I have spent an hour this afternoon trying to get a good deal for the CEO's PA for a flight to Bolivia in May. What I found may have some interest for anyone who travels to South America in Economy.

Taking 12-23 May as travelling dates (for the sake of argument), the cheapest BA / AA combo (change in Miami) on Opodo is £853. The cheapest option was Varig at £656 but Varig did not inspire her. On aa.com, the cheapest AA fare (changing in NY and Miami) was £684.

I then decided to use aa.com for a more creative routing. I thought I would try to do something ex-Madrid, given that Iberia is in OneWorld and that there is probably a lot of travel from Spain to South America.

The result was spooky. The best fare was just £417. This is Iberia to London, BA to Miami then AA to La Paz. Less than HALF the price for the standard BA / AA routing! Even adding in £40 for an EasyJet single ticket to Madrid in the first place, it is still a saving of almost £400, and still £200 less than Varig.

Even for complex economy fares, it seems, there is merit in booking an ex-EU ticket if you can get the right route.