globetrotter85

For sure. There were two issues: (1) involuntary changes to my itinerary that were incredibly difficult to correct due to LATAM's customer service model and (2) denied boarding for one leg of my outbound journey, which was marketed as JJ and operated as SA (between JNB-CPT).

Regarding the first issue, to avoid the subpar JJ 777 equipment I decided to route through SCL. My original itinerary was MIA-SCL-GRU-JNB-CPT for the outbound, all ticketed as "premium business." About a month before departure I received notification of an involuntary change to the SCL-GRU portion of my itinerary... a very unfavorable one at that. They added a stop in EZE and downgraded me from business to economy (ha!). Before I had a chance to call them to decline the new itinerary, I received a second notification regarding another involuntary change -- this time on the inbound flights (again routing through EZE and being downgraded to economy).

When I contacted LATAM's US helpline, it evolved into a customer service nightmare. I explained that I would not accept the multiple changes and would need a different solution. The agent was either poorly trained or totally apathetic (probably both). I had to go on Google flights and talk her through all of the available options... not sure why she wasn't able to see these flights on her end, but oh well. While fixing my outbound flights, the agent accidentally disconnected but proceeded to ticket my itinerary without fixing the inbound. As a result, the system classified my involuntary change for the return as being "fixed," which meant subsequent agents were unable to make the necessary corrections for my inbound flights. With any other airline a good agent would have been empowered to reverse this, but that doesn't seem to be the case with LATAM. All they can do is create a case number and then route you to a million different departments until, with any luck, you get through to someone who can actually help. Well, in my case, that unfortunately never happened and I was forced to start my outbound journey and hope that the inbound would be resolved by the time those flights came around. (For what it's worth, I ultimately got my inbound flights corrected, but only after spending several hours with a ticketing agent at JNB on the day of my return. She was probably the nicest and most understanding person I dealt with at LATAM, and she indicated this isn't even close to the worst of the issues they experience on a daily basis. Apparently their systems are a nightmare and even she isn't able to contact support directly... everything gets routed one level at a time.)

The second issue was even more frustrating. I should have known something was up when the agent at MIA was able check-in my companion all the way to CPT, but wasn't able to do the same for me. The solution: "speak to someone in SCL or GRU." Well, I did just that and they had the same issue of not being able to check me in for the JNB-CPT portion of the flight. Their suggestion: "speak to someone in JNB when you land." This made me nervous given the short layover, but I figured someone at SA could probably figure it out. Boy was I wrong.

Upon arriving at JNB, I immediately went to the SA ticketing desk and explained the situation. The agent pulled up the reservation and noted that I had a seat, but that LATAM had failed to fully ticket the itinerary and they wouldn't be able to print a boarding pass or let me board. I'm not familiar with the complexities of airline ticketing systems, but the SA agent explained that without a proper e-ticket number, SA wouldn't get paid by LATAM if I took the flight. Calls to LATAM were unsuccessful and it ultimately came down to either paying for a new ticket from JNB-CPT or getting stuck at JNB. Since I was traveling with someone else, I chose to purchase a new biz ticket for more than $400.

I'll spare you the details, but several months later (in JANUARY!!), LATAM finally agreed to reimburse me for my out-of-pocket expenses. I provided a bank authorization form and they told me it would take two weeks to hit my account. Guess what never hit my account?? Yep, I still haven't been reimbursed and the issue is still unresolved. I called my credit card issuer this morning to dispute the charges. Not sure what else to do at this point.

So, long story short, I will do everything I can to avoid flying LATAM and would gladly pay more to fly a different airline. LATAM business class is nothing to write home about and if something goes wrong, you're totally screwed.