Trying to book a flight on LATAM website

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#306260 8-Jul-2023 20:06

Has anyone experienced a problem trying to book a flight on the LATAM website.

The search flight facility doesn't work. Tried using both Chrome and Edge.

I also used VPN to search 'from' Chile, but same problem.

I'm trying to book a flight to Santiago.

Is the a magic solution?

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#3101559 8-Jul-2023 21:16

It looks like LATAM are no longer part of any alliance, however they still have code share agreements.

I can see flights with Qantas, ex Auckland, to Santiago. Is this what you're after?

eracode

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#3101590 9-Jul-2023 04:10

Just did some quick test searches for flights Auckland to Santiago (one way and return) on the Expedia app. It shows plenty of LATAM flights direct to/from Santiago and looks like it will happily handle a booking.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

skyplonk

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#3101592 9-Jul-2023 06:14

I can search and start to book flights fine via their site

https://www.latamairlines.com/nz/en

Plenty of options including Auckland to Santiago direct

riztricted

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#3101643 9-Jul-2023 12:17

I've had issues with their website too. Ended up booking Latam flight via Amex travel. Showed same price etc

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#3101649 9-Jul-2023 12:33

skyplonk: I can search and start to book flights fine via their site

https://www.latamairlines.com/nz/en

Plenty of options including Auckland to Santiago direct

What happens for me is that after pressing the search button, it searches successive days staring from my departure date and eventually I get "Access denied. You dont have permission to access...." etc This happens on both my desktop and on my laptop - using both chrome and edge.

I can see that there are lots of flights available as it goes through the search - but the search never stops until access denied messageappears.

My preference is to use the LATAM site to book if I can rather than use the likes of expedia.

alsta

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#3101702 9-Jul-2023 15:44

We went through this nightmare last year. The website is fundamentally broken in NZ on every browser and network we tried on. Even downloaded some paid VPN apps to try and get around the exact bug you are seeing.

Don't even bother trying to contact LATAM - they deny all knowledge of the issue despite me sending though screen caps etc.

LATAM planes, ground staff and airplane staff were fine (AKL - Santiago return) but the call centre is a hot mess. We got bumped from original flight at airport and had 6 months of back and forward getting our compensation payments.

If there's any way you can get there on a different airline - I'd strongly recommend it.

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#3101715 9-Jul-2023 16:49

alsta:

We went through this nightmare last year. The website is fundamentally broken in NZ on every browser and network we tried on. Even downloaded some paid VPN apps to try and get around the exact bug you are seeing.

Don't even bother trying to contact LATAM - they deny all knowledge of the issue despite me sending though screen caps etc.

LATAM planes, ground staff and airplane staff were fine (AKL - Santiago return) but the call centre is a hot mess. We got bumped from original flight at airport and had 6 months of back and forward getting our compensation payments.

If there's any way you can get there on a different airline - I'd strongly recommend it.

Interesting comments, many thanks.

As far as I know, LATAM is the only airline to fly to Santiago from Auckland, although you can book on the LATAM operated plane through Qantas using their code sharing arrangements.

However, costs via Qantas are more expensive than LATAM (based on what I see using Expedia, which I prefer not to use).

alsta

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#3101720 9-Jul-2023 17:18

TBH - best bet is to use a travel agent. If the website isn't working for you - it never will (trust me......)

The only hassle with a travel agent is if you do have flight issues, LATAM call centre will just bounce you back to them.

Its a real shame AirNZ haven't reinstated the Santiago flight. But in LATAM's defense, we travelled about a month after South America opened up post COVID so things may be more robust now.

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eracode

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#3101746 9-Jul-2023 21:02

Lightbulb:

My preference is to use the LATAM site to book if I can rather than use the likes of expedia.

I can understand that but if the LATAM site won’t work and the alternatives are to (a) book another airline/route to Santiago, which is bound to be more expensive and a longer series of flights, or (b) book LATAM via Expedia direct to Santiago, why wouldn’t you use Expedia?

I too prefer to book direct with airlines these days (post COVID) but in the past we have booked a large number of international flights via Expedia and never had a problem.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

martyyn

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#3102287 10-Jul-2023 16:09

We just had three weeks in Argentina and flew LATAM to get there and then Aerolineas internally.

We needed to change a few of the flights and book new ones. Both the LATAM and Aerolineas websites were terrible to use and their apps weren't much better.

In the end we called our travel agent back in Auckland with the details of what we needed to do and she was able to do it instantly. The people on the ground were lovely though, no problems with our lack of Spanish and LATAM moved us to exit row seats when they could.

I strongly recommend you booking a premium economy seat on LATAM. They have the smallest seats I think I've even had on a plane, my wife at 6' really struggled. I was lucky enough to be moved to a premium economy seat which at 6'5 was still a struggle but there was way more space.

eracode

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#3104252 15-Jul-2023 03:35

@lightbulb What did you end up doing?

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

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#3104302 15-Jul-2023 12:00

eracode:

@lightbulb What did you end up doing?

I haven't booked yet, but I'm resigned to the fact that I'll have to use Expedia (or Webjet or something similar). I've used both Expedia and webjet before without problems, but I feel a bit more in control if something goes wrong if I book directly through the airline.

The LATAM website hasn't changed - just doesn't work. My son and partner live in Chile . They tell me that it works fine when you are physically in South America, but not when in NZ. Using my ExpressVPN however doesn't change anything which is a puzzle.

The only other airline that you can book flights to Santiago with is Qantas - though a code sharing agreement I presume. However, Qantas is a lot more expensive.

I've never used a travel agent to book flights - maybe I should try this......

eracode

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#3104362 15-Jul-2023 13:00

Lightbulb:

…. I feel a bit more in control if something goes wrong if I book directly through the airline.

Me too now and that’s why, post-COVID, we’ve started booking direct rather than using Expedia as we used to. We recently had to cancel and get refunds for flights to Europe. It was very simple doing it direct with Emirates and easier than I think it would have been to cancel through Expedia. Refund arrived within a few days, back-dated on credit card to the day I cancelled.

However in your circumstances I would not be too concerned about using Expedia on this occasion.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

Lightbulb

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#3123194 3-Sep-2023 09:52

An update:

I used the LATAM site - successfully.

I was told by my Chilean daughter in law that the LATAM website only works when booking return journeys. That's her experience and that of other south americans. Goodness knows why. If you try and book a one way journey, then the the search just circles through days looking for flights and eventually errors out.

When I was initially looking at flights, I was only looking at one way journeys to see what the prices were.

The only quirk I found was that when I searched for outward flights on 24 January (say), the search results produced results for the day before. Same with the return leg. Don't know why but could be something to do with time zones (and bad programming)

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#3167080 2-Dec-2023 09:37

Kia ora Guys!

Thankfully, I found this thread and didn't feel alone 😊

My word... LATAM applications... 😭

It is true that from New Zealand, and other places for sure, you can only search for Round trips, even using a VPN.

The issue is with your local machine time zone, so if you want to search for One-way flights, adjust your time zone to (UTC-3:00) City of Buenos Aires

Don't forget to change it back after you finish 😉

Enjoy!

Ngā mihi,

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