Wow.

What if you try the LAN site?
https://ssl.lan.com/cgi-bin/mis_viajes/mis_viajes.cgi

I've not booked an award on TAM, but I've booked a number of awards on LAN and haven't had a problem yet in terms of ticketing *knock on wood*. I find that my AA record locator even works on LAN's Manage My Booking (the classic version--not the new beta version), so no need to get a separate locator, and the seats I select on LAN show up in My Trips on AA within a day or so.

Avoid them at all costs. These two airlines require 10 agents to do what a U.S. airline could do with 2 and even then the vast majority of the time these 10 agents can't help you. lol

LAN and TAM should change their slogan to "Incompetence reimagined the LATAM way."

The record locator pulls and says something to the effect of "you must complete your purchase to travel"

I have a 001 ticket. AA says it's "HK" (I don't know what that means but she said that's good).

Yet the net result is TAM is insistent I can only travel on a "space available" basis.

There's not a lot of choice in terms of carriers if one is looking to travel within South America. And no choice if you choose to remain loyal to Oneworld.

EDIT: I forgot. QR flies GRU-EZE. Still, not too many choices.

Crazy. I am curious to find out how everything turns out in the end. Please report back if you can.

Me too! Better now then when I'm in the airport. This trip is a few months out. Yes, choices are limited, but I'm going to call AA customer service and I have a plan. I'm sure they'll say no, but I'll ask anyway.

LAN call center nightmare
 

While LAN may be a decent airline to actually fly on, using LANPASS kms is not much better.

I had to book a Chile - Argentina open jaw which is completely legal in their program and dealing with their idiotic agents was a complete nightmare. It took 3 hours and 5 calls to get ticketed on a simple 3 leg award. So yes, we saved $1,500 on short flights that were otherwise a ripoff.

FYI: Years ago, in the age of handwritten tickets (anyone remember those?), "HK" used to mean "Holds Confirmed", (I don't know why "K" and not "C"), before it changed to "OK". I didn't realize that was still being used!

Saw lots of JFK-LIM availability in April for the dates I need on BA.com. Clicks through no problem, it gives me the number of Avios required, but I can't book it due to lack of miles.

Call into AA, they tell me there's absolutely nothing on any of the dates that I want. Tried with multiple agents and no dice.

Does this mean that the Avios availability is phantom?

Probably. I had a similar situation where I tried to click through to the end on ba.com, even though I preferred using AA miles, and got a message along the lines of 'no longer available'. The flight in question did not show up as available on the QF site and AA agents could not see it. The fact of the matter is that LA and partners offer very little to oneworld frequent flyers.

Surely this cannot be the case? I'm worried now as I have a HKG-BNE-SYD-AKL-NAN business award next month, with SYD-AKL on LAN. Being denied boarding by LAN would leave me in an absolute mess, as I have a paid NAN-CXI ticket booked only 8 hours after arriving into NAN.

I also have an AA revenue ticket booked to South America for late May, and was planning on booking a Y award on LAN and / or TAM between Patagonia and Sao Paulo to connect the two legs. Without a confirmed seat, I could miss the return to the US and Europe!

Does anyone have any contacts at a high level in LAN or TAM who can confirm or deny this?

I've spoken with AA Customer Relations who told me "Well if that's their policy, then you can fly someone else" and referred me back to reservations.

I left a voice mail with someone in the AA executive office and e-mailed someone high level at OW and am awaiting a response.

Also, when I pull my confirmation at LAN (yes, I know I'm traveling on TAM), it still tells me the ticket needs to be paid for and has hash marks under ticket number.

I will post something either way next week.

Thanks, will look forward to that. For the record, I can pull up my itinerary on lan.com using the LAN record locator provided by AA, my AA ticket number is showing and I can select seats (which stick). So a good sign!

I'd say you have nothing to worry about.

This is what I see. I have deleted my name:

http://s27.postimg.cc/ermk0onn3/lan.jpg

I just called in to AA and saaver is now gone so someone over there better sort it out because

1) TAM won't recognize it's ticketed with a ticket number

2) TAM will not confirm space on the flight and will only offer it "if available"

I'm going to call the TAM US office next.

62+ minutes and counting on the phone with AA.... zero progress....

No one can figure out why TAM has been telling AA it's space available.

EDIT: AA says confirmed, TAM still shows not confirmed. So exactly the same thing before I made the call. Every US # on the TAM site is no good, Toronto has no answer, Montreal no good, London rings fast busy. e-mail to 2 North American contacts bounce back.

Great airline these guys have