I flew Qantas/LAN Chile from Santiago to New Zealand Nov. 26th. Because the Auckland airport had problems, our flight was diverted to Tahiti, and only arrived in Auckland some 30 hours late. This is not why I am complaining. Flights get delayed. Customer services in Tahiti (information, etc.) could have been better, but I recognize the difficulty in such an operation.

My complaint is relative to services once we finally reached Auckland. Business class passengers were given an envelope with connecting flight bookings. Economy passengers were told to consult a list after leaving the plane. There were less than 20 names on the list, and mine was not on it. I asked the LAN representative there what to do and his answer was "Go to the domestic terminal and fend for yourself." Totally unacceptable! I did go the the domestic terminal, where of course they knew nothing about us and wanted me to go back. I finally managed to summon the pity of a Jet Blue person who took care of my connection despite the fact he had no reason to do it.

I sent an e-mail complaining on Nov 28th (the day this happened, C/467174) to LAN and Qantas Dec. 1st. Qantas never answered. On Dec. 17th LAN answered, but the response only explained why the flight was delayed (which was never an issue), and even stated incorrectly that the connections were taken care of. Called the LAN center and was connected to the person who generated the e-mail (Hugo Schnake), who promised a new specific answer in a week. I got none until today (Dec. 28). Phoned again, and was told I either could be connected again to Hugo Schnake (which would be of no use) or file a new complaint and wait 15 business days for an answer!

How can you get an airline to own up to a mistake?