TAM Airlines

Our flight to Sao Paulo, Brasil was delayed in Miami for 8 hrs. We arrived and had to wait at the airport - 3 hrs at ticket counter to get a replacement for the connecting flight, meantime our bags were picked up and it took me another hour to find them. We were given a voucher for a hotel and they told us to wait for the hotel shuttle. Shuttle didn't come and we had to get a cab. Got to Foz at 2am. Lost one day of my vacation. On the way back, we were told that our reservations had been cancelled and that we had to stay in a hotel again. I made a scene at the airport and finally after 2 hrs of yelling back and forth, they found my reservation.

TAM Airlines from Guarulhos-GRU to Orlando-MCO. The flight, in general, was good. The food was good, so was the space between my legs and the seat in front of me. The flight attendants were kind. I would fly again!

Flight was departing Foz do Iguaçu (IGU) with 2 hrs delay. Cabin service lousy, they were not serving even coffee. One hour in the flight we have been informed that due to the lack of fuel and heavy traffic in Sao Paulo we have to fly back to Foz do Iguaçu. After arrival in Foz the plane has been refueled with all passengers staying aboard and after some 40 min leaving again for Sao Paulo. Most of the PA in Foz do Iguaçu and on the way was only in Portuguese, not in English. We have been translated relevant info by our fellow passenger. On our second trip to Sao Paulo nothing has been offered, not even water. Cabin crew was not present having a rest in the aft of the plane. All PAs before landing has been made by Captain in Portuguese and not translated to English - and not a word of apology. During this flight just everything went wrong. I have never experienced such a bad service. Note, the price of the air ticket was approx 300 US$, not a cheap one for 1.5 hrs domestic flight. Terrible experience.

I made my reservations on LANs website, I flew from Rosario to Miami via Sao Paulo and back. All the flights were excellent, Comfortable seats, pretty good inflight service and such an excellent crew and ground staff. I would definitely fly with TAM again.

I flew business class with TAM recently from London to Sao Paulo and back. Fortunately this was paid for by the people who invited me to lecture in Brasilia because if I had been paying I would not have been happy. The seating arrangements were reasonable but the service was poor at best and the food was sub-economy standard on most airlines. The poor service include having to ask for most things and not being offered anything (like drinks) more than once several mistakes on the breakfast order non-availability of several food items on the menus generally morose staff etc etc. This was really poor TAM - you are letting your country down and you need to get your act together with the Olympics looming fast!

GRU-MVD on Jan. 4 MVD-GRU-FLN on Jan 14 and FLN-GIG on Jan 18 all segments in Economy and on A320s all planes fairly fresh and clean except for GRU-MVD which was on a very tired A320 and outright dirty obviously not cleaned and with trash in the seat pockets. All flights on time or early service in the air generally fine with FAs ranging from just pleasant to attentive and good. While service as such was ok for economy standards there is a distinct decline of service quality noticeable over the years also with JJ in addition it seems the take-over from LAN did not really help. Seats on the international sectors were significantly more comfortable than the ones on the domestic legs where JJ uses the uncomfortable Recaro slim seats however as leg room was ok it was fine for the short domestic sections. On the morning GRU-MVD flight a tasty muffin on the afternoon return flight MVD-GRU an inedible cheese and ham sandwich was served no food on the domestic segments just a small pack of salty snacks one drink round on all legs (including beer) but additional drinks were served on request with a smile. Web check-in went smooth with no or short lines at the premium check-in counters all check-in staff very friendly except for GRU where the agent seemed just tremendously annoyed didn't say a word after the initial contact and was more interested in chewing her gum than dealing with us. The main negative event of the flights was the transfer in GRU on our way from MVD to FLN. While the flight into GRU was 20 minutes early and border control was efficient and fast it took 70 minutes for the luggage to arrive which has to be picked up in GRU and rechecked after customs (same as in the US or Canada). Priority bags were out last. Also JJ uses T3 for international and T2 for domestic flights with no direct shuttles between those terminals. The shuttle goes from T3 to T4 to T1 and finally to T2. So after a 15 minutes wait for the shuttle it took us a further 30 minutes to arrive at T2. Although we had a connection time of more than 2 hours and were 20 minutes early into GRU we barely made our connection flight. In general ground service from JJ at GRU was abysmal. As for lounges we only used the one in MVD which was elegant comfortable and spacious enough but had just a limited drink selection and very limited food offerings as we were short in time we didn't visit the lounge in GRU. So overall mostly good flights which delivered us on time with no problems aside from the transfer in GRU. Recommended but I would be careful with connecting through GRU. (Oneworld Sapphire).

London-Sao Paulo. An interesting comparison with colleagues who were on the BA flight on the same route and time. Check in quick and easy at Heathrow's now almost deserted Terminal 1 (soon to close for rebuilding) but a long walk to actually embark at Terminal 2. Economy similar to most airlines. TAM give you a little pack containing socks toothbrush etc. which most airlines seem to have stopped. Food OK though they were a little ungenerous with the drinks. It would have been nice if they had come round with water overnight. Good selection of entertainment though not as up-to-date as some. Flight from Sao Paulo left late as do most flights from Sao Paulo in my experience.

Flying a domestic flight - almost 5 hours - from Sao Paulo to Belem doesn't give the passenger the right to request a pillow or blanket - after my own experience I got the answer that they were just for International flights. As a frequent flyer I had never experienced that before I frequently fly with Qantas on a short flight 1 hr 45 mins duration where I have a pillow and blanket as well hot meal for main meals or a decent lunch in between.

EZE-GIG one-way in Business class. Very early departure from EZE. Check-in took longer than needed as the staff seemed very chatty amongst themselves. Security was very fast and they did not mind that I brought my water through. Lounge was ok but basic. Aircraft was a reasonable A32x. On board it is 2x2 old style recliners which is much better than regional business class in Europe which is usually 3x3 with free middle seat. Due to the early departure I went straight to sleep but woke up for breakfast which was ok. Then some more sleep. Landed on time in Rio. Immigration had about 30 people ahead of me as one of the US originated planes had landed earlier. Bags were ready when I reached the baggage area. Easy customs as they did not seem to want to scan anyone that day. Would choose TAM again on this route as the only other airline offering business is Emirates which gets to Rio past midnight.

Flew from GRU to SCL on 4 January Seat 2A. Quick efficient check in. Flight was on a seemingly older A320. Cabin crew were polite and attentive kept filling up drinks meal was OK. No individual IFE screen - only 2 screens for the three rows of Business Class. Seat only partially reclined - made sleep difficult but only a 4 hour flight. Expect more for International Business Class.