OWE benefits with LATAM?

[esseeeayeenn]

I am heading back to Santiago next month and this time I am heading on to Sao Paulo, RIo de Janeiro and Buenos Aires.
I have booked flights with LATAM for SCL-GRU-EZE-SCL however I did not book the sectors to and from Rio on the same ticket.
This was because there is only economy available GRU/CGH-GIG/SDU. and although the LATAM return flight booking engine would let you choose flights in J or W SCL-GRU and then Y GRU-SDU/GIG, their multi-city booking engine freaked out at the thought of mixed cabins including J & Y and said nothing was available.
(Interestingly it allows a mixture of J&W - we are flying J SCL-GRU & EZE-SCL but only W & Y are available GRU-EZE and it let us book W for that sector.)

So my question is about the flights between Sao Paulo and Rio.
Three levels of fares are available in Y - lite, plus and top.
Plus includes seat selection and top includes access to preferred seats.
However LATAM elites enjoy these privileges no matter which fare they pay.
Do these benefits extend to OW elites?
If I book a plus fare, will I have access to the preferred seats?

Any other advice on flying LATAM would be appreciated.
Cheers.

 

[Silvia]

Yes you should, just make sure you have your FF card and you include your FF number in booking.
Just have a look on what aircraft you are flying as their narrow body is pretty much Y seat with extra space. Big difference to their 787 that they do in some of the intra South American routes.

 

[juddles]

.....

So my question is about the flights between Sao Paulo and Rio.
Three levels of fares are available in Y - lite, plus and top.
Plus includes seat selection and top includes access to preferred seats.
However LATAM elites enjoy these privileges no matter which fare they pay.
Do these benefits extend to OW elites?
If I book a plus fare, will I have access to the preferred seats?

Any other advice on flying LATAM would be appreciated.
Cheers.

esseeeayeenn,

I hesitate to give advice as (a) Latam has always been a bit chaotic (QF is not the only proponent on inconsistency) and (b) with the now known exit impending from One World there will be confusion among staff.

But what I will say is that over the past decade I travelled Latam a lot. (400 times?) Sometimes using my Latam status, but many other times as a QF WP (they do not recognize P1). First thing, when at an airport for checkin, etc, (if you are QF WP) always use the Latam's "Black" priority queues (OWE / QF WP equivalent)- they usually have a lass guarding this queue - you will not understand anything she says but somewhere in that dialogue you should hear "black" so just nod Once you get to the counter show them QF WP card. The staff at the priority checkin booths are usually very switched on. In general sth american staff are hesitant to challenge a foreigner that seems to know they are important.

Regarding pre-airport stuff, this was always a challenge. What I found when travelling as a QF WP was that I usually had to call Latam to get my QF WP number added to the booking and to make seat selection. Sometimes I could manage via the internet but it was often a two step process - first add your QF FF number, then get out of the booking, then go back in to seat selection and suddenly you had free access to the preferred seats. Untidy and no sure path. But all sth american airlines have an "english speaking" option when you phone them.

My understanding is that as OWE you should have free preferred seating no matter what fare bucket you are in.

As Silvia said, the hard product varies. Unless things have changed enormously, on international segments Latam's products are normal Y, Premium Economy means a narrow-body where the middle seat is blocked out and pitch increased + much better soft product than Y, and they only offer J on wide bodies (767, 787, 777, and A350's) The 787's and 767's are ex-LAN stock, the 777 and A350's are ex-TAM stock.

In any case please get back with feedback as to the current situation

 

[esseeeayeenn]

esseeeayeenn,

I hesitate to give advice as (a) Latam has always been a bit chaotic (QF is not the only proponent on inconsistency) and (b) with the now known exit impending from One World there will be confusion among staff.

But what I will say is that over the past decade I travelled Latam a lot. (400 times?) Sometimes using my Latam status, but many other times as a QF WP (they do not recognize P1). First thing, when at an airport for checkin, etc, (if you are QF WP) always use the Latam's "Black" priority queues (OWE / QF WP equivalent)- they usually have a lass guarding this queue - you will not understand anything she says but somewhere in that dialogue you should hear "black" so just nod Once you get to the counter show them QF WP card. The staff at the priority checkin booths are usually very switched on. In general sth american staff are hesitant to challenge a foreigner that seems to know they are important.

Regarding pre-airport stuff, this was always a challenge. What I found when travelling as a QF WP was that I usually had to call Latam to get my QF WP number added to the booking and to make seat selection. Sometimes I could manage via the internet but it was often a two step process - first add your QF FF number, then get out of the booking, then go back in to seat selection and suddenly you had free access to the preferred seats. Untidy and no sure path. But all sth american airlines have an "english speaking" option when you phone them.

My understanding is that as OWE you should have free preferred seating no matter what fare bucket you are in.

As Silvia said, the hard product varies. Unless things have changed enormously, on international segments Latam's products are normal Y, Premium Economy means a narrow-body where the middle seat is blocked out and pitch increased + much better soft product than Y, and they only offer J on wide bodies (767, 787, 777, and A350's) The 787's and 767's are ex-LAN stock, the 777 and A350's are ex-TAM stock.

In any case please get back with feedback as to the current situation

Thanks for all this.

I have managed to get SCL-GRU on a 787 in J and EZE-SCL on an A350 in J.
WIll be in PE on an A32X for GRU-EZE as that was all that was available. I know it will be like euro-business.
There don't seem to be any direct flights SCL-GIG/SDU currently - which seems odd.
Hence the need to fly CGH/GRU-SDU/GIG separately, and only Y is available.
I did go as far as seat selection with a booking and was not given access to preferred seats as a QF WP.
I will try your suggestion and call them and make the booking on the phone,
I already discovered their very helpful English speaking staff when I was trying to book a flight back from SCL like a normal person.
Although I have some very basic Spanish, certainly enough to use their Spanish sites.
Unfortunately I was defeated by payment issues. So I reverted to my other mode of travel. Which saved money anyway.
I have since read in these forums that their Chilean site doesn't accept AU Visa cards. So I won't make that mistake again!

 

[Silvia]

Another thing is that booking through the LATAM AU website is generally more expensive. I’ve booked at times through the Peruvian site or even through the US and even with the conversion rates, the last 3 times the prices on the South American or American site was cheaper than AUS.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

Another thing is that booking through the LATAM AU website is generally more expensive. I’ve booked at times through the Peruvian site or even through the US and even with the conversion rates, the last 3 times the prices on the South American or American site was cheaper than AUS.

I expected that but when I checked the Chilean site and did the conversion at the rate my bank last used when I was in Santiago last week, and added the 3% surcharge for an international transaction, it worked out the same for the fares I was booking.

 

[V Singh]

esseeeayeenn,

I hesitate to give advice as (a) Latam has always been a bit chaotic (QF is not the only proponent on inconsistency) and (b) with the now known exit impending from One World there will be confusion among staff.

But what I will say is that over the past decade I travelled Latam a lot. (400 times?) Sometimes using my Latam status, but many other times as a QF WP (they do not recognize P1). First thing, when at an airport for checkin, etc, (if you are QF WP) always use the Latam's "Black" priority queues (OWE / QF WP equivalent)- they usually have a lass guarding this queue - you will not understand anything she says but somewhere in that dialogue you should hear "black" so just nod Once you get to the counter show them QF WP card. The staff at the priority checkin booths are usually very switched on. In general sth american staff are hesitant to challenge a foreigner that seems to know they are important.

Regarding pre-airport stuff, this was always a challenge. What I found when travelling as a QF WP was that I usually had to call Latam to get my QF WP number added to the booking and to make seat selection. Sometimes I could manage via the internet but it was often a two step process - first add your QF FF number, then get out of the booking, then go back in to seat selection and suddenly you had free access to the preferred seats. Untidy and no sure path. But all sth american airlines have an "english speaking" option when you phone them.

My understanding is that as OWE you should have free preferred seating no matter what fare bucket you are in.

As Silvia said, the hard product varies. Unless things have changed enormously, on international segments Latam's products are normal Y, Premium Economy means a narrow-body where the middle seat is blocked out and pitch increased + much better soft product than Y, and they only offer J on wide bodies (767, 787, 777, and A350's) The 787's and 767's are ex-LAN stock, the 777 and A350's are ex-TAM stock.

In any case please get back with feedback as to the current situation

Your suggestion makes good sense as I had a challenging experience with Latam ground staff which was resolved after some toing and froing..v

 

[esseeeayeenn]

Bumping this thread to ask another question.
I will arrive in Santiago on QF27 at 11:30.
I am flying on to Sao Paulo at 17:20 (in J).
Separate bookings and because of the type of ticket I will be flying on SYD-SCL there is no prospect of through-checking baggage or myself.
Will LATAM let me check in straight away?