whiskerxx

Forgive me - this is not a question relating to BA, but I think its likely that this will be the best forum for getting some advice/fact.

In December I booked a domestic return flight in Brazil (TAM). The flights are for mid June and the outbound had a scheduled departure time of 9.25, and the return scheduled for 16.40. Both flights were direct.

Today I have been notified of changes. The outbound has changed to 23.00 the day before, and the return now departs at 11.00, but now requires a stop and a change of plane, and the travel time has increased from 4 hours to 7 hours.

The reason given is a schedule change.

Do I just have to put up with that?

HuwieHex

What else do you suggest?

Oxon Flyer

Please continue to follow this thread in the Other North and South American Airlines forum, where questions relating to TAM are discussed.

Thanks
Oxon Flyer BAEC mod team

whiskerxx

It seems rather unreasonable.

There might not be an alternative, but it causes something of a domino effect impact on other aspects of our itinerary, most notably non refundable hotel accommodation.

I can understand a need for a degree of tolerance for schedule tweaking, but a ten hour tweak on the outbound followed by a complete change to the return is stretching it a bit far, isn't it?

Do airlines have carte blanche to make these kind of changes, with impunity?

whiskerxx

deleted

NPF

There have been changes to the schedules of all airlines in Brazil, near and during the WC, in an attempt to better reflect the changed landscape during the competition (less business flyers, more flights to/from the host cities).

TAM is the only intra-Brazil airline at oneworld, I'm afraid you're stuck with them.

A point to consider is that I doubt the current schedule is the definitive one. If I were in your shoes, I would prepare for change (more like study alternatives) but would not make any changes now, as there could be more changes (for better or worse). Changing your hotels now, you risk having to pay again later.

An alternative, if the hotels are expensive, would be to cancel and refund the TAM flights and try to buy a flight on a non-oneworld airline (Gol, Avianca and Azul), for cash or miles (if you have them). There are frequent promotions on all these airlines, and somehow I doubt the load factor (and prices) will be so high as the airlines hope to.

SoCal

Who did you book with? You haven't contacted them yet? Normally one can accept the change, ask for a better schedule or get a refund. You could look at TAM's Web site first to see if a better schedule exists. If it does, see if you can be switched to it without charge. If no better schedule exists, what would you expect other than, if you so chose, a refund? Compensation?

All of the airlines have sales, not necessarily more often than TAM, and often on selected routes, but during the WC those are likely to occur seldom or never.

whiskerxx

To be honest I'm not sure what I want.
Probably a refund.
It just seems unreasonable that I can make a booking nearly 5 months ago, the airline has had the benefit of my cash, and then they significantly change the flights 7 weeks before travel.
Because of the World Cup nearly all hotel accommodation is non refundable, so I would have an issue there if I accepted the flight changes. Should I be out of pocket because of the airline?
Having checked the return schedule, I have now booked two Avios reward flights on what appears to be my original scheduled flight.
Work that one out, because I can't!

SoCal

You've made your points here. You can get sympathy here, but if you want a refund, you'll have to call others. Have you called the airline or whoever you booked with? Airlines around the world change schedules all the time. As noted, you can usually get a refund. Airlines are not responsible for hotel reservation policies, etc. Boa sorte.

jbd115

i think tam is doing a very poor job managing this process. i booked 5 separate itineraries and each one has changed mulitple times. The only way to find out about the latest change is to login. What is ridiculous is how much the flights change. for instance 6/23 flight from manaus to rio...booked originally at 6:45 am, then changed to 4:45 am then 3am then 10pm the night of the 22nd. What am i supposed to do about hotel reservations? It is basically an embarassment that Lan/Tam operate as they do. 2 of my reservations are not even able to be traveled on, because the itinerary i was switched to is not even possible. I am thinking of canceling the whole trip because i fear the remaining flights will change again and again and i will end up missing flights because the times have changed. what a joke.

SoCal

Caps key still broken, I see. As noted, you have made your point, and can get some sympathy here, but you don't seem to be asking questions now, just critiquing TAM. You can do that on www.airlinequality.com, and the review won't disappear as quickly as your posts here. No one can predict schedule changes. I have had just one TAM flight changed. You've had worse luck. You'll see many posts here and on other sites, such as Tripadvisor, complaining about flight time changes. Doesn't help you, but many have suffered the same pain.

Did you buy non-refundable tickets? If so, you'd just lose your money rather than risk an additional change? Again, you need to call TAM right away and see what your options, if any, are. Boa sorte.

whiskerxx

Are you aware there are two people posting similar things?
What is the purpose of the forum if it isn't to air these kind of things?
I agree entirely with jbd115. It seems that we have much in common.
The fact that many have suffered the same pain isn't any comfort I'm afraid.
The airline industry unfortunately seems to have a large proportion of customers who have been beaten into submission through routine poor service, and are now resigned to the view that poor service is acceptable and to be expected.
Do you have experience of cancelling a TAM flight? How long would you reasonably expect that to take?

swintonowl

Did you get anywhere with this?, my friend just found out that he is in the same situation. Flights from Sao Paulo to Manaus moved to the night before and he cannot make them as he is still travelling from the UK.

He had no notification from TAM and only noticed when he looked on the website to check his itinerary.