£161 return flat-bed 80 tier points business class deal on LATAM’s Madrid to Frankfurt service

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• John says:

  4 Nov4 November 06:15

  Does this count as an intraSchengen flight or does it use the non-Schengen gates at both MAD and FRA?

  • Bob says:

    4 Nov4 November 08:08

    It seems also that from MAD it is almost only this flight at that time of the day.

    So there are very few passengers in the terminal.

  • JFSV says:

    4 Nov4 November 08:57

    I am not sure I agree with the part re being unable to fly just with your EU national ID.

    If you can fly from the UK (non schengen) to EU mainland (take Germany as an example; as a Schengen country), why would it be any different for Spain to Frankfurt even if the flight is considered non-schengen.

  • David says:

    4 Nov4 November 08:59

    I don’t think it’s “pointlessly” – obviously it has to arrive from South America into a non-Schengen gate, and perhaps passengers don’t have to get off in MAD? In which case you can’t mix passengers who haven’t entered EU immigration with passengers in Schengen. Even if everyone was forced off the aircraft in MAD and pushed through immigration, the plane would still be parked at a non-Schengen gate, so everyone would need bussing back. In fact, does T4S in MAD have any Schengen gates?

    • Riku says:

      4 Nov4 November 10:22

      going through passport control is “pointless” because you are travelling inside the schengen zone but YOU will have to show your ID/passport.which takes extra time because of the choice of gates/the other passengers sitting on the plane.
      In the same way I have flown BHX-FRA-HEL and had to go through security checks in FRA because in FRA they do not separate the non-schengen “clean” arrival passengers from the other non-schengen arrivals . This was a pointless security check for me, but not pointless for the others standing around me.
      People in the UK are more used to security checks/immigration controls because UK is outside the schengen zone and doesn’t recognise other EU security checked passengers as clean.

    • Lady London says:

      4 Nov4 November 11:20

      I’m always amazed at how quickly and easily you can normally fly between two Schengen countries. Once you’re in Schengen, normally you’re in! It seems even less hassle than flying from London to Scotland.

      Unfortunately once the LatAm plane has landed at the jnon-Schengen gate in Madrid, they’re not going to move and re-park it for the leg to Frankfurt! even though from the point of view of Schengen not requiring any further passport checks if flying to another Schengen country, they could 🙂

      I was on this LatAm plane from NZ to Oz. I was sat in the back row right in front of the toilets. Loved the nice plane and service still excellent. If it’s excellent in the back of Economy next to the toilet, then I can’t imagine how nice LatAm J on this plane must be 🙂

    • Shoestring says:

      4 Nov4 November 19:05

      EU Schengen residents seem to be able to use their dog’s photo passport to travel between countries.

      My (Schengen) nephew & niece never even bothered to get a proper passport: they just got that silly ID card you can get down the Post Office. When my niece got hers stolen at a disco, she just laughed & said she’ll get a replacement.

      How’s that going to stop terrorists moving over borders?

    • Riku says:

      4 Nov4 November 19:24

      you don’t need your dogs passport to travel between schengen countries .. I flew from helsinki to stockholm last week and just showed the online boarding pass to security staff and to the bar code reader at the gate. no ID had to be shown to anybody. But the same applies if you drive over the border anyway.

    • Shoestring says:

      4 Nov4 November 19:34

      @Riku I didn’t say travel between Schengen countries – they just use the dog’s passport ID card to travel to the UK, no passport required

  • Marcw says:

    4 Nov4 November 18:53

    It’s a big PAIN! You need to clear passport/ID checks. It’s stupid. I’ve taken it a few times, but honestly prefer the LH/IB Service. You save a lot of time. Especially HBO.

    • David says:

      6 Nov6 November 09:16

      It’s not stupid. It’s for a very valid reason.

      Additionally, having flowing inter-schengen flights from MAD countless times (literally I could not put a figure on how many times it is), I don’t find going through passport control to be that much of a disruption at all.

      You also get access to a better lounge.

• Jerry says:

  4 Nov4 November 07:08

  We’re doing some Chile LATAM flights this month on a travel pass ( booked via Trailfinders amex offer). Can’t seem to get sign up to their loyalty scheme to work (website errors). Will our flights earn avios and if so how can we credit them to Oneworld BA?

  • Trent says:

    4 Nov4 November 09:00

    Yes, just have your travel agent add your BA number into your booking or add it yourself in Manage My Booking. Alternatively, you can have the check-in staff add it at the time of check-in. I prefer to have it in the booking beforehand.

  • Gill says:

    4 Nov4 November 09:14

    Would be you be able to share details with of the travel pass? I’ve just booked to SCL return from EZE and trying to decide on our best flights options – cash, pass, redemption(avios or if there are any others).

    I’d read a number of comments elsewhere saying no avios or TP on domestic which would be the bulk of our travel. Redemptions seem good value if that’s the case.

    • Jerry says:

      4 Nov4 November 11:15

      We have the same international as you SCL / EZE. Info on the LATAM pass is hard to get. It was cheaper for us on 5 sectors than individual flights by around £250 and the amex £100 back on £1000 Trailfinders swung it. I also got Flight centre to quote. We’re doing SCL to LSC then back to SCL then on to Mendoza, and then Mendoza to Cordoba and 2 Aerolineas Argentinas Cordoba then to El Calafate and EZE ( both not on the pass, so 3 sectors on pass) cost was £516 each before amex saving on Nov Dec flights booked in September. BA website will price up some legs in avios for reasonable value, low tax and flexibility but we’re avios poor. Trailfinders very helpful with multiple itineraries in planning stage. BA quoted twice as much and it took them 8 days to do it. Have a great trip.

      • reds says:

        4 Nov4 November 12:16

        We flew LATAM from EZE-SCL on avios earlier this year. Paid PE and treated as biz ( there was no biz class) and had use of a very nice LATAM lounge too. The check in/bag drop queue at EZE was very very long for economy!! So was glad we used the extra avios for the upgrade.

      • Gill says:

        4 Nov4 November 12:17

        Thanks Jerry.
        I’ve got a rough outline based mostly on Chile – Santiago, Atacama, torres del Paine, possibly El Calafate, BA. I’ll price up cash and avios and then see what trailfinders have. I have £1000 vouchers from their old 200 off 1000 amex offer so that could swing it.

• Tony says:

  4 Nov4 November 08:08

  Annoyingly google flights lets you choose the b2b flights for £160 but when it takes you to Latam the price changes to £217.

  • Roberto says:

    4 Nov4 November 08:34

    But not if you go from GF to Expedia where you can book at the advertised rate.

• Big Bob says:

  4 Nov4 November 09:19

  I often fly this route one way. If the tier points are not required: economy tickets can be bought for about £25-30. LATAM then offer th option to ‘bid’ for an upgrade. Half a ton typically does the job. But only economy tier points if crediting to BAEC. I’ve recently abandoned BA and OneWorld and enjoying Swiss, T2, and Zurich airport.

  • Lady London says:

    4 Nov4 November 11:25

    I’m following in your footsteps @Big Bob… will be making my way back to Star Alliance next year. Especially with the impending devaluation of BA I’m just not willing to take a chance and invest in them /OW any more than I have to. Within Europe there are more high quality experiences on Star Alliance and worldwide the experience is not perfect, but more consistent at more locations than I have found OneWorld to be.

    Thanks for the tip on getting a OW seat in J on this flight I do have a reason to use it in next few months and will try your trick.

    • Julian says:

      7 Nov7 November 11:09

      Lady London,

      Regarding the “impending devaluation” (of Avios) are you referring to the comments made by Cruz in an interview given to Rob by Cruz as reported at headforpoints.com/2018/03/26/alex-cruz-speaks-upcoming-changes-avios-baec

      Has any date for the implementation of these changes been set as it appears I therefore need to get on with spending my current 150,000 or so Avios if this is the long term direction of travel. I also feel sure Amex will eventually take action to block those who repeatedly abuse introduction sign up bonuses clearly intended to encourage customers to join up for the long and not the short term. Also I rather suspect that the Amex sign up bonus abusers are probably the people that Cruz most dislikes and wants to deal with.

      However “short trousers” Cruz doesn’t seem to have a very good knowledge of history given that BA previous implemented an all flights available for Avios at different rates per flight model but then abandoned it on the basis that it was too complicated for collectors of Air Miles (as then were) to understand or set any collection targets for………………………

• hamiltus says:

  4 Nov4 November 09:25

  LATAM’s website doesn’t let you pick the direct turn flights on its own BUT if you click through to it from a Google Flights search you can indeed book it directly as I did back in march. Although I did it with the goal of accumulating Alaska miles since it’s a LA operated flight and at the time they earned me 225% of the distance though that has since been devalued.

• Volker says:

  4 Nov4 November 09:28

  I’ll be travelling to Germany in the coming week, and, inspired by HFP, I decided to route LHR-MAD-FRA-MAD-LHR, as I require just a few more TPs. All flights will be on widebody aircraft and I’ll be staying a few nights at the Gran Meliá Palacio de los Duques as well as some Hilton Airport Hotels as part of a current Hilton status challenge. I won’t tell you what my friends think of me, but I just LOVE this hobby! A big thank you to Rob & Anika for their reviews and advice – and also to other readers for many helpful comments!

• Paul says:

  4 Nov4 November 09:47

  I did this flight last Sunday as part of the recent deal LATAM had flying from Rio to Frankfurt.

  I’ve done a lot of LATAM business flights recently and enjoyed this, the staff were very friendly throughout and the food was a very tasty curried prawn dish.

  It does depart from the Shengen gates (but as I was on an international connection meant i stayed it Terminal4S at Madrid, everyone had to leave the plane but I would guess not clear immigration in Spain).

  Word of warning, I’ve had real headaches with getting my BA number in to LATAM bookings, you can only do it when you purchase ticket or checking in. Despite doing it when purchasing I’ve had phantom LATAM accounts created and added to the booking, I asked the lounge in SCL to delete this but it must not have worked as no tier points credited and so spent an hour on the phone the next time it happened getting the staff to delete it as I didn’t believe them when they said I would get credit in both.

  • Paul says:

    4 Nov4 November 09:54

    There are some pics on my Instagram account linked on my name if people want to see a very recent update

• Ian says:

  4 Nov4 November 13:12

  The £160 tickets are booking into Z. Do these get TPs & Avios? The BA Avios calculator doesn’t show Z fares.

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