What LATAM's own policy gives you
The friendliest of the rules that apply, and it applies everywhere. Confirm current terms at latam.com.
Where most airlines make you wait hours, LATAM's own commercial policy treats a delay of 31 minutes or more as enough to act on. At that point the choice is yours, and both options are free.
You can move to another flight to the same destination and in the same cabin, and the change stays valid for up to 12 months. That flexibility is worth real money if your plans are still unsettled.
If you'd rather not travel, you can take a refund. Depending on your country of purchase it returns to your original payment method within a few business days, or lands in your LATAM Wallet, which you can move to a bank account.
This is a network policy, not a route perk. Whether you're connecting through Santiago, São Paulo or Lima, or flying a US route, the 31-minute line is the same. Local law can then add more on top.
LATAM's terms can change and vary by country of purchase, we confirm exactly what your ticket is entitled to before we act.
The three-rulebook reality, the part nobody lays out for you
The one section you won't find as a single view on LATAM's own site, and the reason a call is worth it.
Here is the thing that trips people up at the counter: a single LATAM delay can be governed by up to three separate rulebooks at the same time, and they were not written to agree. The first is LATAM's own commercial policy, the 31-minute rule above, which is generally the most generous and applies to the whole network. The second is the statutory floor of the country whose law your flight falls under, Chile's Junta de Aeronáutica Civil (JAC) or Colombia's Aerocivil being the two that matter most for LATAM, each with its own thresholds, meal rules and compensation. The third only appears when your itinerary touches the United States: the US Department of Transportation, whose protection is narrower than most passengers assume.
They stack rather than cancel each other out, which means you are entitled to whichever one gives you the most in your situation. The catch is that no single rulebook is always best, and the agent in front of you is rarely going to walk you through all three. Someone quoting you Chile's 3-hour threshold isn't wrong, but they may be skipping the fact that LATAM's own policy already let you act at 31 minutes. That gap between what you're technically owed and what you're offered is exactly where a call to us pays for itself, we hold all three rulebooks up against your actual route and claim the best.
Route by route: what the law adds on top of LATAM's policy
Never blur these three, they are separate regimes with separate triggers. Confirm current terms with LATAM and the relevant authority.
The statutory right to rebook or refund vests only when the alternative LATAM offers departs more than 3 hours from your original time, or more than 4 hours on aircraft with fewer than 29 seats. Separately, when the delay is the airline's fault and you're running 3 or more hours late, you're owed communications once the delay passes 1 hour, meals or refreshments worth at least 0.5 UF once it passes 2 hours (repeating roughly every 3 hours), and you keep the right to pursue further compensation in court.
Colombia's rules escalate in tiers as the delay grows, with distinct obligations kicking in around the 1, 3 and 5-hour marks. For a delay of 5 hours or more, or a cancellation leaving you stranded 6 hours or more, the passenger is owed an additional compensation of 30% on top of the other remedies. This annex applies to flights governed by Colombian law, not to your whole trip automatically.
DOT covers the ticket price only. When LATAM cancels or significantly changes a flight and you decline the alternative offered, you're owed an automatic refund of the fare, with significant delay set at 3 hours domestic and 6 hours international. DOT does not require hotels, meals or compensation for lost time, and these rules are in flux under an open rulemaking. Compare an airline's own care commitments at flightrights.gov.
These are statutory floors that change and are enforced by each authority, not by us. We use them to check you're getting at least the minimum, then apply LATAM's more generous policy where it beats them.
Missed your connection at a LATAM hub?
Santiago, São Paulo and Lima are where most LATAM itineraries turn.
If a late inbound makes you miss your onward LATAM flight, the airline rebooks you onto the next available service, and because so much of the network flows through Santiago (SCL), São Paulo (GRU) and Lima (LIM), that's often another LATAM flight rather than an interline scramble across two carriers. Santiago is the trap worth knowing: its domestic and international operations sit in physically separate terminals, so a connection there can mean clearing immigration, re-collecting bags and crossing between buildings, and the minimum connection time is different for every direction. For exactly how that works, and how tight is too tight, see our LATAM connections guide. Get to a LATAM agent and get us on the line at the same time.
Before you call, have this ready
Thirty seconds of prep gets you rebooked faster.
- Your reservation code and the flight that's affected
- Where the flight is under, a Chile, Colombia or US-touching route changes which extra rules apply
- Has it passed 31 minutes, or been cancelled? That's your LATAM-policy trigger to rebook or refund
- Your real deadline, a cruise, an onward flight, an event we should rebook around
The most generous rule that applies to you isn't always the one you'll be offered. LATAM's own 31-minute policy can beat the legal thresholds a busy counter quotes first. Standing in line while we hold all three rulebooks up against your route is the single best move, don't pick just one.
Frequently asked
How long does a LATAM delay have to be before I can rebook or get a refund?+
Do different rules apply depending on where my LATAM flight goes?+
What does Chile's JAC require if LATAM is at fault?+
My LATAM ticket touches the US. What does DOT actually guarantee?+
Contact options
Reach LATAM directly, or let us work the rebooking or refund.
Contact LATAM Airlines directly
The airline's own official channels, free.
These are LATAM's own channels; confirm current delay and refund terms at latam.com.
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