More transport service failings. First, a very rare let down from Blacklane, the usually excellent and reliable limo service, when my business class car (“Mercedes E Class or similar”) is a shitty little Hyundai driven by a Chilean peasant wearing a dirty potato sack and carrying a pig, and featuring class-leading rear legroom. Normally there’s enough room for any amount of cat swinging:
Alright, he was wearing jeans and there was no pig, but still, not the usual professional image of a Blacklane driver, and certainly not the usual quality of car. Yes, I’m wearing jeans, but I’m allowed, I’m not at work. Not until next week. Oh god, I’ve got to go back to work next week…
Next, another LATAM flight. No aircraft change this time, and the crew were great:
The problem was the meal. Looks OK:
It was not OK. The salad was so wilted it was almost rotten. One of the forks had a piece of gunk stuck on it. The other fork bent when I tried to eat the chicken, which was so dry and tough it couldn’t be cut. Looked like the whole thing had been left out for two days. Solution? Another complaint to LATAM, no doubt to be ignored, another glass of red, and a couple of extra chocolates as an apology. Ell-oh-ell, right? I did get to watch the excellent Bohemian Rhapsody because this aircraft did have IFE unlike the previous broken pile of junk, so not all bad.
At least Ricardo, my Blacklane driver on arrival in Argentina, was a total pro with a nice BMW and a confidently aggressive but smooth driving style, and the Hilton is just around the corner from a very pleasant riverside walk with bars and restaurants and buskers and tango. Not as good as the Newcastle-Gateshead Quayside (better tango by far, obviously) but still very nice:
