Hello everyone,

My fiancee and I would like to travel to BsAs as part of our honeymoon in July 2010. We're considering flying into Brazil (any number of airports, I'll use GIG as an example for simplicity) and out of EZE. I've been looking at flights from IAD as I live roughly 5 miles from the airport, and I do see that UA offers nonstop, but at the moment the IAD-EZE-IAD is in the neighborhood of $1600. I know this wouldn't be the actual flight we would take, but UA seems to "average" the IAD-GIG roundtrip and the IAD-EZE roundtrip to arrive at the cost for IAD-GIG, EZE-IAD, and the EZE-IAD leg seems to be the more expensive of the two. I also realize that it is still 10 months until July, so prices may change. Here are my questions:

1) Is there an expectation that this price will come down dramatically? Is there a historical level that I should be looking at, perhaps closer to $1000?

2) If prices do come down, when would they usually do so? I've heard that November tends to be a good time to book for the following July, any experience with that?

3) Should I consider nonstop options? As an example, I see COPA offering one stops through PTY in the $850 range. While I wouldn't mind paying $100 or even $200 more to keep it a nonstop, the COPA flights sound appealing at almost half the current price. However, it looks like the layover times in PTY are either an hour or 10 hours, both of which sound rather unpleasant. Any experience with COPA on this route from anyone? Alternate airline suggestions? We will also consider flying into or out of DCA, would rather not fly out of BWI unless it saves a small fortune.

Thanks for your help everyone, I'm really looking forward to the trip.

Eric

Historical "low fares" between North and deep South America have been in the $1000+ range for years. Occasionally there are sales that are less, and recently there have been some unheard of bargains. July is very low season @ EZE. However, I don't think fares will come down for awhile, as UA only has one flight a day from the US. Note that EZE can get very cold and bitter in July, on the other hand, it can be pleasant, too.

Do what you can to stay on the nonstops - it is definitely worth a premium, even if the airline isn't premium. I travel to South America frequently, and it will improve your travel experience immensely.

From what I hear, COPA is a very long, yet not totally miserable, experience.

Wirelessly posted (Nokia N97 / Palm TX: Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.4; Series60/5.0 NokiaN97-3/10.2.012; Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1; en-us) AppleWebKit/525 (KHTML, like Gecko) WicKed/7.1.12344)

use ff miles if you have em...

Wirelessly posted (Nokia N97 / Palm TX: Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.4; Series60/5.0 NokiaN97-3/10.2.012; Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1; en-us) AppleWebKit/525 (KHTML, like Gecko) WicKed/7.1.12344)

MIA fares are usually the lowest, deal are to be had for around $600 if you grab them.

Eric, Welcome to FT and Congratulations on your engagement. In my opinion you are looking a little far out to book a cheaper fare. Historically 60 days from your flight date may be the best time to strike. I know the jitters with a Honeymoon will perhaps change your thought process as well. Try www.farecompare.com you can place request for a Notification of Fares. Just enter IAD-GIG R/T and IAD-EZE R/T and they will email you when fares change. ( you can set up parameters as well ) I fly out of LAX to EZE often and have been grabbing L fares in the $600 R/T all in range. Fares do seem a bit higher from IAD go figure as I fly LAX-IAD-EZE ?? I am planning again for November but the $850 current fare does not get me to strike. I am watching and using notifications as well. My only concern is your open jaw( going into one city and out of another ) this may add a bit but I am unsure of the L fare basis will split the R/T fares ( perhaps someone else can comment ) Just to give you hope MX had a $287 R/T all in fare a month or so back that many people jumped on. Keep your eyes open.. You will find your deal. An remember you are soo early... Take care

Thank you everyone for your prompt reply. It looks like I'll just have to be patient concerning the arrival of lower fares. I don't have any real miles to speak of (500 with US Air), but I will certainly pick some up with whichever airline I eventually fly. Hopefully the non-stops will come down substantially, if not I will certainly keep my eye out for deals (especially in the $287 range!).

As for the weather, we prefer the cold to heat, provided it doesn't cause crippling delays as it does in the US, and anything within a couple degrees of 50F (10C) will be wonderful. Our only regret is that we can't go during wine season!

Thanks again,

Eric

(1) It is always wine season in Buenos Aires. However, it isn't in the campo.

(2) Sign up for LAN.com news/specials. They send email with specials from time to time (and often the fare may include connecting service to get to their departure cities). Note that the cheapest fares, while they may earn lanpass miles, won't earn miles on AA (or various other partners).

If by wine season you mean the harvest... that takes place between February & the end of April, the exact time depending on grape variety and climatic conditions of the given vintage.

Amen to that ^

The super cheap fares on LAN do earn AAdvantage miles. I normally book well in advance and buy the cheap Q fares which earn 100% AAdvantage mileage on international flights to/from the US.

http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?...rlines/lan.jsp

Just be careful. Here's the July 1, 2009 list.