Best of Latin America 2007: frequent business travelers weigh in on what works.

• Author: Brown, Greg
• Position: Ilustraci

Business travelers long familiar with moving around Latin America have all heard this one: Asked where they live (a reasonable question, considering their constant jetting around the hemisphere) they answer, "Seat 37A."

It's not far from the truth. Distances between markets are long, sometimes eight to twelve hours, but not long enough to discourage weekly itineraries that rival those of pilots and flight attendants. These are the so-called "extreme" jobholders They clock in the air miles and know the front desk folks by name. They work 50-and 60-hour weeks and spend weekends in the air, just to land and start all over on Monday.

To find out more about which airlines, airports, hotels and restaurants these hardworking people treasure most, we asked our 350,000 readers worldwide to take part in a two-month online survey. This year, 1,283 readers responded, going into great detail on where to eat, sleep and stay in the region. New this year, we ranked offerings on a 10-point scale on specific factors, like speed of check-in at car rental agencies or ease of connections for airports.

Service providers are ranked in order according to their overall average for all factors. Hundreds more airlines, hotels and restaurants were included in the survey, but only those that reached minimum responses were included in the final results published here.

READERS' CHOICE AIRLINES Overall Business Cabin Class Comfort/ Service Continental Airlines 8.71 8.80 8.71 Aeromexico 8.64 8.96 8.81 Avianca 8.28 8.60 8.45 Mexicana Airlines 8.24 8.63 8.32 LAN 8.20 8.52 8.28 TAM Airlines 8.03 8.19 8.36 Copa Airlines 8.00 8.12 8.12 American Airlines 7.44 7.78 7.23 Grupo Taca 7.04 7.46 7.28 Food/ Frequent- Ticketing/ Beverages Flier Boarding Program Continental Airlines 8.39 8.80 8.83 Aeromexico 8.39 8.51 8.54 Avianca 7.75 8.25 8.35 Mexicana Airlines 8.05 8.15 8.03 LAN 7.97 7.93 8.27 TAM Airlines 7.64 8.16 7.83 Copa Airlines 7.79 7.74 8.25 American Airlines 6.43 8.00 7.78 Grupo Taca 6.50 6.44 7.50 CAR RENTAL Overall Rates Reliability of Fleet Enterprise 8.01 7.77 8.30 Hertz 7.89 7.12 8.31 Budget 7.86 7.34 8.18 Dollar 7.84 7.39 8.16 Alamo 7.78 7.42 8.15 Avis 7.09 6.52 7.59 Service/ Speed of Vehicle Courtesy Check-in/ Selection/ Check-out Options Enterprise 8.23 8.03 7.74 Hertz 8.10 8.04 7.86 Budget 8.09 7.97 7.71 Dollar 7.82 7.97 7.85 Alamo 7.89 7.89 7.54 Avis 7.27 7.22 6.86 AIRPORTS Overall Comfort/ Customs/ Ambience Baggage SCL/Santiago, Chile 8.38 8.67 8.58 MTY/Monterrey, Mexico 8.26 8.56 8.19 PTY/Panama City, Panama 7.97 7.69 7.36 JFK/John F. Kennedy, New York 7.84 7.68 7.79 BOG/Bogota, Colombia 7.56 7.48 7.19 DFW/Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas 7.25 7.34 7.10 GIG/Rio de Janeiro 7.23 7.13 7.25 MEX/Mexico City, Mexico 7.04 6.90 6.35 MIA/Miami, Florida 6.99 7.11 6.70 LIM/Lima, Peru 6.94 6.74 7.00 GDL/Guadalajara, Mexico 6.87 7.16 6.54 AEP/Buenos Aires, Argentina 6.68 7.12 6.24 GRU/Sao Paulo, Brazil 6.65 6.54 6.75 CCS/Caracas, Venezuela 6.13 6.41 5.83 Ease of Food Shops/ Connections Amenities SCL/Santiago, Chile 8.25 7.95 MTY/Monterrey, Mexico 8.09 8.2S PTY/Panama City, Panama 8.98 7.52 JFK/John F. Kennedy, New York 7.93 7.82 BOG/Bogota, Colombia 7.49 7.69 DFW/Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas 7.22 7.10 GIG/Rio de Janeiro 7.38 7.30 MEX/Mexico City, Mexico 7.12 6.86 MIA/Miami, Florida 7.01 7.59 LIM/Lima, Peru 6.78 6.78 GDL/Guadalajara, Mexico 6.77 6.95 AEP/Buenos Aires, Argentina 6.24 6.67 GRU/Sao Paulo, Brazil 6.79 6.76 CCS/Caracas, Venezuela 6.29 6.63 Location/ Parking Access SCL/Santiago, Chile 8.72 8.13 MTY/Monterrey, Mexico 8.34 8.09 PTY/Panama City, Panama 8.10 8.15 JFK/John F. Kennedy, New York 8.07 7.74 BOG/Bogota, Colombia 7.94 7.59 DFW/Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas 7.32 7.41 GIG/Rio de Janeiro 6.83 7.50 MEX/Mexico City, Mexico 7.54 7.46 MIA/Miami, Florida 6.75 6.80 LIM/Lima, Peru 6.96 7.39 GDL/Guadalajara, Mexico 6.91 6.86 AEP/Buenos Aires, Argentina 6.82 6.98 GRU/Sao Paulo, Brazil 6.12 6.95 CCS/Caracas, Venezuela 5.51 6.13 AIRPORT LOUNGES Overall Ambience Business Ease of Support Access Santiago SCL/LAN Salon Pablo Neruda 9.00 9.12 9.35 8.88 Guadalajara GDL/Aeromexico Salon Premier 8.94 9.00 8.93 9.00 Dallas/Fort Worth DFW/American Airlines Admirals Club 8.61 8.71 8.86 8.61 Mexico City MEX/Aeromexico Salon Premier 8.57 8.55 8.62 8.51 Panama City PTY/Continental Presidents Club 8.57 8.46 8.65 8.54 Bogota BOG/American Airlines Admirals Club 8.49 8.46 8.49 8.51 Mexico City MEX/Mexicana Salones Executivos 8.42 8.36 8.54 8.10 Bogota BOG/Varig Sala VIP 8.33 8.24 8.29 8.19 Sao Paulo GRU/Varig...