Amazing Deal Alert: Roundtrip Business Class from Sao Paulo To US For $1,100 in November
TPG reader Fabio alerted me to some great airfares this November and December that are going for as low as $1,100 roundtrip in business class on American and Delta from Sao Paulo to Orlando. Note, these fares are for itineraries that start in Brazil, so in order to take advantage of them, you may have to use miles or pay to get down there, but it could be a good way to mileage run by end of the year since these are premium class tickets.
If you want to find which dates are available and different routings, I'd recommend you head over to the ITA Booking Matrix, where you'll be able to play around with your dates. You can't book via ITA, but it will help identify the dates with low fares and then you can book via your preferred online travel agency or airline website.
Just a quick search on ITA showed that these low fares are available throughout November. Just note that in these matrices, the fares are pricing out in Brazilian reales, not dollars, so 2,414 BRL = $1,102:
Here are the fares in November.
And up until the second week in December:
Unfortunately, the reverse route, from Orlando to Sao Paulo and back, is pricing out at double:
Now, you may be asking yourself, what's the point if I have to get to Brazil first anyway? Well, there are a couple reasons you might still want to book. First, $1,100 for roundtrip business class to Brazil is an insane deal - premium airfares to South America rarely get this low. In fact, economy seats often cost this much, so this is a really great deal.
Second, you could always plan two quick trips down there. Let's say you wanted to go down over Thanksgiving while you had some time off then head back for Christmas or New Year's (which is amazing down there) when the next vacation time comes up. It looks like there are plenty of dates in December you could choose to fly back down there. You could get this same airfare for flying from Brazil to the US on the Sunday of Thanksgiving then head back down there on December 29 or 30 for New Year's:
To position yourself, you could buy a really cheap roundtrip economy airfare that book ends your trip so you have one leg to get down there and one to get back on either end of the business class fare. You could also look for award seats to get down there. I actually found plenty of low-level availability on American from Miami in November:
And even on November 27 in business class:
January is a bit tighter though - for now, some last-minute awards might open up if you have flexibility.
So let's say you wanted to go for a week in November. In the matrix, simply click on the date you want to depart and then choose the number of nights you want to stay and that will bring you up to a screen showing you your options:
Looks like you could fly either Delta, which would transit through Detroit:
And would earn you 150% award and Medallion Qualifying miles thanks to the fare classes for a total of 18,153 miles at a cost of 6 cents per mile.
There is also an option to fly US Airways via Charlotte on the return on many dates if you're looking to bank some Star Alliance miles:
Or you could fly American through Miami:
Where you would earn 9,144 elite qualifying miles and 11,680 award miles based on these fare classes at a cost of 10 cents per mile.
Interestingly enough, though you're transiting through Miami, if you were just to book your ticket through Miami, the price would go up to about 3,100 reales, or $1,420.
You do need a visa to go to Brazil, which costs $180, but isn't terribly hard to get. I paid a fee and used Allied Passport to get mine without having to leave home.
I'm not having much luck with destinations other than Orlando, but if you come across any, report back in the comments and let us know if you book one of these tickets!
For more information on how to maximize your airfare purchases, check out this post.
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