Originally Posted by
MichaelJFK
So after many e-mails and cases opened by both LAN South America and their US office I have come to the conclusion that their customer service is a complete farce.
In a previous post I chronicled my experience from EZE to JFK via SCL in Premium Business (full fare) which was to say the least disappointing. Long story short they subbed the 787 on the SCL-JFK leg and didn't load my gluten-free meal (I have celiac disease).
Now things happen and as a frequent food allergic traveler who also has celiac disease I fly prepared. My issue with LAN is that they just will not accept responsibility. They had someone call me, who was very nice, to hear my side of the story but they keep saying that it was my travel agent's fault -- which is rich coming from an airline that cannot even get their website to allow for seat selection. Had I not confirmed my special meal three times prior to departure in the US and one time from Argentina I might think that my agent was at fault. I could not event check-in completely for the return which is why I ended up calling local reservations who said everything was fine -- of course our seats were changed without notice when we checked-in for the EZE-SCL leg which was strange seeing as our original seats remained empty until people moved to them after takeoff. Perhaps it should have been a tip-off of things to come?
The letters I received from LAN keep placing the blame on me and their "compensation" was a joke seeing as I will likely not fly them again. They also tried to say that it was our 787 that had the mechanical issue and was swapped for "safety" reasons. Funny, because our aircraft actually was re-routed to MAD/FRA route. Aircraft substitutions happen but perhaps it stung a bit more because (being an aviation geek) I paid a higher fare for the 787 routing vs. a connection via LIM.
It is a pity because I actually always liked LAN though thinking back to my previous trip from LIM when we checked-in and they told us Business was oversold and would we be willing to downgrade (we did not) shows that they could definitely use a bit of work on the reservation front.
I'll be posting a full trip report soon but my next visit to South America will most likely not include LAN. All I really wanted was an apology which I kind of got in a bizarre reverso almost kind of way. Best of all they rounded out the experience by sending a survey link to rate their customer service -- in, wait for it -- Spanish. Classic!
Gosh - I just had one of the BEST flights of my life last night flying LAN (whom I had never flown before). They were 30 minutes late with take-off and gave everybody a snack at the gate area due to the delay. From the moment I got out of the taxi in Quito until I landed in Cuenca I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone since the service was NOTHING like I experience when flying on a US carrier. I accidentally left my passport case at the counter and the check-in lady chased me down at security to bring it back to me! No fee for checking a bag, flight attendants were friendly, there was legroom, and umbrellas were offered as we deplaned since it was drizzling. I'm sorry to hear of your experience but shows that there are so many variables. Also, btw - since LAN is a Latin American airline I would expect correspondence in Spanish. Use Google Translator.