I recently flew United Polaris on a long-haul international route and came away with mixed…read moreimpressions. First, the positives: the seat itself is very good. It's spacious, private, and comfortable, and the bedding is excellent. The Polaris lounge experience is also a strong point and feels thoughtfully designed. From a "hard product" perspective (seat, cabin layout, amenities), United is competitive. Where the experience falls short is in service consistency and food quality. Service was uneven. Some flight attendants were warm, proactive, and clearly invested in delivering a premium experience. Others felt disengaged and reactive rather than attentive. The inconsistency made it difficult to understand what the Polaris service standard is supposed to be. In a flagship international business class cabin, you expect a clearly defined and consistently executed level of hospitality. The food presentation was decent, but the flavors were underwhelming. Several dishes tasted bland and lacked seasoning or refinement. For a product positioned at this price point, the culinary execution should feel more elevated and memorable. Overall, Polaris has strong fundamentals and real potential. If United can standardize service delivery and upgrade the catering to match the premium branding, it would be a much more competitive business class product. 3.5-4 stars depending on the crew.

I love flying business class on United Airlines. This flight I'm on from Santiago to Houston is on…read morea 767-300 and the configuration in business class is 1-1-1. Meaning you don't have a neighbor! They greet you with a smile and a glass of champagne. They ask what you'd like to have for dinner and let you pursue the amenity kit and big screen tv. Of course, all the plugs and compartments and pillows and blankets are there to provide ultimate comfort and accessibility. The flight attendants in business class are all so happy and friendly. I've only had a couple poor experiences on United, and never while in business class. The only weird thing about flying to the US from Santiago is that they have extra security at the gate. It was explained that they basically don't have TSA, so they thoroughly look through each person's bag at the gate. This means that if you bought a bottle of water for the plane (or liquor at the airport shops), you'll have to dump it... or chug it lol.

Very nice, clean, modern hotel, excellent service, great location…read more We booked this hotel for our recent trip to Santiago for a few nights and had a great experience. The check-in was pretty easy. The hotel is situated right across the street from a beautiful, modern park with flamingos. Vitacura is a very swanky upscale neighborhood. From the hotel you can walk to several malls and the malls are high end, LV, Chanel and Hermes. Our room was on the 15th floor and the large windows gave us an amazing view of the hills and the urban neighborhood. The beds were really comfortable, very clean and the bathrooms had good water pressure. There's an outdoor pool pretty small inside the hotel, too cold to use in the winter time. The gym was also pretty new and had enough machines for most of my needs and it was empty. Complimentary hot breakfast buffet is included in the room rate which was very nice. There was a variety of different fruits every day, about 6-8 hot trays of different items, empanadas, eggs, bacon, fried rice etc. Different kinds of bread and toasts, along with 3 types of meat and 2 kinds of cheese. The cappuccino machine makes multiple different kinds of hot drinks and hot chocolate. Really nice to have. The rates are very reasonable. The concierge gave us a ton of super helpful information for places to visit and things to do, restaurants to eat at, and all his recommendation was awesome! Highly recommend!

Petty nice and expensive hotel, but not too nice look out of windows... low class apartments with…read morelaundry drying in their windows .... Rooms and showers are beautiful and very clean.

I worked with Jeanette Huanquil to schedule car service for my boss to/from the airport, his hotel…read moreand our office in Santiago. I got some help from my colleague who is local with some logistics. The drivers assigned to drive my boss were fantastic. He reported they were all on time and friendly. Also, we requested drivers that spoke English. The cars were immaculate. I'll be using this service again for any business in Santiago or for personal trips too. Their customer service is open 24 hours a day. Jeanette gave us her cell phone number in case of any issues.

Easy! Easy, easy, easy! I like easy. I spent three full days in Santiago and rode the metro at…read moreleast a half dozen times. Their system works well, the trains are often and clean, the stations are clean and well-lit and there is very little confusion about where the lines go or how you use it. It's all ONE zone, so none of that complication like London. It's all ONE company, so none of that complication like Tokyo. Easy! The lines are simple. They go from one end of town to the other or from the north end to the south. Sure, the trains don't go everywhere and there is a lot of the city that is not close to a station. But the main parts of downtown are well covered. As of 2018, there are no more single ride tickets. You will need to purchase a "Bip!" card, which you can do from any staffed counter. You load credit onto the card at any automated machine and they all accept cash and credit. You only need one card. You just wave it at the reader once for each person you're purchasing a ticket for. That's great! I have to say, I'm a fan. It would be "As good as it gets" when the train goes to the airport. Even the closest station is a few miles ride.

Coming from the US, this system is actually very good. I stayed in Las Condes, and traveled to city…read morecenter almost every day. You purchase a Bip! card (about $2.50), which stores money value on it, and you can reload the card at any station, via person or machine. You tap the card on the turnstile machine upon entrance only. There are 3 price levels: rush hour, regular, and low. The difference between rush & regular is only 10 cents or so. You are charged for each ride (660 pesos, about a dollar), and there is no day pass or week pass. This is a bargain compared to the US - but you have to plan your trip since each trip will cost you. And yes, this system is extremely crowded most of the time. It's not really worth it to wait for the next uncrowded train because they will all be crowded. Trains run the entire length of the station, and are pretty frequent during the day. I mainly only took the Line 1, since it served my area and downtown. Most signs are in Spanish & English, so you can get by if you are good with directions. I never felt threatened or unsafe on the metro. There is a security presence at most stations near the turnstiles.