TAM AIRLINES review :  10 June 2009 : by N Hathaway

GRU-IGU-MAO-BSB-GIG on TAM. All flights punctual, mainly A320 except to MAO on A330 - very new plane, IFE to rival some longhaul transatlantic carriers, free alcohol and 2 servings of snacks. Turnaround/transfer experience in BSB exceptional at peak commuter evening slot. Most cabin crew spoke sufficient English to speak politely to us and serve food and drinks well. Check in kiosks at GRU are efficient and mean there are no queues - quite why they aren't available at any other airport is strange, especially IGU where check-in is so chaotic that our tour guide actually went behind the check in and started loading bags onto the belt himself! Definitely carrier of choice within Brazil.

TAM AIRLINES review :  22 April 2009 : by M Rapp

FRA-GRU-LIM and return in Business. Long-haul flights in new B777 aircraft were excellent: nice cabin ambience with comfortable seats. Welcome champagne with warm nuts and everything (menu, headphones, magazines, menus, amenity kit) is handed out to you before takeoff. The flight attendants take your menu choices then. After take off, the service is run according to what you ordered and quite quick and efficient. IFE is user friendly but with only small number of options. A water bottle is given after dinner and you are asked if you would like to be woken up for breakfast. Had a good sleep and arrived relaxed. Lounge in Sao Paulo ok, but very small. Flight to Lima in old A320 but nevertheless comfortable. Service very slow due to serving everybody individually. Very nice flight attendants, but partly significant lack of english. All in all a very good quality product with room for improvement regarding professionalism.

TAM AIRLINES review :  14 April 2009 : by Holger Giese

GRU-FRA. I downgrade them a little bit because again we were in the last aisle to get service and we could not choose what we want to eat. They also have problems with the hot towels. This was flight number 4 in 3 months and you never know if you get a hot or cold towel. Some part is hot the other is cold. But overall we are satisfied with TAM, because if the 777 is empty in ECO and you have a 3 seater for 2 adults it's nice to fly. If it's full my ranking would be much below. IFE is ok for me. It is a little bit irritating when you check the the flight information because the only thing that works is the map and the data about speed, altitude and distance. FA's friendly and again no language problem.

TAM AIRLINES review :  8 April 2009 : by N Soderman

I have flown TAM twice recently from Europe (LHR) to Buenos Aires (EZE) via Brazil. Both times I have gone with my boy, an infant the first time and a child with a seat of his own the second time. Good experience, one of the most direct ways of going from Europe to Buenos Aires at a good price (1100 GBP for an adult fare plus child fare booked 2-3 weeks before departure), good food, nice staff, nice planes, comfortable also in economy. One problem (not TAM fault) was the long walks at GRU airport. Then again, travelling with a little one gets you past the queues. Besides, the first time they had buggies you could borrow if you had checked yours in. The second time I assumed they would have buggies and checked it in, but it turned out they did not have buggies. On the return flight that second time I requested a buggy as soon as I stepped out of the plane when connecting in Sao Paolo. They misunderstood and ended up going to get the one I had checked through all the way back to LHR! When they came back with my own one I explained that I thought I would be using one of theirs. They said they haven't got any. Another problem concerns the slight communication problems- I speak English and Spanish and tried speaking Portuguese, but the staff thought for some reason that I understood what they were saying in Portuguese. Also, the first time we flew out there were two seats on the sides, aisle and window so requested this the second time when I called reservations. Was told we can only have aisle plus middle seat. Check-in gave us better places - the requested aisle and window! On the return that second time it was perfect, lots of seats available so could spread out and got three seats, window, middle and aisle, to ourselves. Plus a promise from a member of staff to keep a dinner for the kid who went to sleep as soon as we took off. No- despite what probably sounds like a bunch of complaints, both times were very good, very nice experience, happy to recommend and to fly again.

TAM AIRLINES review :  6 April 2009 : by Holger Giese

FRA-GRU in Economy. Cabin was not full. Food ok with 3 options when you are in front of the cabin. Drinks can be offered more times. IFE is not bad but not all movies are available in german. Aircraft and toilets were clean. TAM is still the best choice if you want to fly directly to Brazil from FRA.

TAM AIRLINES review :  26 March 2009 : by T Brehm

FRA-Sao Paulo-FRA in Business. Check-In no problem. Good, new aircraft. Seat in business is good. IFE could be improved, only a few movies and CDs. Also no english magazines/newspapers on flight back. Meals good, vegetarian choice was on board. Friendly staff. Price 30% lower than Lufthansa.

TAM AIRLINES review :  26 March 2009 : by M Pome

JFK-GIG-JFK in economy. Plane an older 767, so no AVOD, but clean, 2 meal choices in economy. Drinks were available throughout the flight. Seats comfortable enough for coach. Both legs only about 70% full and I was lucky enough to get 2 seats to myself on the overnight return. Service was excellent.

TAM AIRLINES review :  27 February 2009 : by A Hijmans

CDG-SSA and SSA-GRU-CDG in Economy. TAM use A330s on their routes out of Paris which seem a tad on the small side for 8-11 hour transatlantic services. Their A330s also seem awkwardly laid out - especially the fact there are just two toilets in the mid-section of the plane is a bit annoying. Interior a bit faded and dated but seats comfortable and legroom fine. AVOD basic but decent; food a lot better on the outbound intercontinental flight (imaginative Brazilian regional cuisine) than on the inbound one (chicken and rice.) Domestic leg SSA-GRU on A320 was fine; no full lunch served like 6 months before when I last flew this route, just a hot turkey and cheese roll. TAM are my preferred airline for travel within Brazil and they offer good value and service on their intercontinental routes but my big gripe with them is that their website still does not accept credit cards issued outside of Brazil, which means most non-Brazilians can only book TAM flights through a travel agent or a travel website. They need to resolve this urgently - until they do I won't give them more than 7 points.

TAM AIRLINES review :  27 February 2009 : by G Kynaston

TAM lounge at Sao Paulo is far too small and the airport is chaotic. Flight delayed for 2 hours without any explanation. AVOD choice rather limited, earphones poor and map did not work properly - luckily it was an overnight flight so these did not matter much. Staff tried hard to speak English. Seats quite good (for angled seats). Overall not as good as the major European or Far Eastern airlines, but better than US ones.

TAM AIRLINES review :  23 February 2009 : by M Mogensen

Fly TAM regularly within Brazil and Latin America, generally service is good, friendly, professional. Planes tend to be newer and fairly comfortable. Food is generally fine. Overall flying coach on TAM is far more pleasant than any US airline and better or on par with most European and South American carriers. Guarulhos airport in Sao Paulo is a bit of a nightmare, a concrete bunker and not efficient. If you hold Brazilian passport, immigration usually fast, if you are a foreigner, be prepared for long lines, although that may change now that there are separate lines for Mercosur and non-Mercosur citizens.

TAM AIRLINES review :  21 January 2009 : by Marcel Ausloos

CDG-EZE through Rio - we were not told that the flight schedule was changed. Thus the TAM connexion in Rio was awful; about 6 hours waiting. Then again the Rio-Buenos aires flight was delayed. Same coming back to Rio. I had already booked another trip from CDG to Porto Alegre then Buenos Aires and back. But the flight from Rio was cancelled. I was rerouted from EZE to Sao Paulo, but then I was missing the connexion in CDG with the Thalys to BRU. Nobody cared; the story was always the same. "Someone will take care of you at CDG", except that at CDG I was told (which was what I expected) that "that is not our problem if you missed the previous Thalys train".

TAM AIRLINES review :  19 January 2009 : by Holger Giese

GRU-FRA in Economy. Aircraft clean. 3x4x3 seating is cramped in the 777-300ER. AVOD works but limited language selections for the movies. Headphones are painful so try to get your own to save your ears. Service was good although at the end of the rows served we only had one choice of meals. Pasta was edible but that's it. FA very attentive and friendly and I was surprised of the language skills they had. Airport in Sao Paulo still a nightmare at check in and gates are switched with no notice for passengers. There they really produce a chaos all the time.

TAM AIRLINES review :  17 January 2009 : by R Alves

LHR-GRU A330. Flight full. Dinner reasonable but on very small portions. Breakfast very good but odd: - a warm tuna sandwich and some fruit. Flight attendants OK. IFE with a reasonable selection of films. Clean plane. Arrival in GRU plane parked in a remote stand - bussed to the terminal. Overall a fine flight.

TAM AIRLINES review :  8 January 2009 : by Pedro Gil

Madrid-Sao Paulo return business class. Both flights on schedule. Check-in smooth in business class counter at Madrid and Sao Paulo. TAM lounges are very poor. You would expect a good lounge in Sao Paulo, being a hub center for the airline, but it's tiny and overcrowded. The lounge in Madrid is a 3rd party lounge and is one of the worst lounges I've ever been to - uncomfortable sofas, no shower, no food (except some cheap cookies) and no wi-fi. Both flights on a A330 with lie-flat seats. On my view, I'd rather have a nice cradle seat with good lumbar support than a lie-flat where you keep sliding down and sleep is very uncomfortable. However TAM seats are better than the ones from Swiss. BA and SIA seats continue to be the best in the skies because they are fully flat. It's beyond my understanding why airlines such as TAM, Thai and many others are installing lie-flat now and don't take the opportunity of a re-fit to offer a more competitive product. The inflight service in TAM is neither good nor bad. Food quality is ok (although not many options available) and crew is nice without being intrusive. AVOD is a joke - 6 or 8 films and some TV series, but I only could find 1 in the original english version and they didn't change the offer in January on the return flight (inbound was in December). I would recommend TAM only if you find a cheap fare in C class.

TAM AIRLINES review :  6 January 2009 : by Stewart Fraser

I was scheduled to fly London Heathrow airport to Sao Paulo on 9th November. Flight scheduled depart at 21.30 hours. Aircraft went "Technical" at 22.30 hours. Ground staff did a good job in getting all passengers to a hotel but we were then trapped in a hotel until 16.00 hrs on Monday 10th. All luggage checked in and nor recoverable. We departed on schedule at 16.00 on 10th - arrived in Sao Paulo at 03.00 hrs local time on 11th in Sao Paulo to find an empty airport with no reception personnel, facilities or lounges open for customers. All classes of passenger had to wait sitting on luggage until 06.30 hours when transit lounges and cafes opened for business. No compensation was offered for the loss of day business, cost of hotel in Rio on night of 10th Nov or poor service at Sao Paulo.

TAM AIRLINES review :  3 January 2009 : by Jonathan Dias

GRU-CDG was impressed with TAM service and new A330. TAM'lounge was excellent with a live pianist setting the mood of a rainy Sao Paulo night. We were also given the option of choosing when we wanted to board the aircraft from the lounge. When we entered the aircraft we greeted by the stewardess and the Capt. Shortly after take off we were served our meals - exceptional and their wine quality was good. IFE had a choice of 8 movies all with Portuguese/English subtitles. We were given compact amenity kits and crew were very attentive, even though their English wasn't perfect. Overall I believe TAM is the best choice in South America and now that they have joined Star Alliance I will fly them more often.

TAM AIRLINES review :  31 December 2008 : by Sue Parker

LHR-GRU-SCL Business Class. Check-in efficient although unable to give us SCL boarding cards. FAs efficient and attentive, good choice of food which was perfectly edible, IFE screens large (although limited programme). New B777s on both legs - with reclining seats - not very comfortable. The maiin problem is GRU - a single screening machine for everybody connecting (when we arrived about 5 flights trying to get through), then a 20 minute dash through 2 terminals to board - a very tight connection and exhausted by the time we got on. Bizarrely, we had a 'joint' boarding pass written out for us at the gate as the transfer desk seemed unable to issue us with one! Choice of airlines to S America is increasingly poor and so would certainly look for TAM again - service is comparable with many 4* airlines at a fraction of the cost.

TAM AIRLINES review :  28 December 2008 : by Holger Giese

FRA-GRU in Eco. For the price ok but TAM needs to make some more homework. An Argentinian family with small kids and a baby were seated everywhere in the cabin but not together as they got told at check in. The flight itself was good. FA's friendly, food good in quantity and quality. AVOD good but map did not work with all infos. Unfortunately TAM switched on this route to the 777-300ER which is brand new but seating with 3x4x3 like in LH's 747-400 is a disaster for a flight time longer then 12 hours.

TAM AIRLINES review :  21 November 2008 : by James Sanderson

Rio to Buenos Aires in Economy. Check in was slightly slow but the agent was very efficient and asked us if we would like an earlier flight at no cost, which we took. Crew were friendly and take off was on time. This was an A320 operated by TAM subsidiary TAM Mercosur. Once in the air a hot lunch was served with a choice of beef and pasta or chicken with veg. The latter was very tasty and infinitely better than the offerings of European or US carriers on flights of similar duration. After a very turbulent landing, we were out of the terminal within 15 minutes. A pleasant experience.

TAM AIRLINES review :  19 November 2008 : by N Kempf

FRA-GRU-FRA in the new 773ER in C. Check-In was total chaos with FAs checking in before C-Class passengers. Boarding was 30min late, no explanations provided. Staff was unfamiliar with the aircraft and sent me the wrong way first. Service is a bit weird: attentive and friendly at times (warm nuts in china, pre-flight champagne, newspapers, magazines and novels!), food was mostly good - but dinner service was extremely rushed. It seemed the FAs wanted to get to bed quickly. IFE excellent and huge screen but content very limited (only roughly 10-15 programs, mostly mediocre). The seat is roughly 160°, with the foot rest of metal and very uncomfortable. But the seat did not allow sliding, was comfortable material and the covers and pillows great. Amenity kit was on F-Level of many airlines. Breakfast quality was very good, with cold and warm, strong good coffee - but again a bit rushed. Landing roughly 30min behind schedule. GRU airport is total chaos at arrival. All in all, below TG and LH C level. But considering the price I paid (roughly 50% of LH), an excellent deal!

TAM BRAZILIAN review :  5 November 2008 : by A Hetier

GRU-CDG, GRU-EZE, GRU-SCL, GRU-CCS, several domestic flights. Seats in business are a little worn and do not lie flat 100% but flying TAM from Paris to Brazil is often a good option pricewise. Extremely friendly crew. Not too many choices of films (same on each leg). Language skills are improving. Overall service standards in domestic flights are level or higher than domestic flights in Western Europe. In international flights, food is not bad in economy and really nice in business. In domestic flights, you get a sandwich or something similar (more than just peanuts anyway). But I concur with S Ali's comment on CCS-MAO-GRU. It is a pity to have only a sandwich on such a long route, just because MAO-GRU is domestic. I was starving when I arrived. Too bad, because otherwise I rather like TAM if I compare it to other companies.

TAM BRAZILIAN review :  30 October 2008 : by A Gregory

Economy to Cuiaba from London Heathrow with my wife and 7 month old son. I thought that TAM was excellent both in service and value for money. As it was the first time we had flown with our baby, we were understandably nervous but from answering our queries on the phone before we flew to taking us to the front of the queue at Check-in, security and boarding (there have to be some benefits to travelling with a baby!) they were very helpful. However our friend who was travelling without the benefit of a baby and had to queue, found them very fast moving. Outbound, we were given a seat at the bulkhead which allowed us to have a bassinet attached which was good as it was a flight overnight which allowed all three of us to get some rest. A330 we flew out on was a bit older but everything worked and the crew were pleasant and helpful. The connecting flight to Cuiaba was also very good after a 9 hour wait at the Sao Paulo International Airport wasn't ideal but the airport is well sign posted, you can put your luggage straight into the domestic connections and there are enough shops and cafe/bars to pass the time. The connecting flight to Cuiaba was a couple of hours on what seemed a relatively new A320 and was efficient and uneventful. On the was back the flights where full but left on time. The planes were newer, so there was much more choice on the multimedia screens and the bathrooms were more modern. Only downside was that despite repeated asking, we could not get a seat at the bulkhead which meant we had a 12 hour flight with my wife holding my son in her arms which wasn't brillant. However, to their credit, the flight attendants asked the childless couple sat at the bulkhead if they would mind swopping and even though they would have had 3 seats instead of 2, they refused. I hope that the baby screaming next to them all flight was a bit of poetic justice. Our luggage, including baby stroller and car seat, all arrived in one piece. The planes were clean and on time. Not all the air stewards spoke English but there was always someone close by who did, so we had no problems communicating. Overall a big thumbs up from me and my family.

TAM BRAZILIAN review : 9 October 2008 : by C Sanders

Customer Rating : 2/5

Flew recently from Rio to Salvador. Very concerning, the cabin crew did not see the problem with the passenger sat alongside me having a big rucksack on the floor in front of him for take off. I pointed out to the crew member that the bag should be under the seat in front (which it was too big for) or in the overhead compartment - he said it was not a problem.

TAM BRAZILIAN review : 29 September 2008 : by Andrew de Araujo

Customer Rating : 1/5

Flew recently on the 767 that TAM acquired from ailing Varig. Horrific is the only way to describe this particular airplane. The interior was filthy and the business-class seats were 1980s style upright - vastly inferior to the C class seats found on the A330. The 767 will be used regularly between Rio and Miami. I suggest you avoid it at all costs.

TAM BRAZILIAN review : 29 September 2008 : by K MacDonald

Customer Rating : 2/5

London to Sao Paulo with a connecting flight to Rio in business class. Both TAM flights. Aircraft was old with little storage space. The seats were not lie flat like BA. Individual screens with a choice of 6 films and the language selection of English unavailable even on American films. Connecting flights in Sao Paulo very interesting. Boarding card in London was only to Sao Paulo and I had to go to flight connections. This involved joining a long Q (approx time 45mins) to be issued a boarding card for the internal flight. Not very pleasing after a 13 hour flight! (no special desk for business class). Staff on the plane were helpful and the on board catering was good. TAM needs to improve its service level especially for business class customers. Fly BA if you can.

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