iahphx

So I was in remote El Chalten, Argentina and with the slow and sketchy internet available in that town, I manage to read an email telling me that my Punta Arenas to Santiago flight in 4 days has been moved from 3:30 pm to 3:30 am.! In normal circumstances, this would be a terrible last-minute schedule change (3:30 in the morning, really?), but it was even more problematic for me as I was taking that flight to connect to an int'l flight that evening in Santiago. I obviously would miss my int'l connection if I waited for the delayed flight.

As frequent LATAM flyers know, LATAM's customer service isn't usually very efficient or user friendly (to say the least). Phone service in El Chalten is sketchy to start with (and I didn't have an Argentine SIM card for my phone), so I dreaded the possibility of trying to solve this problem with a LATAM phone agent given my poor Spanish and the agent's likely poor English. So I did a little research on my slow internet, and sent an email to a family member in the USA (who is an experienced traveller) asking them to call LATAM from the USA and rebook me on an earlier, still-scheduled flight that would get me from PUQ to SCL in time for my int'l connection.

It did take a couple phone calls and an almost hour long phone conversation with a LATAM call center supervisor (that apparently included all the typical LATAM confusion), but my family member was able to rebook us. Although we wound up with an almost 8 hour layover in SCL, it was better than any other alternative I had.

This is the first time LATAM -- or really any airline -- has done this to me with a random,terrible "rescheduling" a few days before a flight. It seemed quite bizarre to me -- although LATAM does regularly fly a lot of Punta Arenas-SCL flights in the middle of the night (why -- it would be like flying MIA-NYC at 3 am!). I did have a conversation with a tour operator in Punta Arenas who told me he had clients who LATAM had recently done the same thing to. So maybe their schedule isn't as reliable as I thought it was. It will certainly be something I consider the next time I book LATAM, especially if I am using the flight to connect to another one. Honestly, I thought their schedule was pretty reliable.

Carolinas

I am sorry about your situation, but sudden changes in schedule happen pretty much to any airline in the world (and LATAM is not an exception). The decision not to contact LATAM yourself (and assuming beforehand that their customer support is bad) as well as your complain about lack of phone service in the area - it's not really LATAM issue, it's your personal choice in this case.

As for the reliability - LATAM is actually not that bad (statistically speaking). Good luck with finding a better alternative here is South America, and especially in Chile and Argentina

iahphx

Really? You've had other airlines reschedule your flight by 12 hours (to the middle of the night) a few days before flight time? I've obviously had a few last minute mechanicals over the years, but in probably 3000 flights in the past 30 years on several dozen airlines on six continents, I've never had anything like this happen to me.

Carolinas

Not to the middle of the night, but really. Yes, I had. I do understand your frustration, but let's be realistic - the airline informed you about the change 4 days (!!) in advance. It's plenty of time to react, to communicate with them and to find a solution. Would you rather prefer to get to the airport and only there to discover about 12 hours change ? Any airline in the world could have this problem and their handling of the situation could be much worse.

I am no defending LATAM in any way, they have their own issues at times and I've had my share of arguments with them as well. But your complain in this very case sounds pretty childish "How dare was the airline to change the flight and inform me 4 days in advance ! Plus, their customer service most probably doesn't speak English, that's why I don't even bother to try to call them, instead I better ask my friend to do that. And oh, yes, I am in the middle of nowhere without a reliable phone connection, but this is somehow LATAM's fault as well."

erik123

Significant schedule changes on LATAM are quite common - much more so then many comparable airlines.

tem123

I remember an Aeroperú (!) flight SCL-LIM in the mid 1980's that was similarly rescheduled.
As one had to reconfirm flights back then, it was how I found out that, instead of leaving the following morning, my flight would depart later that day.
As I was on a tight schedule and the next flight to LIM was not for another day or two, I had to rush back to the hotel to check out and head for the airport.
But at least today there are now several daily flights SCL-LIM.

FortHay

Over the years I have had a lot of experience with LATAM, and most of it negative. As I previously posted ( https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/lata...eason-cxl.html ), LATAM needs to change their customer service culture. Perhaps this is finally happening. I recently (this month) had a flight delay due to "technical issues" (they never reveal if these issues are beyond their control or caused by poor maintenance) out of Fortaleza on an itinerary through BSB to CGR. Ten of us missed the connection to CGR. A smart and efficient LATAM agent met us at the gate and had everything worked out. He had alternatives for most, but held us with him because he had tried to find us seats on other airlines to CGR, but there was nothing available that late. He had prepared limo transit to a good hotel very close (Ibis), food vouchers (very good buffet at the Ibis) and boarding passes for the first flight out in the morning. All in all, a refreshing change and I hope this portends a long lasting change, despite their joining the 'no-frills' (water only) camp of 'cattle car' airlines.