade

Hello and welcome to another Flight Report!

This is the penultimate FR from this trip and will cover my flight out of San Andrés back to mainland Colombia. I'm heading to Bogota with a transfer in Medellin as it was much cheaper than flying direct. Interestingly, when I booked, the price for Premium Economy was $1 more than the price for Economy (after adding in checked luggage and seat selection), making this a no-brainer. 

This is my 2nd time flying out (or, should I say, attempting to fly out) of San Andrés. I tried (and failed) to fly out to Providencia a few days ago due to a mechanical issue (the FR is available here). Thankfully, that didn't happen this time. 

As for price, I paid $109 flying ADZ-MDE-BOG in premium economy, which was a great deal.

I aim to offset all of my CO2 emissions from flights. All emissions are calculated using the ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator and I will be funding projects approved by The Gold Standard.

San Andrés Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport (ADZ)

As we've already established on this trip, I'm incredibly unlucky when it comes to flights. This continues with this flight with me receiving a message that the flight is delayed by 2 hours in the morning. I joke with family/friends to never fly with me because of my luck… I guess that's a very good idea at this point. 

I will say, however, that LATAM is amazing when it comes to communication. I received a text whenever the expected departure time changed. They were so quick in sending out the text it beats apps like FR24 and Flighty, which is amazing. 

Heading to the airport in a golf cart! Golf carts and bikes are very popular forms of transport around the island, especially for tourists. 

5 minutes later, here we are at the airport… again.

The drop-off area. 

And here's the check-in area. 

View of the parking lot from upstairs. 

All the seating here is outside, which is really nice and unique. 

Another photo of the check-in area. 

Let's head through security!

Security took less than a minute thanks to a lack of people. All passengers have to go through 'immigration' (this is a domestic flight). It consists of a quick scan/check of the entry card (see my inbound FR for more details) so make sure to keep it with you!

Passing through the duty-free area. Yes, this is a domestic flight but let me explain. The islands of San Andrés and Providencia is a duty-free zone, meaning there's no duty tax on anything sold on the island (you can imagine the number of duty-free stores on the island because of that). That also makes the entry fee/tax more understandable. 

Photo of the gates. 

The Flight

Flight time to Medellin will be 90 minutes and here's our route: 

Boarding started around 90 minutes late with a nice view of the apron. 

An Avianca A320 also heading to Medellin (MDE) and a LATAM A320 heading to Bogota (BOG).

The boarding process was… confusing to say the least. The neighboring flight to Bogota was also boarding at the same time (that's the queue in the photo). The staff had to call out and direct passengers going to Medellin. Boarding passes weren't checked either so I wouldn't be surprised if a confused passenger got on the wrong plane.

And here's our plane:

Some information about our plane:

Type: Airbus A320
Registration: CC-BAW
First flight: 2 April 2012
Age: ~13 years
Config: Y180

A standard A320 delivered to LAN Airlines in 2012. Reconfigured in 2024 from Y174 to Y180. 

The first 2 rows are for premium economy. This would be considered "business class" in Europe. Kudos to LATAM for calling it premium economy (which is what this is) rather than business like in Europe. 

The seats are the same as economy…

… except with a lot more legroom (I guess it's even better than 'business' in Europe!!) and the middle seat is blocked. 

USB and universal power outlets are available as well. 

View out of the window with the evil SATENA ATR42 (that broke down on me) about to head to Providencia (PVA), and an air ambulance that just arrived from the same place. 

The crew gave out a bottle of water during boarding. 

Looks like some kind of medical emergency going on there, hope everything is alright. 

Pushback almost 2 hours late. This, according to the captain, is due to the weather in Medellin. 

Photo of the terminal as we taxi down the runway. 

Bye-bye San Andrés! Thanks for the amazing week. 

Wow, that's quite a nice-looking reef. 

Nothing but ocean for the next hour as we reach our cruising altitude. 

With nothing to see outside, let's have a look at the onboard Wi-Fi. Prices are below.

If you don't wanna pay for Wi-Fi. There are also plenty of films and TV shows available on the site for free. A ton of content available on there, it's better than a lot of IFE systems I've seen.

A moving map as well as the LATAM website is available for free as well. This is definitely the best Wi-Fi/online streaming service offered on any airline I've seen. A ton of content available for free. 

Aside from that, the only thing found in the seatback pocket is the safety card. Looks like LATAM also doesn't have an inflight magazine, which is a shame. 

First view of South America as we cross the border from Panama into Colombia. 

Shortly after, the crew came around with some snacks. There were options of sweet and savory snacks as well as a drink - these were complimentary for passengers in premium economy. 

Before long, we're already starting our descent into Medellin. 

A very scenic approach with mountains everywhere. The Andes span across much of Colombia, with Medellin's Airport located 7000ft (2100m) above sea level. Bogota is higher at 8350ft (2550m) above sea level. The elevation isn't noticeable while you're there however it becomes apparent if you bring sealed food/water down to sea level - I bought an (unopened) bottle of water down that ended up being almost impossible to open. 

On final approach.

Welcome back to mainland Colombia! We arrived 2 hours late. 

Parked at the gate. 

Medellin José María Córdova International Airport (MDE)

Thanks to the 2-hour delay, I only had 90 minutes before my flight to Bogota. 

Unfortunately, the domestic connection corridor was closed so I had to go through baggage reclaim and security again.

Baggage reclaim area. I stopped for a quick check to make sure my bag wasn't there (it wasn't, thankfully). 

And here's the check-in area. 

And finally, an hour or so after the flight, I got a message from LATAM apologizing for the delay. That's a rather nice touch. 

I'll end this Flight Report here. No FR on my flight to Bogota (it was a 20-minute flight from gear up to touchdown, one of the shortest I've taken on a jet) nor on the Spirit flight back to Orlando (honestly, 1 Spirit review is enough…). My next FR will cover the long haul from the US back to Europe. Thanks for reading and I'll see you there!