LATAM Pass is currently offering a pretty generous status match promotion. While this offer has been around for some time, what’s interesting is that the status through this offer is now valid through March 2025, so you’d have well over a year to enjoy this status. If you’re eligible and fly LATAM with any frequency…
Continue reading: LATAM Pass Offering Status Match Promotion
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Latam Pass has overhauled its upgrade policy around one month ago and the Black tier was devalued from unlimited space-available upgrades on all routes to unlimited in short-haul only. Long-haul is limited to 8 sectors per calendar year (14 for Black Signature).
It's a garbage program really, and there's no real incremental value for status above Platinum (which grants you lounge access, free seat selection, etc).
@ Felipe -- Interesting, thank you. Eight long haul upgrades still sounds like a lot. Just so I understand, do you think the program isn't good because those upgrades don't often clear, or...?
Their site says
Use your Elite Member Coupons to fly in Premium Economy or Premium Business cabins on your international flights sold and operated by LATAM Airlines.
>>So based on wording "sold and operated by LATAM" do we get upgrades if we booked award flights on Latam using Alaska, Delta, BA etc?
If you are Black Signature or even Black they will often clear. Just around important holidays the odds are not that good. If you fly LATAM frequently, like many people in South America is still a good program. But of course if was better when LATAM was part of Oneworld. Emerald status is really missed.
No, because those are not sold by Latam, only operated by them. Talking from experience.
Latam does a pretty good job filling their premium cabins these days (there are lots of wealthy Brazilians, Chileans, Peruvians, etc who can afford to pay for J and like to receive service in their native language - I know plenty of people like that). And paid upgrades, Plusgrade auctions, etc also reduce availability for elites. In theory they say Black/Black signature are to be upgraded before Plusgrade auctions but in practice I haven't found that to be always the case.
Moreover, award redemption rates are awful (they really learned from Delta), but that's another discussion.
black has 8 shared coupons if you travel with a companion if you travel outside of South America, if you travel in South America there are unlimited coupons and 6 for the companion. During the pandemic, many were elite so the chances of having an upgrade were limited for popular routes such as Santiago Miami, Santiago Madrid. I am a black signature and until now I have always obtained the upgrade although on the last flight it was luck because a passenger did not arrive.
is not the first time I have read this, at least in my case my priority has always been over the people who do upgrades bids, only regional managers or latam pilots have preference over black signature and black at least in my flight experience. But i agree that latam upgrade system is a mess and depend on the airport they hace different views of the upgrades system. In December I had to see a passenger who had bid the upgrade but they did not give it to him and when he boarded he saw there were still free seats and he offered more money for the upgrade, even so they did not give him the upgrade. This was on the Madrid Santiago route.
You also get lounge access on a bunch of other airlines for Black or above. For Delta, getting sky priority is nice, but no lounge access unless flying internationally.
Does these coupon upgrades work on award tickets too ? I have a EZE-LIM-MIA coming up in Nov and this is award booking booked using Iberia Avios. I am thinking if this $80 would be a wise spend to get a chance on their extra leg room seats if not Lie Flat seat on B767. BTW I can only match to their Platinum.
As of August, upgrades unlimited for Black or Black Signature only on South American routes. Long-haul are now limited to 8 one-ways for Black (I believe 14 for Black Signature).
Regarding award tickets, only those issued by LATAM (045 stock) in an eligible fare can be upgraded. Same as with paid tickets. So tickets issued with Avios will not be upgraded. Agree with other posters... I primarily fly to Europe and the SCL-MAD and GRU-EUROPE routes many times have 0 or just 1 or 2 free seats in J.
Bidders will always have less priority than Black and Black Signature, but more than all other status flyers. I have never found irregularities with the upgrade list.
Finally, I do agree that redemption rates are terrible and that the lack of lounge access for elites when not traveling in LATAM shameful.
Can we just talk how Delta influence over Latam has improved the quality of the airline? IT is the prime example of that. Before it was total chaos and a mess. From processing a payment to select a seat being an elite flyer...
Soft product has also improved a little bit in the long-haul routes. The 77W and 789 with 1-2-1 configuration leaves nothing to be desired (way better than LH lol)
The same happened when Delta had a partnership with Gol. Now Gol is kinda of a mess IT-wise.
The "new" business class seats were announced in 2018, before Delta got involved. But I recognize that IT has improved a lot in the last couple of years. Still not where it should be, but it's heading in the right direction. The soft product in J class is marginally better too (even though I dislike the fact that all meals are single-tray)
unable to create account...? multiple attempts, different browsers, cookies cleared, etc. Any ideas?
What a disaster! First I could not create an account - had to write to the help desk. Then after some days it worked and now when I want to apply, it says my country (Netherlands) is out of the selected geography??!!?? This while it specifically has a fee mentioned for my country. Totally worthless. Have sent in another request to the help desk. They make it quite impossible to bring your business to them. I wonder if they test their stuff before setting web pages in production.
Are you sure this isn't a scam? The website is statusmatch.com and dressed up to look like LATAM's official website but has no connection to them. They have a 2.5 star rating on Trustpilot and reviews are pretty sketchy. It looks like they just collect your money and your personal info and never deliver...