Fly more pay less....

[Bucknaway1614502762]

I'm looking at planning my trip for me in Brazil and I've come across some strange airfare pricing. If I wanted to round trip it will cost me more money then if I flew into Sao Paulo stayed a few days, then fly to Rio de Janeiro stay a week and then fly back to Philadelphia. That's crazy.

 

 

[Riobard]

I believe the answer lies in the comparatively low Air Canada fares from Toronto (YYZ). Toronto-GRU on its daily gorgeous Dreamliner is surprisingly inexpensive at certain seasonal times, hundreds less than much closer Europe and usually cheaper than Copa thru Panama.

This makes it appealing to Brazilians as evidenced by the high rate of Portuguese spoken among passengers. A USA visa confers entry to Canada, many want to see Niagara Falls, and they can take the train or bus to NYC, etc. 

I am paying about $500USD return for my next Air Canada direct São Paulo flight from Montreal (a new winter service).

When Air Canada eliminated Rio direct they added a GRU-GIG codeshare connection for no additional charge. It looks like they are dinging you to get up to TO from Philly and back. TO-SP return in May is $615USD most days. Overall, the fares you displayed are priced high. 

[wncdemcub]

I agree on the air canada pricing. It’s good that you are looking in May for the ticket than say February or even March. You do run some risk of delay given winters in Canada.

[Riobard]

In 55 years of flying out of Canada I have never had a major delay, missed connection, or lost bag, though sometimes a minor delay for winter de-icing. Pure good fortune, as I always expect a problem in winter to break the lucky streak. 

[Latbear4blk]

Check Delta direct flight from Atlanta to Rio.

[Bucknaway1614502762]

14 minutes ago, Latbear4blk said:

Check Delta direct flight from Atlanta to Rio.

Delta has a habit of canceling flights from Philadelphia to atlanta so I've been rejecting Atlanta connections.  The last time I had a connection there my connecting flight was cancelled and I had to spend the nigh Atlanta.  Before that I have plans to go to Atlanta for the weekend and my Friday flight was canceled so I flew in Saturday and return Sunday.

[Riobard]

I cannot control connection wait times, but I can tell you that Philadelphia-Toronto-SãoPaulo adds a whopping 80 miles of flight compared to Philadelphia-Atlanta-SãoPaulo. 

[Bucknaway1614502762]

You have a 50-50 chance a flying out of Philadelphia to Atlanta on any given day without the flight being canceled on Delta.

[JunNJ]

My local airport is Philadelphia.  I come to Brazil many times.  I do not fly from Philly because it is like $500 difference if you fly from JFK which have more flights to Brazil such as LATAM, COPA in addition to AA and DELTA.   I noticed this year,  they removed flights to Rio.  I tried multi city flights before but when Rio was still available.  Your multi city flight will definitely costs more.  JFK has many direct flights to SP from different airlines.

If you want to come to JFK for ticket good prices, from Philadelphia take the NJ transit from Trenton to NY Penn Station(75min)  and transfer to LIRR to Jamaica station (20min) where you can take the Air  Train to your  Gate. This takes almost 3hrs total but it may saves you $500 price difference. Thats what I  do.   I am from Southern part of NJ near Philly.

Always set an alert for ticket prices using google flights.  ticket price comes down usually on Tues -Wed -Thursday when they go on sale for couple of days only so check on those dates.

I suggest when you get to SP go to Rio first and come back to SP for your last leg of your trip so you dont have to wait in SP airport coming from Rio to catch a flight back home at night.

[Bucknaway1614502762]

4 hours ago, JunNJ said:

My local airport is Philadelphia.  I come to Brazil many times.  I do not fly from Philly because it is like $500 difference if you fly from JFK which have more flights to Brazil such as LATAM, COPA in addition to AA and DELTA.   I noticed this year,  they removed flights to Rio.  I tried multi city flights before but when Rio was still available.  Your multi city flight will definitely costs more.  JFK has many direct flights to SP from different airlines.

If you want to come to JFK for ticket good prices, from Philadelphia take the NJ transit from Trenton to NY Penn Station(75min)  and transfer to LIRR to Jamaica station (20min) where you can take the Air  Train to your  Gate. This takes almost 3hrs total but it may saves you $500 price difference. Thats what I  do.   I am from Southern part of NJ near Philly.

Always set an alert for ticket prices using google flights.  ticket price comes down usually on Tues -Wed -Thursday when they go on sale for couple of days only so check on those dates.

I suggest when you get to SP go to Rio first and come back to SP for your last leg of your trip so you dont have to wait in SP airport coming from Rio to catch a flight back home at night.

I'll try giving that a trial run one of these weekends and if it works out I'll change my airport. I flew out of JFK once to go to Thailand in the traffic in and out of the airport was crazy but the train maybe just what I'm looking for.

[Anthonyvan]

On 12/4/2019 at 9:27 AM, Riobard said:

In 55 years of flying out of Canada I have never had a major delay, missed connection, or lost bag, though sometimes a minor delay for winter de-icing. Pure good fortune, as I always expect a problem in winter to break the lucky streak. 

That's so funny cuz the first time I took AC to travel to SA, I got delayed and had to stay at the hotel for 1 night. 

Btw, I also realized that AC has pretty cheap flight to SA. It's like a little over 800 dollars in March and April to Sao Paulo which is more than reasonable. But is it a good time to visit Brazil in March or April?

[SolaceSoul]

9 hours ago, Anthonyvan said:

That's so funny cuz the first time I took AC to travel to SA, I got delayed and had to stay at the hotel for 1 night. 

Btw, I also realized that AC has pretty cheap flight to SA. It's like a little over 800 dollars in March and April to Sao Paulo which is more than reasonable. But is it a good time to visit Brazil in March or April?

I twice took an Air Canada flight to São Paulo that connected in Toronto. The appeal was the price. On the flight to SP, in November, there was a snow storm and all flights were cancelled. I was put up in a hotel for the night and left the same time next day. Others were bitching about the delay (as if they could leave in the middle of a snowstorm), but I was perfectly fine with it because I had 5 1/2 weeks of time left in Brazil. 

In other words, you’re not the only one whose had delays or cancellations on Air Canada going to Brazil. My record is 50/50. 
 

[Anthonyvan]

6 hours ago, SolaceSoul said:

I twice took an Air Canada flight to São Paulo that connected in Toronto. The appeal was the price. On the flight to SP, in November, there was a snow storm and all flights were cancelled. I was put up in a hotel for the night and left the same time next day. Others were bitching about the delay (as if they could leave in the middle of a snowstorm), but I was perfectly fine with it because I had 5 1/2 weeks of time left in Brazil. 

In other words, you’re not the only one whose had delays or cancellations on Air Canada going to Brazil. My record is 50/50. 
 

Good to know that! It seems that AC does have really appealing flight tickets going to SA. How was the flight to SP? Mine was from Toronto to Bogota.

I was perfectly fine with the delays since it was part of the experience. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Maybe a delay was meant to be, so I could meet the right person at the right time. 

Btw, how was SP in Nov? Was it a good time to visit?

[SolaceSoul]

1 hour ago, Anthonyvan said:

Good to know that! It seems that AC does have really appealing flight tickets going to SA. How was the flight to SP? Mine was from Toronto to Bogota.

I was perfectly fine with the delays since it was part of the experience. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Maybe a delay was meant to be, so I could meet the right person at the right time. 

Btw, how was SP in Nov? Was it a good time to visit?

On that particular trip, I flew into São Paulo and visited 5 Brazilian cities in 5.5 weeks. That’s a nice time of year to visit São Paulo.