XmaX

I need to book a few domestic flights in Brazil in November using BA miles. I've read other threads about TAM's weird availability and releasing seats only a few months in advance. However, so far it seems that even October flights are not available for redemption yet. Should I expect the awards to be released soon, or is it just how TAM works?

neuromancer

Suddenly all the award seats after 31 October disappeared 2-3 months ago. TAM has award seats available for their own programme, so this may be a glitch. The seats may be available if you call... The system is quite buggy, so extremely frustrating to use. Probably after the merge with LAN they are transferring their problems to TAM too.
I've seen award seats for domestic flights more than 90 days ahead, so this is not a real hard rule.

XmaX

Are you sure about that? I'm pretty certain that I've been looking for those flights since May, but could never find any.

Anyway, I just called BA, and they can't see any availability either. Is there actually any chance these seats ever get released?

XmaX

Okay I did a bit of research on this. My best theory of what's happening is that it's all about the switch of TAM booking classes to match LAN's. In the old TAM system, award flights in economy were (I think) T and X, and starting in October, those will all be T.

I think the BA systems (and presumably other booking systems, including LAN), are still searching for an X booking class, while they should be looking for T-spaces.

Weirdly enough, it is possible to book domestic flights using BA, if accompanied by a long-haul flight. So, something like IGU-GRU-LHR is visible, even in November. I assume that this would have been the old T class, which is now also T - hence it's visible.

What neuromancer said about all the availability for after 1st October disappearing also matches a PDF I found, which essentially states that all TAM booking codes change on the 27th of June.

AlexMC

Yes, they are changing their booking class and it looks like it's all mixed now.

This link is of a Brazilian blog (in Portuguese) that show new classes for Tam from Oct. 1st.

http://passageirodeprimeira.com/tam-...ir-de-outubro/

XmaX

Small update: I just discovered that the domestic after 1st October are visible when searching via Qantas.

Since the award seats are there, what could I do in order for BA to book them for me?

neuromancer

Domestic awards with TAM are visible on ba.com again, looks like they've fixed the booking class.

AlexMC

How do you manage to see Tam domestic awards on BA.com? There is a trick to check international flights but I can't ever check availability inside Brazil.

aSiAnRiCk

Been searching GIG-EZE for the past two months to no avail. Today, surprisingly, found two seats in February. On the nonstop too! Just not the nonstop I'm looking for

So HOPEFULLY this is going in the right direction ^

AlexMC

Be aware that one of GIG EZE is almost always operated by Tam Mercosul (officially based in Paraguay). PZ is not part of OW, hence no availability on it for partners.

Sometimes Tam mainline (JJ) operates a flight as well to EZE, usually at night.

hyho61

I had the same thing happen to me earlier this month. Tried to use BA miles on TAM from Sao Paulo to SLZ, but BA did not even have SLZ in their system. Then I tried GRU to IGU (another itinerary), TAM had seats but BA did not have any seats. Calling did not seem to help.

In the end had to buy the tickets, especially the CGH to SLZ turned to be fairly expensive due to the time of the day I intended to arrive.