LATAM Airlines

Not Verified | Miami to Rio de Janeiro. Would never fly with this airline again. We booked airfare on this airline from Miami, FL to Rio de Janeiro, we had booked a cruise that was leaving from Rio, the cruise was canceled and when we tried to receive a travel voucher for future travel we had nothing but problems. We purchased premium business class tickets and the paperwork we were provided stated we had one year in which to use the voucher. After going back and forth with the agent’s too many times to count we were finally given a voucher in the amount of $1274.34, which we used for a trip to Punta Cana, leaving a balance of $694.46. Have lodged many complaints with the company and they do not respond. Use caution if you have to book with this company, obviously they are a low cost airline for a reason.

✅ Trip Verified | I checked in with my daughter for flight LA6012 at 5.40 pm from ASU (Asuncion) arriving at 8.30 pm in Buenos Aires (AEP). The flight was delayed (the airline claimed bad weather) and left late at 6.25 pm scheduled to arrive at 21.21 pm. The flight was diverted to Uraguay, we were kept in the plane for about 2 hrs and then flown BACK to ASU arriving back where we started around 11.30 pm. They claimed this was due to bad weather in Buenos Aires. According to arrivals at Buenos Aires (AEP), flights AR1645, AR 1227, AR1505 all landed on schedule at AEP at 21.25 (4 mins after our flight was due to arrive), 21.00 and 20.15. Four other flights landed between 20.30 and 21.05 (later than scheduled). The airline did not book us into a hotel, they did not provide food, they simply said to return at 6.30 am for another flight, that flight confirmation has not come through so I am worried. I have to spend the night in the airport with my daughter. This is outrageous, communication has been very poor, no one has looked after us. The worst possible experience.

Not Verified | My Terrible LATAM Travel Experience Returning from Rio de Janeiro to Miami. Upon arriving at the airport in Rio de Janeiro, having checked in online, without having had the option to pay for luggage online, a LATAM employee at the check-in desk informed me that I should pay for the 2 bags that would be checked. I went to the payment desk and the LATAM employee made me wait for 30 minutes to tell me how much the fee would be. He told me it would be R$1,300 reais approximately $125 dollars per bag, totaling approximately $250 dollars. Not finding the value of the luggage fee right, I paid it, but it is worth noting that on the way to Brazil, with a much more professional and respectful airline, I paid $35 per bag, totaling $70, instead of $250. I went back to the check-in desk and it took approximately 1 hour when I was attended to check in my bags and print my boarding pass. A LATAM employee left the service desk and went to another closed room, came back, did it several times. When it was close to the boarding time, the LATAM employee said that they would not make the boarding at the scheduled time, as all passengers with carry on should dispatch the same. Not caring about connecting passengers. There was a long delay in completing this process. When finished, we left Rio towards Santiago. Arriving in Chile, I ran with my 6 year old son and my wife so we wouldn't lose the connection. I arrived at the LATAM connection desk and the employee informed me that I had missed it, there would be no way to catch that flight. I arrived at the counter at 12:10am, flight departs at 12:30am. That I couldn't pass the connecting gate, I should take a flight to Lima in the morning at 7:45am, I should wait at the airport for more than 7 hours. Detail that the LATAM employee, very moody, didn't even speak English, I had to unroll my Spanish. As there was no other alternative, I took the boarding pass to Peru and then to the United States. I went to the LATAM VIP Lounge and the employee scanned my boarding pass, but he wouldn't let me in. With all this, I still haven't been able to feed and rest with my 6 year old son and wife. We had to spend the 7 hours in the airport departures area. My son ended up sleeping on the floor of the airport, he was very tired.

✅ Trip Verified | My flight left from Cusco and connected to Lima on my way to New York. No issues on the initial flight. my bag was checked, went through security without any problem. I get to LIMA, had some time to eat, and headed to my gate 25 minutes before departure. Got to the gate, it was mid-boarding, they asked my last name and the staff huddled for a few moments as my G/F and I looked at each other puzzled on what was happening. then I was told "you need to go with her" & pointed to a security person. They said my checked bag had a cell phone portable charger in it, picked up via X-RAY, that isn't allowed and needs to be removed. I start walking with this officer who does not speak English. I have no idea where we are going and went all the way back to immigration. As soon as I left, they turned to my G/F and asked if she wanted to board the plane as I was not going to make it back in time for the flight. She asked if they can hold the flight for a few mins so i can get back but they wouldn't even consider it. I get back to the gate and now learn that the gate is closed and I was not making it on the flight. The desk agent said he tried calling us over the PA. As they only have 1 flight out a day, which departs at 12:20AM, 2 hrs later, we were still in the airport, trying to get our bags back and find a hotel to stay at, exhausted and disappointed. the next day, we return to the airport 2 hours earlier then we needed to just to be sure there was going to be no challenges, only to find out an hour later that the flight was cancelled. So noticing that there was a flight leaving to Miami within the next hour at a nearby gate, we ran there to try to talk to the agents to see if we could get on the flight. They did confirm that there were seats, but they said only 1 woman could let us on, who was at the desk, but they wouldn't let us talk to her. We pleaded with one woman who said she'd try to help, then walked away and clearly gave no effort as she was standing next to that woman, texting on her phone. Trying to get her attention, 10 minutes later we had someone get her but she still gave us more excuses. when I asked her the name of the woman that could help us (who she was standing next to work early), she said she didn't know, laughed & walked away. talked to another man who questioned how we knew our flight to NY was cancelled. So now they have everyone waiting on this ridiculously long and slow line to get a hotel credit. after 40 mins waiting & not moving, we left and found our own hotel.

Not Verified | I was flying from Belo Horizonte to São Paolo and first the flight got moved making me lose my connection to Mexico City. And because of that, they changed our flight telling us the wrong information about what we would get as a compensation. The man said to pick up our luggage in São Paolo. Once we arrived to São Paolo, another man giving vouchers clearly said we shouldn’t pick up our bags because it was directly moved to our final destination. We double (even tripled) asked to make sure as we have been told otherwise, and he assured our bags were on the right track. 12 hours later we arrived finding out that our bags are lost and nowhere to be found even though they had put them on the system even before we got out of the airport. I have been in contact with the airline through WhatsApp asking about my bag status and they only say “it takes time and that I have to wait”. I have asked information about where to go in the airport as I’m flying today to another destination, so I can check directly in the airport but they only can say I need to ask at the airport, not providing any useful information about which terminal or desk should I ask. Not traveling with Latam airlines again, that’s for sure.

✅ Trip Verified | Latam Changed my flight schedule, so I cancelled my trip. Unfortunately it is not possible for them to return my money because I have a European Bank account. I tried 2 of my personal accounts and now I'm trying to transfer it to a Friend in Ecuador so she can transfer me the money. Now its almost 2 months later and I still don't have my money. This overall customer service experience is the worst I have had.

✅ Trip Verified | I had a brand new suitcase, and after traveling from Lima, Peru to Quito, Ecuador. I discovered it had two vertical lines across the back and on one it had a cut about an inch long. I had already left baggage, so I went to their counter, and they told me I had to wait 15 minutes for an employee to show up, then they told me 5 more minutes 3 times. I had a shuttle waiting for me, so I took down the employees name and badge number along with a picture of the suitcase. I reported it when I got home and I got a response that says: We want to inform you that to ensure that your experience is the best possible, we have evaluated the background information you have provided and unfortunately, the damages claimed are not included in our compensation policy, since they correspond to those that may occur during the transfer. as a consequence of the normal and habitual handling of luggage such as: scratches, dents, cuts, stains, wear, damage caused by excess weight, or loss of protruding external elements, such as straps, locks or pockets. I guess if you like your luggage, don't fly LATAM.

✅ Trip Verified | LATAM is fine as long as there are no issues. Our flight got cancelled due to maintenance issues and that's when the trouble started. LATAM personnel is constantly contradicting itself and providing wrong information. They are badly organised in case of a calamity such as a cancellation which causes long and unnecessary waiting times for their costumers under stressful conditions. The company does not give the compensation that it is legally required to provide. The personnel does not seem to care about their customers. Simply no respect for their customers.

✅ Trip Verified | In January 2020, I bought a round-trip ticket from Sacramento to Lima for June 2020. Subsequently, the trip was cancelled by the tour company due to Covid. I called LATAM and was told that I could hold open my ticket until the next year. My tour was rescheduled for June 2021 and I rebooked flights on LATAM. The 2021 trip was also cancelled by the tour company due to Covid. I spoke by phone with a LATAM agent who told me my ticket would be held open until June 13, 2020. My tour was rescheduled by the tour company for June 2022. In early March 2022, I began trying to rebook my flights. This turned out to be an absolute nightmare and ultimately unsuccessful. I lost track of the number of attempts I made to rebook this ticket, but it had to be over 20. For about a week, I made several calls daily that resulted in waiting for extremely long times for my call to be answered, only to be cut off. I waited about a week before I started calling again. Now my calls were answered, but I couldn’t believe I was dealing with the same airline I had dealt with in 2020 and 2021. With one or two exceptions, every agent had such poor English that it was extremely difficult to communicate, I never really felt they understood what I wanted, and I, in turn, could barely understand them. Several times, I had to tell someone that I would just have to try another agent. The background noise level was extreme. I had to terminate several calls because it was impossible to hear. With one exception, the agents did not seem to know how to do their job. They told me, variously: that I should use the LATAM website (not seeming to know that you can’t use an open ticket on the website, nor book legs on other airlines), that it was not possible to rebook my ticket, that the flight I wanted did not exist (when I was looking at it on the website), that it was impossible to book SMF-LAX with them (after hearing that several times, I dropped the SMF-LAX portion and just focused on LAX-LIM), that I would have to go from LAX to LIM via Santiago and Miami, in that order (two agents told me this). Finally, I got an agent with good English on a clear line, who was able to book exactly what I wanted. When we were nearly finished, he put me on hold - and the call was dropped. That was when I gave up and bought tickets online. I had to book the SMF-LAX leg separately on another airline. I sent all the above information to the airline with my request for a refund of the $2198.09 I'd paid for the original ticket. After a very long time, they told me I could not have a refund because I'd been told in the beginning that I should rebook my open ticket.

Not Verified | Booked to go from Auckland to Peru and then back again. Half way through our holiday they cancelled our flight home. Had to spend two days of the holiday trying to sort out flights home. They gave us one option - leave three weeks later going via Brazil. When we complained they then gave us another option to go via Los Angeles on the day were were supposed to leave but then left us to sort out our ESTA visas to go through USA. I had to ring the UK to get my UK passport number as I was travelling on my NZ passport so that was more cost to me. We had paid for extra leg room seats, never got that money back! So our trip home to NZ was Lima to LA, LA to Sydney Australia (on Qantas) and then Sydney to Auckland with Qantas. Our original flight from Lima to Auckland was available with Qantas their partner airline but because we had booked originally through LATAM they could not arrange us to go with Qantas, yet they could from LA and Sydney. Go figure. We then had to pay again for extra legroom seats which when we got on the plane the cabin crew knew nothing about and I had to complain and show them the payment receipt as LATAM had given us the wrong boarding passes. The cabin crew then gave the other seats in extra legroom to other passengers who had not paid! We were treated dreadfully on the LATAM flight. Was soooo glad to board Qantas flights - we had to pay a extra for their leg room seats but once the crew had heard of our plight the Qantas crew made us feel so comfortable and brought us treats. When we got home I wrote to LATAM to tell them of our experience and they could not be bothered, we do not give refunds was their response. I got really annoyed with them and their couldn't be bothered response and informed them as as a travel and tourism teacher I would using their customer service as an example of not what to do. They are now a case study in my class and the students pretend to be useless LATAM customer service and flight crew and the students critique what was bad service and what a good airline company should do. I use the emails they send and even have a script which the students use. So one positive came out of the experience. The annoying thing is that I want to go back to South America but the thought of flying this useless crew is so off putting. Even if I book with Qantas you may end up with this bunch. My advice for anyone thinking of booking with LATAM / or forced to book with them - warn your employees you may be three weeks later back to work. Take all documentation needed to enter a variety of different countries around the world so you meet their visa requirements and also currencies of those countries so you can by a drink while waiting in the numerous airport lounges you will be forced to wait in. Or just walk home!