is it worth putting points in to LATAMpass when black?

[tinkybelle]

I will be flying around South America in premium are there any sweet spots in the latam pass program as black?

 

[kangarooflyer88]

I would recommend having a look at the LATAM website and searching some of the routes you are looking to fly. Certainly there are sweet spots out there. To give you one example that I am pondering, a flight from Porto Alegre to Curitiba in Brazil costs $68 USD booked with LA. However that same flight could be booked on points for 3,400 miles + $11 in taxes and fees. Both are a light fare which if you are LATAM Black is plenty since that gives you everything you need for the flight including checked bags, the possibility to upgrade to a higher cabin, etc.

There are also some good deals on long haul. For instance, you can often find something like São Paulo to New York JFK for 30K points one way in economy.

-RooFlyer88

 

[RooFlyer]

If you are asking for points redemption sweet spots, in which case, would it be worth crediting the points to LATAM and not elsewhere, I'd say no, unless you are going to do a LOT of flying with LATAM now and will be going back another time to redeem a flight, but yes if you want to use the LATAM lounges. The LATAM web site is ambiguous about where you can redeem LATAM points outside of LATAM. Apols if I have misunderstood.

According to wheretocredit, these are the alternatives for crediting flights on LATAM S (I think that's economy).



On my recent LATAM flight SCL-MVD, I had the Black and wanted the VIP lounge privilege, so I credited to LATAM and the points are stranded there.

 

[fuelforlife]

I would recommend having a look at the LATAM website and searching some of the routes you are looking to fly. Certainly there are sweet spots out there. To give you one example that I am pondering, a flight from Porto Alegre to Curitiba in Brazil costs $68 USD booked with LA. However that same flight could be booked on points for 3,400 miles + $11 in taxes and fees. Both are a light fare which if you are LATAM Black is plenty since that gives you everything you need for the flight including checked bags, the possibility to upgrade to a higher cabin, etc.

There are also some good deals on long haul. For instance, you can often find something like São Paulo to New York JFK for 30K points one way in economy.

-RooFlyer88

Is there anyway of transferring points from a credit card or another FF program into Latam? I've seen lots of cheap flights on the Latam website using Latam points, but when I search on Qantas for FF flights with Latam, a 2 hr internal flight from Santiago to Puerto Montts cosst 1,800,000 Qantas points (yes nearly 2 million points)!!! I'm thinking maybe this is an error on the Qantas website???

 

[jase05]

YIKES

 

[kangarooflyer88]

One more thought on this topic, if you are LATAM Black, then it may make sense crediting your points to LATAM even if they are stranded for a few reasons. First, you'll have access to the upgrade facility as a LATAM Black. In my case I was able to upgrade myself and my partner to business class on Melbourne to Santiago using those coupons. Frankly I find that way more valuable than the 3,500 or maybe 7000 points I would earn crediting my flights to Delta or another such program. Second, even if you don't manage to snag an upgrade there are still benefits including free checked bags, lounge access and free seat selection.

-RooFlyer88

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Just thought I'd provide another data point on upgrades using the 8 included upgrade coupons that come with LATAM Black status. My partner and I were flying from Brazil to Montreal with LATAM, connecting in São Paulo and JFK. Requested upgrades on the flight to São Paulo and the flight from São Paulo to JFK. The flight to São Paulo didn't clear as there were only 3 seats available, 2 of which were snagged presumably by someone using the instant upgrade process (it was a $29 USD instant upgrade per person) and a LATAM Black Signature member with a LATAM credit card (i.e. the highest upgrade priority in the program). No big deal for me since we're talking about a Euro business on a 1 hour flight up to São Paulo, so really nothing to write home about. Certainly not worth the $29 upgrade fee either!

However, for the flight to JFK, it was down to the wire whether we would get upgraded. LATAM was showing we were #2 and #3 in line for upgrades with 3 business class seats available until the very end. Ultimately we both did get upgraded:



Business class on this sector was significantly better with seats in the now industry standard 1-2-1 configuration (no doubt because São Paulo to New York is a highly competitive business route with the likes of AA, Delta and United all offering service there):




One added benefit of the upgrade was we had access to the new Delta One business class lounge that recently opened in JFK (since we were connecting from that LATAM business flight). The lounge looks very nice, certainly on part with United's Polaris lounge and dare I say it the Qantas First lounge (easily one of the best domestic First class lounges offered by Qantas):

So overall, I would say yes it was worth it for me to have spent the $80 USD on the status match. For that small price I got the following benefits:

• Upgrades for myself and my partner on two long haul international flights (MEL > SCL and GRU > JFK)
• Upgrades for myself and partner on one regional flight in South America to Premium Economy (GRU > FLN)
• Access to the excellent LATAM lounges at SCL and GRU
• Premium seat selection on JFK > YUL, SCL > GRU and PFB > GRU
• Extra checked baggage allowance for MEL > FLN route

I was pleased by how the upgrade process works as it seems that yes if you do have sufficiently high status you do get upgrades using those coupons and they happen quite frequently. Contrast that with the likes of United, where even if you are Global Services that may not be enough to secure an upgrade using your coupons simply because there are way too many elites vying for the limited amount of upgrade space. Going forward I am tempted to actually earn LATAM Black status (yes there are inexpensive ways to do so if you do your homework)

-RooFlyer88