TACA Airlines

My friends and I booked flights to Cancun in May for our trip in November. On our return we arrived 2.5 hrs early to the airport and was told only one person had a confirmed seat while the rest of us (11) no longer had a return flight. They proceeded to tell us that they could only put us as standby on next night's flight to SFO. In our group of 12 one of us was able to catch the return flight to SFO 4 of us took the first flight to LAX (to rent a car) and the remaining 7 are currently still in Mexico. In addition to this mess I found the TACA representatives were incompetent inattentive and extremely unprofessional. They were not able to give us options on how they could help us return home and they did not offer explanations. The possibility of being indefinitely stranded in another country was not the highlight of my trip.

My wife and I flew 3 legs on TACA Santiago to LAX. Each crew was great the flights were comfortable and on time planes clean and the business class food was decent. At the beginning of our trip we flew a highly rated domestic airline but found TACA to be superior.

New York JKF-TAA. Scheduled to depart 6.25 am did not depart till 8.15 am. No announcements or apologies made at the terminal or on the flight. I was charged $175.00 for extra luggage fee for a fishing pole that weighed less than 20 pounds. The agent refused to allow me to pay for the extra charge with my LifeMiles (mileage points).

LAX to Roatan Honduras. 3 checked bags at no charge. Reasonable ticket price on time planes clean roomy and new. We even received a hot meal and snacks for no charge. We will definitely fly them again.

Late late late! I have a multi-leg trip and 2 of the 3 flights so far have been late. The flight cheered when we landed on time in Nicaragua - I asked why because they are always late! not delayed - late! 4 hours on the flight from Honduras (ended up getting in at am) to Guatemala and 1.5HRS (so far) on the flight from Nicaragua to Costa Rica.

Toronto to Costa Rica we had one stop over in El Salvador then on to Costa Rica. The crew could not have been better. We had a nice hot meal a cold drink or a non alcohol beverage if you wanted. We had a short 1 hr flight from El Salvador to Costa Rica and I still received a snack and beverage.

The airline decided to stop flying out of Roatan Honduras at 11am and instead to fly at 5pm. The fact that this would make them miss all their own connections did not seem to matter. They didn't even call me directly but instead got the online travel agency to do so. They offered a solution I could fly back to Toronto 2 days before my scheduled date or 2 days after. In either case my trip would now take me through 4 countries and 2 days. They won't cover my hotel costs on the overnight connection either. Needless to say after 4 hrs on the phone they miraculously found a flight that went from Roatan to Houston to Toronto all in the same day and only a day later than I planned to return initially. The reason they didn't want to offer me that flight to begin with is that the flight was not with TACA. This is an awful airline as far as customer service is concerned.

LIMA-SALVADOR-GUATEMALA - Economy. Extremely poor check in service. 3 hrs queue have to rush to the gate. Uncomfortable trip no space for legs very poor quality of food. Poor information given during flight in the delay connection lost in Salvador resulting in a 4 hrs late departure with next flight and it is supposed to be a hub! Poor service of cabin crew (they forgot to give headphones to an entire row).

San José Costa Rica to Lima Peru. The check-in was slow but staff friendly and helpful. The flight was on time and airplane was clean. We had lots of legroom a hot meal (choice of beef or chicken). Staff onboard spoke English and was friendly and chatty.

Having paid $600 for a flight I expected more. The food was the worst I’ve seen. Just one option on an evening service : chicken chow mein (unfortunate for a vegetarian). On a flight between Latin America & New York City. The staff seemed apologetic & kindly brought a glass of red wine from the front deck as compensation (they didn’t carry wine in coach).