ChocolateFactory

I have a reservation that I made through the "LAN Europe (other countries)" website that contains booking class Z.
I have not paid for this reservation yet.

After making the reservation, I found out that I could have added an affordable business-class feeder to the itinerary (for the price of an economy feeder on a different ticket).
However, now that I have taken the last seats in booking class Z, the price has gone up.

I called LAN, but their English customer service was a joke (German customer service isn't available on weekends).
They said they can't add flights to an existing reservation, they could only cancel it.
But they didn't know if the cheap booking class would be available again.

What would you do?

Does anyone know if the original booking classes become available again when you cancel a reservation? Is it worth the risk?
Otherwise I would just pay for this reservation and pay for an economy feeder. Thanks.

SCLflyer

Hi, absolutely no guarantee that Z will open again.. I wouldn't risk it.. if it's a feeder flight I would just assume that it's a short european segment in which business class is no real advantage.

Hold the reservation for as much time as possible and see if space opens up... i would recommend you to check availability on Colombia and Mexico's webpages. They sometimes have additional inventory than other markets.

ChocolateFactory

Ok, thanks. I simply paid for the ticket to secure the fare.
However, now I found out that I have a VERY short connection.
Do you know LAN's cancellation policy?

jlarroulet

LATAM's cancellation policy is strictly adhered to the fare rules of your booking. Most base fares are non-cancellable/non-refundable.

That said, if the tight connection is within the same itinerary purchased from LATAM, they are responsible to make sure you make it (to be able to actually issue your tickets, they must have made sure that you are within the minimum connection times -MCT-).
If your tight connection is between a flight in your LATAM reservation and another reservation, you're on your own.. if you miss the connection, both airlines will say you are at fault and not them

ChocolateFactory

Yeah, it's all on one ticket, but I only have 50 minutes to make it from T4S to T4 at MAD (arrival time to departure time).
That includes a short train ride as well as clearing immigration and security... I did that two weeks ago, but that was early in the morning when there were basically no other passengers. And I only barely made my connection.

The question is what will happen if I miss my connection.
Because it's a rather complex itinerary and I don't know how they would reroute me.
They would probably want to be "nice" to me and rebook me on a more "direct" routing, which I definitely don't want.
Guess I'll just have to catch that flight.

jlarroulet

Since everything is on the same itinerary, it's LATAM's (assuming you made the purchase with them) who's responsible of you making it on time. If you miss the connection (which I don't think you will... I've made it from T4S to T4 in rush hour in less than 20 minutes most of the time) LATAM is responsible for putting you on another flight at their expense.

That said, Before your arrival into MAD, talk to the crew of your inbound flight and explain that you are on a really tight connection and you'd greatly improve your chances of making the outbound flight if they let you off the plane quickly. Most of the time crews are accomodating and will move you as close as they can to the door so they can let you out quickly so you get to immigration ahead of the rest of your plane companions. That usually does the trick.

I can't seem to remember if you will need to go through security again, as you will remain airside.

As long as your inbound gets to MAD on time, you should be OK.

ChocolateFactory

I'll be flying business class on a 787, so I will be getting off the plane quickly anyway. But it will still ble a close call...

Yes, you need to go through security again because the skytrain from T4S arrives landside (at the baggage carousels).

Yes, LATAM is responsible for putting me on another flight at their expense.
But I don't know where that would be because I've added more stops than necessary (tier run/seeing several cities in a couple days). They would most likely put me on a simpler routing, for which the price I paid would have been way too high.