Beware QF codeshares on LATAM to Santiago

[tgh]

Where is the ACCC

in Chile….

 

[JohnK]

I can't see how American can refund it when I paid the $7000 to Qantas. Advice?

I'd pursue with Qantas as they are the agent selling the ticket. If you have the original booking and boarding pass they'd be able to negotiate with AA.

Surprised that AA did not initially offer you downgrade compensation. Is it DOT that looks after these issues?

 

[esseeeayeenn]

In early December I booked a series of flights with LATAM from 24 December through 5 January.
SCL-GRU on 24/12 and EZE-SCL on 05/01 in J with GRU-EZE on 02/01 in W because there was no J available.
I also booked CGH-SDU-GRU on 27/12 and 02/01 on a separate booking because their system wouldn't mix J/W and Y on the same multicity booking.
Sao Paulo - Rio de Janeiro is a Y only route.
On 20 December I received an email offering me the opportunity to upgrade GRU-EZE to W!
I checked in the app and it showed the sector as Y!
I talked to the LATAM AU rep on twitter and was told that their had been an aircraft change and someone would get back to me to discuss my options.
They assured me they would find an alternative flight in W or J.
I received an automated acknowledgement email opening a case.
No further contact.
I hassled and hassled and was eventually told there were no flights available.
Then I was told a new case had been opened for compensation.
I was promised a response within 48 hours.
72 hours later I was told the two cases had been merged and a response would now take 10 days!
That was the day before my flight.
I went feral in public on twitter, savaging LATAM and their AU rep, mentioning the parent company's twitter account in the tweets.
Within an hour they offered me seats in W on a flight one hour later than the flight I had booked.
While this ended well it confirmed the comments @juddles has made about LATAM downgrading PAX.
It also confirmed his advice to never back down!