vandykes44

I've had a great time using my LatinPass miles, but am apprehensive about the possibility of TACA pulling out before I use the last 300,000 miles. I'm using 100,000 miles this year and have plans to use 200,000 next year. I can't use anymore miles this year as my 5 weeks of vacation are all planned and reservations made.

I can't yet "reserve" tickets for next year, as it's more than a year out. I have 3 questions for those of you with much greater experience than myself:

1. What do you think the odds are that TACA will pull out soon, or never? Anybody have some inside connections?

2. If I "reserve" tickets for next year when I can, even if GP doesn't ticket them, are they guaranteed? If I have GP "ticket" them, are they guaranteed?

3. Anybody know what the penalities are for "reserving" or trying to ticket TACA flights for next year for earlier dates, and then changing the dates of the tickets to a later date, when they're available?

Let me know your expert thoughts, Shelley

p.s. This week a friend of mine was able to use GP miles on KLM for a ticket from Chicago to Rome, flying business class in April, for the exact dates she wanted. Took a single phone call.

tvl4free

Well congratulations. ^ But I'm stroking here.

Do you have any idea how many times I've tried to do the same thing (call SleazyPass and tried to book KLM directly w them) and it didn't work! Too many to count, I can assure you. And even with the NW WPAA award finder, I've never been able to find seats in BC in both directions.

BTW, if someone here is in fact our 'token KLM BC award Winner for the Year,' courtesy of SleazyPass, at least I'm glad that it's someone that I know! Woohoo!!! ^

Anyway, simply making a reservation offers you no protection what-so-ever. (You have no contract w/o a tkt). So if it were me, I would ticket anything and everything that I could ASAP.

But remember, you can only ticket a flight one year out...so the return portion should be no further than 1 year hence. But the caveat to that is that if you do book it one year out, SleazyPass is not likely to ticket it for you unless you pay them the expedite fee - as they will usually hold back until 21 days before departure before ticketing.

FWIW, I already thought of this 'waaay advance booking' and that's the way the SP explained the finer print to me.

BTW, hi Shelley!

cygone

Even having a ticket does not guarantee you will be able to use it. I was issued four TWA tickets to Cairo when it was still part of LP. American Airlines advised me they would not honor the tickets after the merger and all I could do was redeposit the tickets for mile credit.

I actually had to fight to not pay the fees to redeposit the miles for the unusable tickets.

vandykes44

Last year when we went to Brazil, GP was great and did send our tickets to us a few months out, as we had to get Brazilian visas. I'm going to call them tomorrow and ask to pay the ticketing fees and get the tickets issued. We'll see what they say.

Has anyone had experience changing the dates of tickets after they were ticketed?

By the way, "Hi" to you Noel. And it was Fran who was able to get a ticket to Rome on KLM for April with absolutely no problem!

cesco.g

vandykes44, what is the current mileage required USA-Brazil, in C, in Y class?

And BTW, where is the current award chart, showing all reqions posted?

TIA!

vandykes44

Cesco.g

Mileage to Brazil from the US is 45,000 coach, 65,000 business, but since Avianca pulled out of GP, I don't know how you can get there.

I have the original brochure I received from GP, originally LP, 5 years ago that it still current for award travel.

BTW, I called GP today and they processed our tickets to Argentina today, for travel in November. No questions asked. They'll be in the mail next week. In my experience, GP has been great to work with.

cesco.g

Thanks for the info. Is the mileage required for Argentina the same as Brazil?

vandykes44

Mileage required for Argentina is the same as required for Brazil.

tvl4free

Interesting. No $45 expedite fee? I know for a fact that in the past they've been known to charge it.

Perhaps they're not as backlogged now that there are so few carriers for million milers to use.

milesrus

How many stops what are the layovers like to get to Argentina?

vandykes44

We have a 6 hour layover in Costa Rica, a short stop in Lima, possibly about an hour if I remember correctly, and then directly to BA.

On our flights to Chile, we had the same layover in Costa Rica and left the airport for a few hours. We took a walk through a park across the highway from the airport and enjoyed watching the kids play. This time we may hail a cab and "go somewhere" as 2 of the women I'm traveling with this time have never been in Costa Rica.

SAPMAN

Stop in San Jose is bad as it is a terrible airport. They do have a new VIP lounge downstairs which looked nice, with internet etc. Cost is $35. Worth it if you plan to stay in airport for extended time.

I got reservation at a nearby (10 min ride) B&B for about $40 day rate. They picked up and returned me to airport. Got a few winks and shower and relaxed. No airport tax as a Transit passenger. Reentry was only 15 min for us, but I would allow an hour + just in case.

PS: I have some leftover Chile pesos, if anyone wants some starter money at reg exchange rate.

1TXtrvlr

Just changed 20,000 Chilean Pesos this a.m. Forgot I had that much on me when I left SCL, and haven't been able to change it anywhere. Good luck that one of the doctors I work for is going to Santiago to a conference. And she's very happy she doesn't have to look for an ATM at 1:30 a.m. when her TACA flight arrives.

Interesting that SJO lets you re-enter the terminal without paying the departure tax. Had a five hour layover in SAL after I took a bump on CO on my way to SJO, but the TACA flight we were supposed to connect to just left (CO flight at IAH had some paperwork problem, so we got to the head of the line on the tarmac, but let about a dozen CO aircraft take off in front of us, and arrived late in SAL). The CO employees told us we could not exit the airport because we were in transit.

Wasn't all that upset about not being able to exit, SAL is far from the city, and it was about 95 degrees outside ..... but 5 hours is a long time to wait at any airport