LATAM Airlines Group has opened the doors of its newest LATAM Lounge, located at Santiago de Chile’s Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL). Last week, Simple Flying had the opportunity to visit it exclusively. This is what we think about the new lounge, which is located in Santiago’s brand-new Terminal 2 and will be available for LATAM international travelers.

The location of the new lounge

The new LATAM Lounge is located inside Santiago’s new international Terminal 2, which was inaugurated on February 28. We toured the new terminal last week, and you can read more about that visit here.

LATAM Lounge is considered to be the largest lounge space in South America, with more than 4,000 square meters. It replaces the old VIP Lounge with what LATAM calls a more renewable and sustainable experience.

LATAM currently has VIP Lounges in Bogotá (BOG), Buenos Aires (EZE), Guarulhos (GRU), and Miami (MIA). The airline also offers access to lounges from other partners in Auckland (AKL), Barcelona (BCN), Boston (BOS), Paris (CDG), Frankfurt (FRA), Quito (UIO), New York (JFK), Los Angeles (LAX), London (LHR), Lima (LIM), Lisbon (LIS), Madrid (MAD), Melbourne (MEL), Orlando (MCO), Mexico City (MEX) Sydney (SYD), Tel Aviv (TLV), and Johannesburg (JNB).

The new lounge for international travel in Santiago de Chile offers a unique passenger experience for different LATAM clients. It is located on the fourth floor of the terminal, and it actually can be seen when entering the terminal, as noticeable in the following image.

Three lounges, three different experiences for the customers

The Latin American airline inaugurated the LATAM Lounge this week. It is available to all passengers with the LATAM benefits program in the Black Signature, Black, and Platinum categories, for passengers flying onboard the airline’s Premium cabin and for passengers from partner airlines and Business partners traveling on international flights or making stopovers in Chile. For instance, travelers with Delta Air Lines, Aeromexico, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Qantas, and Qatar Airways can benefit from the lounges.

The names of the three lounges are Signature Lounge (the most VIP), Premium Lounge, and WorldMember Lounge.

Paulo Miranda, Vice President of Customers for LATAM Airlines Group, said,

“Our decision-making is always guided by our customers, and we continue to advance an experience where everyone can choose what is important for their trip. We have promoted changes and innovations in our new Lounge to create a space that highlights the best of our region and where there are options for everyone to enjoy their time as they see fit.”

The lounge is decorated with a series of art sculptures by South American artists. Most of the pieces were primarily made with recycled materials. There are 21 artists currently exhibiting their works in the new lounge, including Ximena Guzmán from Chile, Sofía Donován from Argentina, and Percy Zorrilla from Perú.

Sustainability is the name of the game

The design of the LATAM Lounge was made by Enrique Concha and Grupo Arquitectos, a Chilean architect and a firm with plenty of experience in the airport business. Grupo Arquitectos also designed the interior of the recently inaugurated Terminal 2.

When designing and building the new LATAM Lounge, LATAM Airlines Group kept sustainability at the forefront of design.

The new space has several sustainable attributes in line with the group’s commitment to integrating sustainability throughout its operation. For example, it includes the use of 80% renewable energy for its operation (the remaining 20% is offset by the company). The carbon footprint compensation is made through LATAM’s ecosystem conservation projects in South America, particularly the CO2BIO flooded savanna conservation project in the Colombian region of Orinoquía.

LATAM also offers interactive games for children with educational themes surrounding recycling and reforestation.

Finally, throughout the whole lounge, LATAM has reduced the use of single-use plastics as much as possible.

Paulo Miranda added,

“This represents another step in the group’s sustainability strategy, which we are convinced should be an integral aspect in all our areas. It must guide us and be at the center of what we do.”

LATAM has announced several sustainability efforts to tackle its environmental footprint in the last few months. Last week, the airline’s CEO said that by 2030, the airline's overall fuel consumption would consist of at least 5% of sustainable aviation fuels. Discover more aviation news here.

Is the LATAM Lounge worth it?

In a nutshell, yes.

The three lounges offer a unique experience for travelers looking to unwind from a long journey or give a bonus to their layovers and vacations.

LATAM Lounge offers several services, including lockers for hand luggage, sleeping areas (not available, for instance, in the WorldMember Lounge), special areas for children and family, showers, an open bar, buffet service with Latin American cuisine, ironing service, shoeshine, co-work areas, electric plug-ins everywhere (and we do mean EVERYWHERE, including wireless charging).

The recently inaugurated lounge offers a relaxing atmosphere for business travelers and entire families alike.

Nonetheless, due to Chile’s current travel restrictions, the time allowed inside LATAM’s new lounge is currently restricted to two hours. We hope that changes in the future as Chile eases its current COVID-19 requirements.

LATAM’s international schedule

Due to the fact that the LATAM Lounge is located in Santiago’s international terminal, the largest percentage of users of the new space will be international travelers. So, let’s take a look at LATAM’s current international services from Chile.

According to data provided by Cirium, LATAM currently operates 160 weekly international flights from Santiago de Chile, still 50% below 2019 levels, a testament to the impact of Chile’s current travel restrictions.

LATAM operates flights to 21 international destinations; Lima is the top destination from Santiago de Chile, with 36 scheduled flights per week, while Cancún, La Paz, and Punta Cana each have only one flight per week at the moment.

LATAM flies to Lima, Miami (both airports), Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, Mexico City, Mendoza, New York, Guayaquil, Córdoba, Los Ángeles, Asunción, Auckland, Viru Viru, Punta Cana, La Paz, and Cancún.

Other carriers currently operating international flights from Santiago de Chile are American Airlines, Air Canada, Air France, Aeroméxico, Aerolíneas Argentinas, Avianca, British Airways, Copa Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Sky Airline, Iberia, JetSMART, KLM, United Airlines, Conviasa, and WestJet.

What do you think about LATAM’s new lounge in Santiago de Chile? Does it live up to your expectations? Would you be interested in trying it? Let us know in the comments below.