RIAL

What has been the impact of the minimum US$ rule for the forum members? Anyone not renewing current status as a result?

Carolinas

I have re-qualified as Black this year under new rules. But I travel a lot internationally. Several colleagues of mine though (who mostly travel domestically) cound't re-qualify (Black category) due to US$ rule.

BonzoLed

Will re-qualify as Black Signature with barely US$67 to spare... had to make a "dollar run" to make things work though.

cphflyer_EB

Will also requalify as Black. Looking back, then my spend has always been higher than the minimum. That is mostly travel within South America, with a few trips to Europe.

dbasulto

I became Black with a status match from AA last year. This year I reached Black with Latam in July, and went for AA EXP (OW Emerald) with AA on the second half of the year, as Black Signature is very hard to reach. I fly IB, AA, BA, CX, QR... but they don't add to Latam's Dollar requirements.

SenSCL

Well, it is a given now that I will not automatically requalify for Black after March 31st, 2018. However, I am faithful to regain the status during 2018, as I will badly miss the unlimited upgrade vouchers (for not too long I hope though). For me, this is by far the most important perk, although it kind of seduces you sometimes not to purchase premium tickets right away, since, more often than not, you are safe to travel in C or Y+ anyway.

If I was not residing in Chile, but let's say in Colombia, Ecuador or Brazil, I would have easily maintained Black, since thresholds are lower in all aspects and Elite Dollars are not even existing.

It really is hilarious (to put it nicely) that there are different qualification schemes depending on your country of residence. Yes, it may have to do with network structure, competition, price levels, purchase power and other criteria, but I wonder, for how long they will keep such a complex system alive or if the move to miles, to Multiplus and whatever other changes might be in the pipeline will also contribute to a more even elite level structure.

Carolinas

I totally understand. I might be mistaken, but I believe even within Chile there is quite a difference in flying audience. At Northern destinations (i.e. Calama, Antofagasta, Copiapo) the number of "preferente" is simply astonishing !! Sometimes you get an impression that almost half of the plane are Platinum level and above. While if you fly to the South (Punta Arenas, Puerto Montt, etc..), the "preferente" line has just a couple of people only.

Given how LATAM differentiates its market internationally, at times I wish they would do the same on the regional level as well I.e. let's put our friends from mining industry in the North into their own category You're nice folks, but you're screwing up the fellow flyers from the rest of the country Oh, end of off topic.

RIAL

I will requalify as as Black Signature today, and will probably end the year with 10,000 km and U$S 1,500 to spare (would be happy to be able to move them to 2018...). Only Economy flights, not a single paid Premium fare. I did fly a lot, though, and with above average fares in general.

AlexMC

Well, I guess I can answer that a bit, being a Black Signature with Fidelidade and qualifying on segments (something that is not even possible anymore in Chile). It's all about competition and a huge economic depression in Brazil.

JJ is still struggling and had lost a great share of its corporate public. Santos Dumont (central airport in Rio) - Congonhas (central airport in Sao Paulo) or SDU CGH, as you may be aware is one of the most serviced and profitable routes in the world. CGH is fundamental in Sao Paulo area, given the insane traffic to get to GRU, and every single slot of the airport is taken.

The domestic competition is real nowadays. Gol is operating under Delta decisions and its a fact that they have a much better service and they are much more friendly to costumers than Latam. They've got many corporate contracts too. Avianca Brazil is always cheaper and has (much) more space for passengers in its airplanes and still offers a ok quality food service in every flight.

Gol's mileage company, called Smiles, was inherited from Varig with a huge number of costumers itself and they were clever enough to put the threshold to its higher status to 30 flights per year, not to mention they are not tighten to any alliance, so you can get online mileage tickets with a bunch of companies, from AR, AF, KL, DL, EK, QR, AH to KE (among others). That status with Smiles, called Diamond, would compare to Platinum with Latam, but Gol does not operate widebody planes, so they don't need to offer more that some discount on mileage tickets, special priority lines and free space + seats for their top tiers.

The situation got so bad for JJ that they changed the number of segments to get Platinum in Brazil to only 24 two months ago (it was 40). They desperately need the corporate flyer back to their planes and they are trying to convince people to ask for their companies that they want to fly JJ.

That's why there is such a different treatment. One can not compare such situation to competition in Chile. Anyway, Fidelidade is starting to cut some benefits for Blacks and BS here. From March, 1st, 2018, just like in Chile and other markets, upgrade on revenue tickets will only be allowed for tickets issued in Access or Top fares. Today any revenue fare is ok for Black and BS to request an upgrade. Our system in Latam website also shows how many dollars each revenue ticket represents. Fidelidade just don't use this piece of information for qualification of Brazilian costumers yet.

And I know there will come the day when they will not allow BS on segments here. As they say: it's the economy, folks!

checkerboard

Is this 100% certain? I'm new to the program, and didn't notice the announcement... quite a drag, if true.

Is the new restriction based on country of registry for the account? Or rather, on whether it's a JJ flight# vs LA, LP or so?

AlexMC

checkerboard

Wow... what a disappointing way to begin my time with Fidelidade....

On this last point: I suppose this is only on tickets paid with LATAM Points or Multiplus Points, right? Or could a Black upgrade a ticket booked with AAdvantage miles?

AlexMC

Are you going to fly mostly JJ flights or LA/LP etc. flights? The change affects only JJ flights, either for Latam Pass or Latam Fidelidade Black and BS members.

And yes, tickets must have been issued with Latam Fidelidade or Latam Pass points to be eligible to the upgrade.

checkerboard

[QUOTE=AlexMC;29172971]Are you going to fly mostly JJ flights or LA/LP etc. flights?/QUOTE]

Mostly JJ flights (based now in Brazil); not so much an issue for work, which books into business anyway... but for personal travel with the wife, I was looking forward to enjoying some cheap upgrades. Guess they'll be less cheap than I thought.

On JJ transcontinental flights, is there an easy way to know which booking classes book into "Access" or "Top"? Will help when searching ITA for routings/dates/fares.

AlexMC

[QUOTE=checkerboard;29174288]It's not that straightfoward. The same booking class can carry more than one family fares as "access or "top". Please consider family fare as part of fare basis but you don't have a specific booking class for each of them. On international fares I would guess most expensive booking classes only allow you to buy "access" or "top" family fares. But on most cheap booking classes for international travel either "base" or "access" family fares can be can found...

Yes, I know. It's quite complex...