TAM AIRLINES  Customer Reviews and Passenger Trip Reports

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TAM AIRLINES customer review :  20 March 2010 by P Meier   (Spain)

Saõ Paulo (GRU) - Foz do Iguaçu in Economy. I booked one week in advance online and got an excellent price. The plane was new, seat confortable, seat pitch small. Inflight service very friendly. On a short 1h30 leg a hot sandwich is served and drinks are offered twice. Cabin could be cleaned better, there was some rubbish left from the previous passengers. Overall, good value for money.

TAM AIRLINES customer review :  17 March 2010 by J Highfield   (USA)

This was my first international flight with TAM. When we arrived in Miami 4 hours before our flight we were told we had no seats and we were stand by customers. After about 30 minutes and a few phone calls to TAM's office in Brazil supposedly everything was OK. When it was time to board we were again told we didn't have seats on the flight? Ok so after some time (& more calls) we did get on the plane. When we went to board our plane from Sao Paulo to Rio we were again told we didn't have seats. After some time we were given seats. The return flight direct from Rio to Miami was an even worse mess. I called the morning of the flight to confirm our seats so we wouldn't have the same problem as before. TAM then notified us our flight time had changed (good thing I called). So we got to the airport to find the board saying our flight was delayed a minimum 30 minutes. OK fine, well as the time nears there was no plane. We were told our plane had AC problems. Well hours went by with no food or drinks nothing available in the part of the airport we were held hostage in. TAM personnel at the airport acted like they owed no explanation as to what was going on. There were old people in wheel chairs & families with very young children TAM simply didn't care. We were told lie after lie as to what was delaying us. At one point they even told us they didn't have a crew for our plane because the crew didn't show up, really? Four hours late we boarded the plane. Ok so we all think great we are about to leave, not a chance. We were forced to sit another 4 hours plus in the plane with no AC. It was only 100F earlier in the day in Rio, just to give you an idea how hot and humid it was. During the time we were sitting some of the passengers got very upset started to call the Federal Police. They were allowed to get off the plane. Well that meant we had to wait for the TAM to completely unload and reload the luggage. Our plane ended up leaving after 5am. TAM was very rude and never offered any compensation. I would look into other options before choosing TAM.

TAM AIRLINES customer review :  16 March 2010 by James Walter   (UK)

Sao Paulo to Campo Grande. In the air, TAM is basic. The seats are small, and there is only economy class, even if you have booked and paid for a business ticket. But on the ground, TAM is awful and can take even a short flight and make an ordeal out of it. My flight was hours delayed for no reason that was disclosed. The airline was obviously scrambling, and the departure gate changed twice but that was never updated on the airport video screens, which suggested the flight had departed already when clearly it had not. There was one announcement for the second gate change (but what about the first?) in Portuguese only, over a scratchy PA system. To further confuse matters at the new departure gate the sign read "Brasilia", which definitely was not the destination. Imagine a sea of confused foreigners and grumpy Brazilians and that is pretty accurate. Probably because of the gate changes my bags went missing for a day. It's amateur hour over at TAM - except the hour is several years along already, and they never seem to improve. It's really a dreadful airline.

TAM AIRLINES customer review :  9 March 2010 by M Nelson   (USA)

I have never encountered an airline as unprofessional and careless as TAM. The planes are OK, e flight attendants are charming but on the ground there's absolute chaos. Nobody knows who is supposed to do what. Two days ago I was coming from earthquake stricken Chile to wait in Rio de Janeiro for eleven hours for my last flight to Miami. In Rio I was sent here and there to receive my ticket. It wasn't until eight hours later that after much fighting I was extended a piece of paper much like a receipt that served as my boarding pass. The treatment was deplorable and I was not alone in these saga. Other passengers from other countries and different destinations were my ordeal partners. So I finally arrived to Miami only to find that my suitcase was lost. The people on the ground, after the style of their compatriots in Rio and Sao Paulo tried to dismiss me without giving me any help.

TAM AIRLINES customer review :  26 February 2010 by Craig Viana   (USA)

Internal flights BSB-GRU-FLN. What should have been about a 5 hour flight ended up being more like 16 hours, with lost luggage and zero compensation. The first flight was late, but TAM said the connecting flight to FLN would be held for us. But that was not the truth, and about half a dozen passengers failed to connect. The next flight to FLN was full, so we had to stay the night in GRU, which meant we needed our luggage back. TAM, however, lost track of the luggage, so we had nothing. Nobody spoke English, even at the hub in Sao Paulo. We got a hotel, but only after much arguing in a foreign language. We got a flight the next morning, but guess what, still no luggage. Let's just say this airline is incompetent, not truthful, and stinks.

TAM AIRLINES customer review :  6 February 2010 by A Sismondi   (Italy)

A great 12-hour flight Milan to San Paulo return, great service, meal and a good price. The flight attendants spoke English and Portuguese and some of them were also fluent in Italian. All announcements in Portuguese, English and Italian. Cabin crew nice.

TAM AIRLINES customer review :  6 February 2010 by Steven Koenig   (Brazil)

FOR-GRU and GIG-FOR. Had to fly to Sao Paulo to catch a Continental Airlines flight to the U.S. Continental routed us through Rio on the return. We paid for Business-First on Continental, but TAM has only one class on domestic flights. TAM is an average Brazilian airline. I'd rate it as about the same in comfort and service as Gol - sometimes one is cheaper, sometimes the other. You do usually get drinks, including beer, and either a snack or a small, hot ham and cheese sandwich (on a roll). TAM is a code share partner with United and has reportedly been about to join the Star Alliance for several months. Their phone service is lousy. Web sites don't accommodate multi-leg flights (eg. flying to one place, back from another). You need to hunt for TAM's international sites to get anything in order than Portuguese. Flights in Brazil are generally higher cost than those of equivalent distance in the US, but you can save a lot of money if you find a special (or use an air pass).

TAM AIRLINES customer review :  24 January 2010 by Rathin Roy   (Brazil)

I recently moved to Brazil and since taken several TAM domestic and international flights. Be very careful when you use this airline when it joins Star alliance. It is not up to standards on reservations, connectivity, English etc. It is friendly enough but thats about it. Sao Paulo hub is a dump. Most flight attendants do not speak English, and almost none of the ground crew do except, for some odd reason, in Curitiba. The announcement boards at Brazilian airports are misleading moving from Go to Gate to Flight closed in a matter to 60 seconds sometimes. The business Class international product is good though the lounge in Sao Paolo is bizzaare. Poor drinks and food, Crowded and standing room only evenings but nevertheless a grand piano in the middle being plonked on through the chaos. If you need to connect from Brasilia or anywhere else then it is a true nightmare, they cannot check baggage through or provide baggage drop or boarding passes if you are connecting from any other airline (including Star Alliance) to TAM as of now and given the lack of trained and language literate ground personnel I cannot see how this will change. Even safety announcements are only in Portuguese, contrary to Star Alliance rules. So be very, very careful when you use this airline.

TAM AIRLINES customer review :  20 January 2010 by Bjorn Lundbo   (Norway)

CDG-GIG-CDG. Outbound leg was in one of their older A332s. Small and poor quality LCD's, but the IFE was upgraded with new 3D animated maps which was a treat. Seated on window row which is enjoyable on TAM A330-200 with 2-4-2 layout. Return trip almost 2 hrs delayed - as usual no info given from indifferent TAM ground crew. was in one of their new A330-200 which is a good product. Low noise, comfy seats with large high quality LCDs. TAM in general serve pretty average meals, and are not up to AF standard which is their main competitor on this route, although I do prefer TAMs cabin service to AF.

TAM AIRLINES customer review :  19 January 2010 by Adam Bentley   (UK)

London (LHR) to Buenos Aires (EZE) return via Sao Paulo (GRU) and return. TAM are clearly cheaper than everyone else - but, seats uncomfortable and cramped and not good enough for 12.5 - 15 hours of long haul flying. Both of us limped from the aircraft at the end of the LHR-GRU sector with no feeling in our upper legs! Flight attendants pleasant enough but service was laid back, Brazilian style - not focused on efficiency and passenger comfort; for example there was no cabin service / refreshments offered overnight after the evening meal service had completed. Food a plus point; definitely better than some other competitors However long haul flying is all about seating comfort and for this reason, we would not fly with them again. Even economy class passengers are paying the best part of £800 each for a return ticket and they deserve to have some seating comfort - LAN manage it, so why cant TAM?

TAM AIRLINES customer review :  8 January 2010 by A Ilha   (Canada)

BSB-YYZ via GRU. All our flights were booked on TAM, with TAM flight numbers and a TAM ticket. However, TAM could not check the baggage for the entire journey, supposedly because one of their flights was actually operated by Air Canada. Even the supervisor in BSB was ignorant of the fact that, of course, TAM can check a bag to its final destination, regardless of what carrier operates a flight (and this is especially true when the flight has a TAM flight number). TAM staff also did not speak English or French. We had to settle to check our bags to GRU only, but because the TAM flight left BSB late and arrived in GRU late, we had very little time to pick up luggage and carry it ourselves to Air Canada. Star Alliance better watch it before accepting TAM into the family --the staff are trained to somewhere around elementary school level.