TAM Airlines

JFK-GRU-SCL SCL-ASU-GRU-JFK. Flights on time boarding was pretty much orderly. Planes clean legroom and seat comfort decent. Cabin crew on shorter sectors seemed friendlier and obliging. You get 3 choices for a main meal in Economy. IFE was very limited and on the old A330 from JFK it didn't work at all. Only 4 toilets for a packed Economy cabin on the A330 meant lines throughout the flight. B777 was better. Crew on long international sector well groomed but not friendly or engaging. Meals are really tiny - catering portions pretty much the same regardless of the length of flight. No refills on coffee or drinks. Meal quality was fair to disappointing. Considering the options going to South America from the US - they are still miles ahead of any American carrier. That's not saying much.

FRA-GRU-EZE EZE-GIG-FRA. Frankfurt to Sao Paulo in B777 was not very impressive mainly due to the unfriendly and inattentive staff. Most flight attendants barely speak English food was alright even though they do not hand out menus. Sao Paulo-Buenos Aires (A330) was a good service - staff was nice (nicer than their sandwiches). Buenos Aires-Rio (A330) cabin staff not good in English but tried their best. Rio-Frankfurt A330 nothing to complain about. Flight entertainment could be better. They hand out little bathroom kits (brush etc).

CNF-SSA-CNF. Planes comfortable and clean. Nice staff nice meal. Flights have minor delays.

One of the worst customer service experiences I have had. Tickets for flight GRU-NAT bought in October 2010 for December decided to refund them in November 2010. Since then an accumulated correspondence of 35 Emails no one really feels responsible they keep asking for my account data ticket details etc. but so far I have not seen one cent. European customer service staff at least respond but seem to be completely unable to get any information from staff in Brazil. Also as was mentioned by another poster before some short reviews with very high evaluations appearing on this site are most likely written by TAM themselves as they are known to do so in Brazil. Avoid this airline at all cost.

Overnight flight from Heathrow to Sao Paulo. As I was on crutches when booking in we asked for extra leg room seats which we were given. Flight was brilliant with constant attention by cabin crew bring drinks and choice of food which was very good.

LHR-GRU-SCL and back economy. Price cheaper than competition by nearly 10%. Reserved seats online months in advance - reservations honoured. Check in staff and flight attendants were competent and reasonably friendly and polite. Seat narrow but adequate. All flights on time or early IFE showed up to date films and worked. Bags on arrival. On a cost/ benefit basis I would recommend them although I was unimpressed with the facilities in GRU.

GIG-SSA-GIG. Flights mostly on time but frequent gate changes without any announcements. Airbus aircraft were clean seats spacious but not very comfortable. Legroom was good. Service consisted of 1 drink run and some sandwiches which however were inedible. Overall an ok experience.

London to Lima via Sao Paulo. Excellent customer server good in-flight entertainment system. Slight glitch that the steward forgot about a child meal for my daughter.

FRA-EZE-FRA with connections in GRU and GIG. Check-in FRA very fast and friendly. FRA-GRU was only lightly booked so I got quite a bit of sleep. IFE very good food average service was okay but nothing special. GRU-EZE nothing to report. EZE check-in was fast and efficient. A light snack was served more filling than tasty. Transfer in GIG quite chaotic the airport was very bare and deserted at 10 pm. GIG-FRA fully booked food below average and service almost robotic. During the flight sleeping was impossible due to very limited space. Crew did not make water/juice rounds. 2 pieces of baggage allowed - rare nowadays.

IGU-GRU flight check in very rude as it was the start of a long international flight with change to international from GRU - check in lady insist to decline my luggage as hand luggage. The first ever time when this was declined as hand luggage. Snack was not tasty very dry flight delayed had to run to catch connection. TAM was not a pleasant flight.