Originally Posted by
ajnaro
This restriction is actually true of TAM's rules for their own elites in business class. It's only one extra bag, either for business or elite, but not both. So the maximum is 3, not 4, checked bags. Nonetheless, in my experience they do accept 4 bags on the JFK-GIG flight.
In the description above - which matches what TAM told me as well - the Emerald extra baggage benefit would seem to only apply when traveling in economy class. And while I personally think that's nuts, if TAM wants to apply such illogic to their own flights, I suppose that's up to them. [And I'm glad to hear that on the JFK-GIG flight, good sense and basic arithmetic prevail]
But my case was somewhat different: an AA operated and marketed flight from USA to Brazil, with a domestic-add on operated & marketed by TAM. Regardless of the latter's policy on their own flights, when issued as part of a single ticket, I'd understood the baggage allowance of AA (the over-water airline, or Most Significant Carrier) should apply to the entire journey. Mid-journey was no time to be told otherwise.