Strange flight schedules

[dick_nyc]

Just checked with Orbitz on flights to Rio in response to an emailing advertising good connections to Brazil. All the least expensive flights from JFK in New York involved flying to Sao Paolo by Varig, then to Curitiba by Tam, then on to Rio by Tam. Return just reversed the process. Why the sudden interest in Curitiba as a stopover on the flight from Sao Paolo to Rio?

[trilingual]

Computers can be weird, and this sounds like some of that. Either that, or someone accidentally loaded in some erroneous information in the latest fare updates. There'd be no reason to go to Curitiba in order to get to Rio via Sao Paulo! Especially when multiple airlines are involved! Something sounds wrong here.

[Guest ihpguy]

I think this might be the second or third time that I've mentioned this but sidestep.com has really good search capability has consistently gotten me better fares to Rio and Florida than either Expedia, Travelocity, Cheaptickets or Hotwire. And you still can choose your own schedule. Which is certainly not the case with Priceline. The only times that I have gotten better fares has been when American or United feautured next weekend e-fare specials on their websites.

[Ignoto]

A friend who travels to Brazil frequently mentioned to me that he would like to visit the northeast -- Salvador and Recife -- but it seems nearly impossible to get there without connecting in Sao Paulo. This is somewhat like flying from Rio to Miami by way of New York -- a lot of backtracking.

 

I did find a weekly flight from Miami to Salvador, on TAM (at least through October). There are nonstops to Salvador from Lisbon and Santiago, Chile, but nothing else from the U. S. ?

 

Meanwhile, VASP went on strike yesterday, but is back in the air today.

[trilingual]

It's always been a mystery to me why there's been so little service between the U.S. (particularly Miami) and major Brazilian cities other than Rio and São Paulo. There are certainly enough big cities (and people with money) in the big Northeastern metropolises to justify a few flights.

 

However, there may be some service between MIA and Manaus, Belem and/or Fortaleza, which are northern cities where connections can be made to Recife and Salvador. Try checking those destinations for service from the U.S.

[BillyZ]

No US to Northeast Brazil flights?

 

Yes, that TAM flight (Miami to Salvador) has been a recent exception!

 

I agree that it's really annoying to have to spend an extra six hours in the air and a couple more on the ground because we first have to fly all the way down to Sao Paulo before flying back up to Recife, Natal, Fortaleza, Salvador, etc.

 

Several years ago Varig had a few direct flights, but, like lots of airlines, Varig went to more of a hub system -- running most international flights through Sao Paulo and even limiting Rio. Since Europeans vacation far more in the Northeast than do North Americans, I guess that is the reason for the direct flights from Europe to the Northeast.

 

For mileage points, I like to try to stay on Star Alliance (United and Varig) and looked to stop off in Caracus or Botoga and then go to Manaus and over to the Northeast, but could not make that work.

[bigguyinpasadena]

RE: No US to Northeast Brazil flights?

 

You might want to look at Air Canada,they are star allience and fly direct to Bogata-varig or tam from there.