Why is LAN CS so infuriating?
Jun 27, 2015, 9:31 pm
#16
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: London
Programs: AA Executive Platinum
Posts: 779
Well since this has been bumped, here is my complaint:
I booked a SCL-Easter Island ticket online at Lan.com on 21 June. For some reason, payment didn't go through at time of booking, but flights got confirmed, got booking reference number and website had this to say: "The reservation of your flights has been confirmed, but the issuance of your tickets has not been completed due to problems with your form of payment. Please contact us at our Contact Center or at the LAN Office closest to you."
...
"Minimum advance payment
The tickets must be purchased at most 7 days after the reservation has been made."
So the website failed to take payment, but I had 7 days to call Lan and pay over the phone. No bother I thought, perhaps the link between Lan and my credit card provider was down, I'll just call up Lan to pay later.
Today I called Lan. Today is 27 June, so this is 6 days after the booking, within the 7 days Lan says on their own website that I have to pay.
Agent tells me that my booking has been cancelled. Not just cancelled, but it got cancelled on 21 June, the same day that I made it.
Prices have since gone up. Lan will not reinstate original booking, which should still be inlace and should not have been cancelled.
I booked a SCL-Easter Island ticket online at Lan.com on 21 June. For some reason, payment didn't go through at time of booking, but flights got confirmed, got booking reference number and website had this to say: "The reservation of your flights has been confirmed, but the issuance of your tickets has not been completed due to problems with your form of payment. Please contact us at our Contact Center or at the LAN Office closest to you."
...
"Minimum advance payment
The tickets must be purchased at most 7 days after the reservation has been made."
So the website failed to take payment, but I had 7 days to call Lan and pay over the phone. No bother I thought, perhaps the link between Lan and my credit card provider was down, I'll just call up Lan to pay later.
Today I called Lan. Today is 27 June, so this is 6 days after the booking, within the 7 days Lan says on their own website that I have to pay.
Agent tells me that my booking has been cancelled. Not just cancelled, but it got cancelled on 21 June, the same day that I made it.
Prices have since gone up. Lan will not reinstate original booking, which should still be inlace and should not have been cancelled.
Jul 27, 2015, 4:06 pm
#18
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 1,438
Also, did they eventually force you to re-book at the higher rate? Seems like they should honor the lower rate that you had in place before they canceled on you and screwed you over?
Aug 17, 2015, 10:07 am
#19
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: MEX
Programs: LATAMPASS, Copa ConnectMiles Gold
Posts: 266
Thought I'd do a good deed, and report some serious IT problems to LAN. Silly idea!
The Mexican version of their site has not been working properly for days. When I search for business class flights, every single result says there are no flights available on the dates selected. This has been happening regardless of the route, or dates I choose. Similarly, if searching for an economy class ticket, the results only show 'base' fares. No base plus or flex fares are displayed.
I reported this via a PM to the LAN_Ayuda Twitter account. Their response? "Send us your reservation code so that we may assist you with seat selection."
Seriously?
The Mexican version of their site has not been working properly for days. When I search for business class flights, every single result says there are no flights available on the dates selected. This has been happening regardless of the route, or dates I choose. Similarly, if searching for an economy class ticket, the results only show 'base' fares. No base plus or flex fares are displayed.
I reported this via a PM to the LAN_Ayuda Twitter account. Their response? "Send us your reservation code so that we may assist you with seat selection."
Seriously?
Aug 17, 2015, 4:59 pm
#20
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: BOGish. VLCish. It's complicated.
Programs: BA
Posts: 683
Thought I'd do a good deed, and report some serious IT problems to LAN. Silly idea!
The Mexican version of their site has not been working properly for days. When I search for business class flights, every single result says there are no flights available on the dates selected. This has been happening regardless of the route, or dates I choose. Similarly, if searching for an economy class ticket, the results only show 'base' fares. No base plus or flex fares are displayed.
I reported this via a PM to the LAN_Ayuda Twitter account. Their response? "Send us your reservation code so that we may assist you with seat selection."
Seriously?
The Mexican version of their site has not been working properly for days. When I search for business class flights, every single result says there are no flights available on the dates selected. This has been happening regardless of the route, or dates I choose. Similarly, if searching for an economy class ticket, the results only show 'base' fares. No base plus or flex fares are displayed.
I reported this via a PM to the LAN_Ayuda Twitter account. Their response? "Send us your reservation code so that we may assist you with seat selection."
Seriously?
Aug 24, 2015, 10:59 am
#21
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 269
I have been trying to upgrade a flight with kms for the last week. First their phone service sound quality is horrible. You barely make out what they are saying through the static. Finally after getting transferred around a few times I got an agent that said the flight from SCL to IPC is not eligible to be upgraded with miles. Granted the upgrade chart is only on the Spanish version but its clearly there for 20,000 kms. I then try using their help on Facebook. This is a bit more helpful, they say it will be 20,000kms and that they have created a case number for me and gave me a number to call or else wait 24 hours and they will call me. So I call, of course I can't get the phone system to either take my Lanpass number or case number. Have to talk to an agent. They look up case number, all they can do is put a note on there that I called. No way to help me. Its now been over 24 hours and no one has called. Ugh....
Aug 26, 2015, 9:00 pm
#22
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 26
Ha. I came here looking for a complaint thread about LAN and I found it.
Just tried calling tonight to book an itinerary over the phone. It's a 3-way itinerary from the U.S. to Chile to Argentina, then back to the U.S. I had to call because booking stopovers is impossible on the website. It only seems to allow round-trips.
Despite searching the segments individually and seeing space when they were searched as roundtrips, the guy told me there was no availability on any of them. I suppose it's possible that availability on 3-leg flights are more restricted than simple roundtrips, but it was the overall incompetence that made it so frustrating.
Yes, they still haven't fixed their phone audio. The phone! It's 2015! It is no longer difficult to establish a clear, static-free phone connection, landline to landline, even across oceans! That, and after I asked the guy how much the ticket would be (and fed him the dates), and after he responded with a price, I asked him to go ahead and reserve it. His reply: "Ooooh, you want me to see if it's available too? Hold on I have to check...no, no availability for that whole month."
I'm thinking I might actually have to go to JFK and talk to someone in person at the ticket desk to book this thing.
Just tried calling tonight to book an itinerary over the phone. It's a 3-way itinerary from the U.S. to Chile to Argentina, then back to the U.S. I had to call because booking stopovers is impossible on the website. It only seems to allow round-trips.
Despite searching the segments individually and seeing space when they were searched as roundtrips, the guy told me there was no availability on any of them. I suppose it's possible that availability on 3-leg flights are more restricted than simple roundtrips, but it was the overall incompetence that made it so frustrating.
Yes, they still haven't fixed their phone audio. The phone! It's 2015! It is no longer difficult to establish a clear, static-free phone connection, landline to landline, even across oceans! That, and after I asked the guy how much the ticket would be (and fed him the dates), and after he responded with a price, I asked him to go ahead and reserve it. His reply: "Ooooh, you want me to see if it's available too? Hold on I have to check...no, no availability for that whole month."
I'm thinking I might actually have to go to JFK and talk to someone in person at the ticket desk to book this thing.
Aug 26, 2015, 11:19 pm
#23
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: MEX
Programs: LATAMPASS, Copa ConnectMiles Gold
Posts: 266
Ha. I came here looking for a complaint thread about LAN and I found it.
Just tried calling tonight to book an itinerary over the phone. It's a 3-way itinerary from the U.S. to Chile to Argentina, then back to the U.S. I had to call because booking stopovers is impossible on the website. It only seems to allow round-trips.
Despite searching the segments individually and seeing space when they were searched as roundtrips, the guy told me there was no availability on any of them. I suppose it's possible that availability on 3-leg flights are more restricted than simple roundtrips, but it was the overall incompetence that made it so frustrating.
Yes, they still haven't fixed their phone audio. The phone! It's 2015! It is no longer difficult to establish a clear, static-free phone connection, landline to landline, even across oceans! That, and after I asked the guy how much the ticket would be (and fed him the dates), and after he responded with a price, I asked him to go ahead and reserve it. His reply: "Ooooh, you want me to see if it's available too? Hold on I have to check...no, no availability for that whole month."
I'm thinking I might actually have to go to JFK and talk to someone in person at the ticket desk to book this thing.
Just tried calling tonight to book an itinerary over the phone. It's a 3-way itinerary from the U.S. to Chile to Argentina, then back to the U.S. I had to call because booking stopovers is impossible on the website. It only seems to allow round-trips.
Despite searching the segments individually and seeing space when they were searched as roundtrips, the guy told me there was no availability on any of them. I suppose it's possible that availability on 3-leg flights are more restricted than simple roundtrips, but it was the overall incompetence that made it so frustrating.
Yes, they still haven't fixed their phone audio. The phone! It's 2015! It is no longer difficult to establish a clear, static-free phone connection, landline to landline, even across oceans! That, and after I asked the guy how much the ticket would be (and fed him the dates), and after he responded with a price, I asked him to go ahead and reserve it. His reply: "Ooooh, you want me to see if it's available too? Hold on I have to check...no, no availability for that whole month."
I'm thinking I might actually have to go to JFK and talk to someone in person at the ticket desk to book this thing.
Aug 27, 2015, 7:20 am
#24
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 26
You can book trips with stopovers on LAN.com. Underneath "round trip" and "one way", click on the "multi-city" (multiples destinos) option. I've used this when booking a business ticket with a stopover. The disadvantage is that it's harder to see which flight options will offer the lowest price, unlike a simple round-trip search, which makes it easy to see the lowest fares.