From looking at all the proposed/reserved itineraries (thanks to all!), it seems that flying through Miami is almost mandatory (presumably because of that Managua Miami segment)...has anyone looked at a strategy that originates in Houston or San Francisco/Los Angeles?

I guess the answer could be to just buy an open jaw on CO into and out of Central/South America and aim only for the 500K bonus. I will be in SFO and/or IAH at the beginning of March and wouldn't mind making a run myself. Thanks...

LAX-MEX Lacsa
MEX-GUA Aviateca
And then go from there...

ejulber,
I'll be on vacation already at AUA so that
is why I'll start and end there.

LR610 I didn't see any reference to it being
a code share.

I assumed when I found a code
share flight , I just needed to make sure I
booked the segment on the actual carrier not
the airline that has it listed as a codeshare
(i.e. Travelocity showed this)

Do I misunderstand codeshare as applied to
Latinpass?

I'm also looking at an alternate schedule
with a nite in SJO...Anyone have hotel
(etc) recommendations for San Jose?

Thanks!

ejulber,

1 more thing. I see 2 Lacsa flights
from SJO to MIA
LR626 930a - 2:35a
LR628 5:20p-10:05p

maybe it's too tight but LR626 at 9:30
saves you a nite and segment. LR628 could be a safe fallback.

[This message has been edited by billhallNY (edited 02-13-2000).]

[This message has been edited by billhallNY (edited 02-13-2000).]

I received a reply from LatinPass regarding the SAETA situation:

Good afternoon,
Saeta Airlines has not ceased their flight operations definitely, they
suspended their operations temporarily, approximately three weeks due to a
company restructure plan they are undergoing presently. Meanwhile if you
already have your itinerary planned for the next three weeks, we would honor
the route GYE-LIM operated by ACES Airlines, to be accounted as a Saeta
flight, (note: this will mean that you should have two international
segments with Aces Airlines, in order to apply for the bonus.)
In the event that they do not reinstate their flights before July or if they
cease their operations permanently, we will consider only 8 airlines to
apply for the Bonus.


Regards,


LatinPass, Inc.
Costumer Service Center

Hotel information:

CCS--very little between the airport and downtown. Given the situation there with the floods, don't mess around--this would be the place to splurge. Intercontinental is better than the Tamanaco Hilton.

PTY--the airport is probably the best in Central America--light, bright and airy. Extremely cheap booze. This would be the place to be stranded http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. I recall there is a "Continental" hotel right off the airport road at the tollway into DT Panama City. Now that the tollway is finished, cab is between $20 and $25 each way into downtown. Best hotel is reportedly the Bristol, followed closely by the Caesar Park. I stayed last week at the Marriott--felt transplanted from the US. Marriott corp rate was $120. PTY felt very safe--felt al little like San Juan PR. Remember--the paper currency there is the USD although coins are local--it is a little disconcerting to see USD refered to as "Balboas".

Regarding substituting SAETA with ACES from Guayaquil-Lima, I am not able to find such a flight. Also, the ACES route map on their website shows Quito-Lima but not Guayaquil-Lima. Anybody else have better luck? Any news of whether ACES will soon offer such a flight?

This million mile bonus is more and more like a game of hide and seek!

Thanks for the tips on CCS and PTY.

How does the Barquisimeto Hilton ( Nueva Segovia residential sector) 18km from CCS
airport sound? Is it in the flood zone too?

It's closer than the downtown Hilton etc...

I printed the discussion threads on LatinPass this afternoon. They came to about 150 pages! It's a rainy afternoon here in SFO, so I made myself a cup of tea and started reading it all. Wow! What great information.

Special thanks to Flying Dutchman for the great web site. It helped me an awful lot.

One comment: some of the itineraries people are posting have very short connect times. Before you book, you might want to think about what it would be like to be stuck in someplace like SAL for the night because you missed the connection your SJO, and your strategies for getting on all 10 airlines in 4 days are out the window.

And another: I would find it very helpful if there was a central place to post itineraries where I could see what others have put together, which helps me a great deal in my own planning. (In fact, I think I'll start a thread under FlyerTalk Itineraries after I post this.)

And a question: I don't get how the Grupo Taca deal works. Can you ticket on LR, 6Y, GU, and TA for any of the Taca flights?

One other: anyone going to be doing the trip in the same time range, 3/17 - 3/20?

And a tip: I found very good rates at Swisshotel Quito.

I started working on an itinerary out of BOG today; it's posted in http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum96/HTML/000063.html

[This message has been edited by dgolds (edited 02-16-2000).]

Thanks for the kind words, dgolds.

To answer your first question, no. Some of the Grupo Taca flights are codeshares, but not all of them. For example, the 13:15 flight on Aviateca from MEX to GUA is operated by Taca, but the 6:00 flight is actually an Aviateca flight and Taca doesn't sell any seats on it at all.

I found it helpful to create my own LatinPass timetable by printing out Travelocity flight schedules for the Latin American routes that I was interested in. It makes trip planning infinitely easier to have all of the information on paper.

I was hoping to book all my legs on trip.com to get the extra miles. Unfortunatly, it does not find the lacsa flights. Anyone have any suggestions. Do they only book certain airlines?
If anyone is planning on leaving from LAX I have started looking. It seems a good start would be booking a r/t flight that goes:
LAX-GUA (LACSA) 12:15am-7:00am
GUA-SAL (Aviateca)8:20-9:30
and a return of Sal-LAX (Taca)6pm -10:20
Travelocity finds a fare of about 1400 business or 650 coach. for these three segments.

A thought which just crossed my mind, folks, which I thought I ought to raise. I will admit that I have not traveled in Latin America, so am just speculating. I don't know if these airports have international terminals, at which you will arrive and depart, and thereby be able to avoid customs and immigration, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if they do not. Therefore, it would seem prudent to be cautious about the following:

1. Time for connections. Are you going to have to go through immigration and customs at the airport, even though you are just flying back out? I simply don't know.

2. Will you need a visa, even if just "passing through" one of these airports and countries? Again, I don't know, but since some of the Latin American countries may require visas in advance ( I think Brazil, although I don't know if that's on anyone's intinerary), it would seem advisable to check with regard to each country planning on visiting. See
http://travel.state.gov/foreignentryreqs.html

Just a few thoughts.

duplicate

[This message has been edited by Djlawman (edited 02-18-2000).]

And another thought: I noticed in planning my upcoming vacation, that Belize will require Yellow Fever vaccination if you're arriving from areas in the north part of South America. Perhaps we had better look at each countries vaccination requirements before we fly off. Does anyone have a good link?

Also, has anyone actually done this trip yet?? We need feedback. I'm planning on working my own 500,000 mile run into my Belize vacation in late June.

Oops. I see that DJLawman had a good link already posted for entry requirements for various countries. There is also some detail on: http://travel.state.gov/foreignentryreqs.html
I visited that link, and pulled out info relating to the 1,000,000. Considered posting here, but it's kinda long. I learned that (for <30 day stays) only Brazil and El Salvador require visas, and only Brazil specifies Yellow Fever vaccination 'if arriving from infected area'.