Always.
/.02
+1
In for 1, pls.
OK, here it goes
To book this award, I used 75,000 BA avios points for the one-way. TAM F availability was great, with a seat available almost every day on both the morning and the evening flights. I chose the evening flight to maximize my day on the ground, and maximize my flat-bed with some zzz's. When I got to the final booking page on BA's website, i encountered an error screen, even after trying it four times, that it would not go through. The only way to go was to call up BA and book it over the phone, agent was very helpful and quick, she offered to waive the phone fee without me even asking, and the ticket was booked in under 5 minutes.
Once you have the record locator (Same one from BA for JJ), you will want to call up TAM to, order a kosher meal, choose a seat, and reserve their complimentary chauffeur airport service. First agent I spoke too was just terrible and didn't know anything about award tickets. HUCA to the rescue and by the second agent i had all three taken care of.
TAM's chauffeur is only available in North America and Europe. So you could either be picked up from home if flying to Brazil, or dropped off there for arrivals. TAM contracts a Brazilian-American luxury taxi company in NYC for all their airports pickups and drop-offs. The hummer they sent for me, arrived almost four hours before flight departure, to my home in Brooklyn. In the passenger side window was a paper that said TAM and my name in large letters. Driver was very friendly, and is a native to Rio in Brazil. At the airport a TAM representative was there when we arrived, to retrieve my baggage and bring me to check-in.
Check-in was a breeze, skipping passed the huge line of passengers in the back, and I was heading to security a few minutes later. TAM F passengers receive access to the AA FCL at JFK. Lounge was quite full with lots of departures all going within a few hours. Still there were plenty of seats available at the window area and computer work-station area. Drink selection there was decent at a self serve bar. Shower was nice too, didn't have to wait at all for that.
At boarding time a TAM representative came to escort me from the lounge to the gate. Boarding was from gate 2 at the end of the terminal 8 hallway. There was another international flight going from gate 1, so the area there was packed over capacity
- With the escort by my side, I was whisked off to the front of the line, and from there she walked with me to my seat 1A.
First impression as I walked into the cabin, was just WOW, it looked incredible. The colors are very smooth, a comfy ottoman in front of every seat, and lots of storage space for every passenger. With just four seats in the whole cabin, laid out in 1-2-1 configuration, this cabin was really private and personal. There were two other passengers sitting in the two middle seats for the flight. The flight attendant serving our cabin was perfect, not too much in your face, but always attentive at the right times, and spoke a perfect English. Departure drinks were served, along with an (non-kosher) appetizer trio, consisting of a small salad, caviar and bread-stick.
Amenity kits and pajamas were brought out next. TAM hands out two amenity kits. The first consisting of a toothbrush, paste, mouthwash, ear-plugs, eye-shades and socks. And the second with all the creams, shaver, and a nice pen. Both kits looked great, and were presented nicely. The pajamas were OK IMO, not quite as good as CX F pajamas, but still decent. Very comfortable, just the fit didn't feel that great. "Noise-Cancelling" headphones were handed out as well, though my bose QC15's were by far better than TAM's.
After the cute safety video was played, we took-off almost an hour late, with a nice smooth climb out of JFK over the Atlantic. A great way to enjoy takeoff is to watch it on the huge personal screen in front of your seat. TAM has a camera mounted to the front and bottom of the aircraft. Also on the system were a great selection of new-releases along with lots of classics, and airshow of course.
The kosher meal for this flight was from Borenstein caterers, and was the regular economy class meal, with the addition of a lax appetizer, to label it as a first class meal. Meal was very decent, was served at perfect temperature too. The FA set out the regular meal setup with china and flatware, and placed the tray and pan near that. Good drink selection on board, along with Brazilian favorite Guarana, and some great scotch. My drink was never empty for more than a few seconds during dinner service, but not in an intruding way at all.
After dinner was cleared, I went to one of the two first class lavatories to change into Pajamas, while the FA made the bed. A bottle of water was waiting there too when I returned. Had a solid five hour sleep until we were about 40 minutes out of GRU and breakfast was being served. Breakfast was OK, at least for the non-hot part, the hot part - not so much. The also had lots of fresh uncut fruit for me.
A few minutes before landing, the FA came by to give out a small premium box of chocolate and thanking the F passengers for flying with them. I turned on the air-cam for landing again, beautiful landing in GRU and a short taxi to the gate. Immigration line at GRU wasn't terrible that morning, and took just about 10-15 minutes to get through. A TAM representative was waiting with a cart holding my baggage as i was leaving the immigration's, a nice well-appreciated surprise for anyone that's been to and knows the chaos of the GRU baggage claim area.
And that concludes the mini report. Hope some of you get to have the chance to try it out, before they get rid of it completely in November.
