I’m off on a very quick jaunt to Brazil, closing the bookend on a mileage partnership that ended almost a year ago.
I’m Flying To Brazil…For A Few Hours…On United And LATAM
Last September, in the final days of the partnership between LATAM and Alaska Airlines, I booked a one-way business class ticket from São Paulo (GRU) to Los Angeles (LAX) on a LATAM 787-9 in business class for 45,000 miles and $28.91 in taxes fees (plus the $12.50 painter booking fee on Alaska Airlines, which has since risen to $20). My dates were flexible and I would have booked a return trip, but I could not find space on a single day down to Brazil with a return 1-2 days later…so I figured one-way was better than none.
Then I hatched a great plan. Recall I just flew Emirates First Class from Mumbai (BOM) to Brussels (BRU) via Dubai (DXB). I thought I’d just buy a flight to Lisbon (LIS), then book a TAAG Angola ticket from Lisbon to São Paulo via Luanda (LAD), which included a 21-hour layover. Americans can enter Angola visa-free and I was so excited…plus I’d fly a 777 from LIS-LUN and a 787 from LUN-GRU and the ticket was only $1700.
Perfect, right?
Well, unfortunately an important event required my presence in Los Angeles two days before the LATAM flight from GRU-LAX. I thought about scrapping the entire trip, but no…I can spare two days. To get to Brazil, I thought I could do COPA or AeroMexico, either booked with Air France-KLM Flying Blue. Unfortunately, the space was available the day before and day after I needed, but not the day I actually needed (of course).
That left American Airlines or United Airlines…those tried and true options…or else just booking a nonstop LATAM ticket in economy class, which was only $350. I initially booked United via Houston to Rio de Janeiro instead of São Paulo. I’ve never been to Rio and figured I could land in the morning, head into town, climb up to the Christ the Redeemer statue, then fly on to São Paulo…maybe even doing that very cool domestic hop from Santos Dumont (SDU) to São Paulo/Congonhas (CGH), which I hear has amazing views both on takeoff and landing.
Well, I waited too long too book and just about all the dosmestic flights were sold out or priced at over $300 one-way, so I just rebooked on United from LAX to GRU via Washington (IAD). Why IAD? Because I love the moon buggies. No, because I have dear friends there who will soon be moving to Florida and this was a chance to see them during a deliberately long layover.
IAD-GRU is operated by a 767-400, an aircraft I have not flown on since I flew it from Barcelona (BCN) to IAD many years ago (back then, it still had the old seats). No longer being a Premier 1K and not wanting to ask fronds for PlusPoints so early in the year, I used miles to upgrade and not only did my IAD-GRU upgrade clear, but surprisingly my LAX-IAD upgrade cleared to.
This will be a very short, but I’ll “live blog” it the next couple days. Stay tuned!
image: LATAM
I think you’ll really enjoy the new cabins (so long as they don’t swap aircraft) on the LATAM 787-9. Their amenity kits are also really nice (like, they give you a choice of different colored leather bags; that one’s a keeper!)
Mexican? I think you mean Aeromexico…
That was certainly auto-correct!
About four or five typos in here …
Sorry about that.
I remember back in the day, I used to do the GRU turn-and-burn mileage run. I’d fly the red-eye to GRU from ORD or IAD, spend about 10 hours exploring the city and grabbing a steak at NB Steakhouse (my favorite down there), then hop on the red-eye back to the States that same day. Have fun Matthew, cheers to a great journey!! 🙂
You can’t really do a quick trip to Cristo Rei, and it involves some mandatory bus rides. People often forget that it’s a manmade statue, not an actual relegious relic. In all honesty, it kind of makes for a wasted day in Rio when you take in the crowds and all the time spent waiting in line, neverthesess, I’m spending a lot of money to take 30 people up to it in October.
SDU-CGH is awesome, but nothing is as fun as flying out of RRJ! Too bad you can only get to CNF and VCP these days. They used to serve CGH from there, and it was fun and amazingly convenient.
I’m not into religious relics at all…but I just thought I had to do it once and also for the view?
It’s inconvenient and very weather dependant. If a view is what you’re looking for, I think Sugarloaf is way better. It’s close to Copacabana (and SDU), is way faster, and is probably a better view.
LUN is Lusaka not Luanda … same continent, adjacent countries, some 1,121 miles apart – but LUN is most definitely not connected to either Lisbon or São Paulo!
All of that said, I’d heartily recommend a trip to Lusaka and Zambia; it is a wonderful country with wonderful people and some amazing sights.
We enjoyed our time in Zambia:
https://liveandletsfly.com/livingstone-zambia-lodging/
Correct… For those interested, the IATA code LUN belongs to Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, the largest main international airport serving Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia.
Ha, we can tell you’re on the go by the typos. Brazil doesn’t have any cosmetic flights- only real ones! Domestic flights do get expensive fast as the day of travel approaches.
Glad to see you’re doing a review trip involving Brazil and LATAM. Welcome to Brazil!