Hi all,
I have accepted an assignment starting in Jan where I will have to make frequent trips to Brazil (at least once a month) for the next 2-3 years. Most of the travel will be to Sao Paulo, with some going on to Porto Allegre.
While I used to be Plat on AA, I do not currently have any status anywhere. I have miles scattered on UA, AA, NW, and DL - UA has the highest balance (about 50k)
My company only allows directors and above to fly business, so I will be flying coach.

With all that in mind, I'm looking for advise on what carrier to use as my 'most favored'. I have heard good things about different aspects of the carriers, but who is the best overall for someone who does not have the option of going biz class? I'm interested in accumulating miles for International Travel, but I'm a big guy too so using them for upgrades might be the way I end up going.

Thanks for any input!

It will be helpful to know where you are departing from, and what is most important to you: Building up a bank of miles for other free trips? Building a bank of miles and using them for upgrades on your trips to Brazil? Getting status quickly, and using status to get free upgrades when they come along? etc...

The Departure city would be Detroit, so there's nothing direct.

I'm MOST interested in accumulating miles for premium international travel - mostly Europe. I've a feeling the ability to upgrade cheapie tickets for that will be strictly curtailed from what I've been reading on here, so accumulation seems the best bet.

If you do any flying domestically in Brasil, there are two large airlines. GOL is not connected with any international program. TAM will earn you United miles if you give them your f.f. number. Starting in January, there will be a third (eventual) major airline, Azul, run by the founder of Jet Blue.

I fly to Brasil a few times each year and use Continental. They're reliable, offer a 50% mile bonus for elite flyers, but offer no free upgrades and usually do not honor my special meal request. Internally I fly TAM when the prices are similar to GOL, and the small number of miles keeps my United f.f. account active.

I have been flying to Brazil each month this year beginning in Feb and have been using UA. Since you mention you are a big guy, you would probably find E+ on UA to your liking. I have met several people who fly UA simply due to the fact that they have E+. It takes 25K EQMs to get to Premier status which entitles you to book E+. Before that you can pay for it. Used to be offered only at OLCN, but now seems available at anytime once booked. Price varies based on distance. Since all my bookings have been as an elite, don't know the exact price for E+ to Brazil. From Detroit, you could either connect through ORD or IAD to GRU. IAD will also have a direct IAD-GIG flight from Sep to around Mar. There is an RCC at GRU and at GIG the Varig lounge can be used if your ticket or membership entitles you to it. If you do not have a UA CC, you can sign up for one and receive 5K EQM bonus. as well as RDMs. IAD to GRU is a little over 4700 EQMs per trip, more from ORD, so it won't take you long to reach elite status. At IAD, they have TSA lines for Premier travelers, and I imagine at ORD as well, don't know about Detroit. The GRU RCC is much nicer than the IAD RCCs. I have heard that weather is sometimes a factor out of ORD more so than IAD. From my experience, when 861 out of IAD continues to GIG, it sometimes had to wait for the ORD flight to arrive. Also, in Sep, IAD-GRU will change to a 777 while IAD-GIG remains the 767-300 (old seat configuration) The ORD-GRU will supposedly use the new seating configuration for the 767 at this time.This primarily affects F and C cabins. One little known fact about the old configuration on the 767 is that the seat map on .bomb treats 24 AB and 24 FG as E- seats (don't know if that is true with the new seat configuration). In reality they are E+, so you could look to see if they were available until you get elite status. There is also speculation on FT and other places that TAM may join *A. I have flown both TAM and GOL, and while TAM is sometimes slightly higher priced, I find the experience a little nicer. For instance, on a short hop from GIG to VIX, TAM will sometime serve a ham and cheese sandwich and drink. Never had that happen with GOL. Hope this helps.

Absolutely it helps!! There's been little response, yours is great! Thanks for taking the time.

You're welcome, Didn't reread my post close enough, though, I said US CC when it should be UA CC. Don't want to get the airline CC mixed up!

Get an Onepass account and fly COPA for the free upgrades.
Job done.

AA and TAM have a new "relationship" where you can book AA flights from TAM's website.

My in-laws live in Brazil (Northeast, near the mouth of the Amazon) and come back to the states about once a year. For travel from the states to NE Brazil, TAM has a great flight from MIA to Belem. I've got enough AA miles to get to Sao Paulo or Rio, but I'd love to have an AA partnership emerge out of this "relationship." Anybody heard anything?

Many ways to get the job done, as there are many airlines. Looking at the COPA website, they fly from major ports in the US. They don't show anything out of ORD. Only New York, IAD and LAX with a stop in Panama City to get to GRU. Since the OP would have to make a hop to another airport to connect from Detroit, at least from ORD or IAD there is a non stop to GRU on UA. But depends on what the OP's preferences are. COPA does sometimes have the lowest fares shown on sites like Orbitz coming out of IAD, but for me, the stop in Panama (which may or may not require an additional visa) plus long overall travel time is not worth the difference.

Where did you hear about this new "Relationship"? I am a member of TAM's Fidelidade mileage program and in checking their site, the only partners they list are UA, AF, TAP, and LH. Some of my flights on TAM have been TAP codeshares, but since it isn't *A metal, no EQMs, just RDMs. Also did a quick search on the web for any recent airline news about TAM and didn't see anything about AA. Seems strange since recent speculation seems to favor TAM joining *A. I also travel to the NE in Brazil on occasion, Natal to be precise, and from what I have seen, while the TAM MIA flights to the NE are convenient, they have been pretty expensive.

Ah. I had assumed they'd fly to Chicago. Most "Western" nationals don't require a visa for transit or tourism in Panama, however I do agree that a double connection wouldn't really be great.

In that case, try AM. Free upgrades also offered within the Americas, and they can take you there with one connection.

Tam used to give AA miles, while Varig gave United. After Varig was kicked out of that program, Tam switched to giving United miles. Hopefully GOL (or the new Azul) will eventually connect with one of the programs.

Happened to be looking at the Azul website yesterday. From what I read there, it will be some time before they consider any code shares. One thing they emphasize is that the customer's desires will shape their decision on who to code share with as well as other things. They ran a contest to name the airline, and "Samba" finished first with "Azul" second, but Neeleman, had final say and picked Azul. The person who first submitted Samba also got the same prize as the person who first submitted Azul. Guess he likes that color. :-)

I would consider any AA status better than the comparable UA status. Fly LAN or TAM and earn AA miles.