Greatam, et al. - Is $1010 OK open-jaw SFO-GIG/SCL-SFO?

[chees]

Not traveling until January but don't know if prices are at all likely to drop further or not. This is on Delta (thru ATL each way). Tried going through LAX and no cheaper.

 

I can't decide whether to bite the bullet now and not check again except to see if/when the flight times change, or to ride it out until later.

 

Two years ago we flew to SFO-Lima R/T on LAN for $775pp. Don't want to waste money, but like this routing/times.

 

Thoughts?

 

Thank you,

Tina

[ab0si]

What dates? I see 1-connection (both ways) on AA and Delta in the very low $800s in Nov and Dec (for example: 2/12/09 down and returning on Beethoven's Birthday (16/12/09) ) and high $800s in January.

[greatam]

Just as ab0si posted, I am seeing AA flights from both SFO and SJC in the high $800's for most of January. Two stops on the way down-DFW/Sao Paolo, one stop, DFW, on the way home. It appears that you do not change planes in Sao Paolo, according to the current AA schedule. You just make a stop. And the long haul flight is on a 777 going down.

 

Maybe it is because I fly AA so much, but I sure prefer to clear immigration/customs at DFW rather than ATL. Always been a smoother process for me. YMMV

[chees]

Our cruise leaves Rio on Sunday, Jan 10, so we plan to fly from SFO on Saturday, Jan 9, to arrive Sunday morning in Rio. (FYI-we board on Sunday but don't actually sail until Monday afternoon so we don't have to fly in a day early as we normally would for a buffer.)

 

We land in Valparaiso on Saturday, Jan 30, so expect to rent a van to drive through the vineyards to Santiago for a city tour, then the airport for an evening flight home, landing in SFO on Sunday, Jan 31.

 

The problem with American is that they appear to have VERY long flight times--28+ hours. Even the current cheap Delta flights on Kayak have 28 hour flight times (these all seem to include a 14-hour layover). Since I started watching the fares there months ago they have bounced from $1350 down to their current prices, but my husband and I have different pain points for buying the tickets.

 

I tried pricing through LAX, which is cheaper than from SFO but we would pay the same when we add the air from SFO-LAX. Last time we went to South America we flew LAN, but they don't seem to fly to Rio when we need it. I tried looking at SFO-SCL R/T, plus one way SCL-GIG, but that was no cheaper. Just trying to explore all the angles.

 

Thanks for any advice you offer,

Tina

[6rugrats]

Go to http://www.matrix.itasoftware.com and plug in your information. I see flights on DL for $990.70 that have flight times on the outbound of about 21 hours and about 17 hours on the return.

 

You just can't get there quickly.

[frugaltravel]

Go to http://www.matrix.itasoftware.com and plug in your information. I see flights on DL for $990.70 that have flight times on the outbound of about 21 hours and about 17 hours on the return.

 

As you, I am finding high $900's for those dates, nothing approaching $900 or less. So yes, a good 10% difference in fares based on specific dates.

[CRUZIN BRAD]

I'm sure Greatam along with Flyertalker and Globacruiser will give you the help you need. You picked a good one to seek advice from.

Being around here for several years - I know if I had the money they saved some of the members on this board - I could retire.

All are professionals and know way more then selling an airline ticket. Especially Greatam who has resources that none of us nor a travel agent would know of.

[megr1125]

yes...and they give advice for free......! i know the 1st place i woulde turn for advice would be to the three musketeers here on the cruiseair board!:p

[FlyerTalker]

Though G, G, and F do a big chunk of posting, I want to be the first to say that there's even more depth than just us three. I know that ab0si, fgbd, wrp and others are very valuable -- I just tend to jump in a lot, but that doesn't diminish the contributions of the rest of the "wing"nuts. So, thanks for the compliments, but they really go to a broader spectrum.