city pairs - please help!

[coast2coast]

G'Day all,

Im an Aussie planning a holiday through South America in the next few months. But Im finding it difficult to find good info on which carriers fly between certain cities. Please help me!

I will probably arrive in Santiago with Lanchile, then connect straight through to either Bogota, Caracas, Salvador in Bahia, Rio or Buenos Aires. Thats my starting point, and I will fly back to Aus again with Lanchile ex Santiago.

So places I have planned to visit are: Colombia, Venezuela, a few places in Brazil and Buenos Aires. But which carriers fly between these cities:

Bogota - Cartegena
Bogota - Caracas
Caracas - Salvador
Salvador - Rio
Rio - Florianopolis
Florianopolis - Buenos Aires ????

And then theres other options to consider like bypassing some of these places, or visiting them in a different order to the above. So if anyone can put me on to any websites with this info I would really appreciate it.

I plan on using staff travel benefits throughout.

Regards

[ricky-godf]

Hi mate.

Take a look at those websites for flights in Brasil.
Salvador-Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro-Florianopolis (via Sao Paulo)

GOL (www.voegol.com)
TAM (www.tam.com.br)
VARIG (www.varig.com)

I put the airlines above from the cheapest (at least supposed to be so) to the most expensive...
TAM flies a night flight from Salvador to Rio for a very low price indeed.

Anyway you will possibly use your staff travel benefits... so have a nice trip... you'll visit beautiful countries!!

Cheers

[AeroBoero]

If you come to Florianopolis give a call...

Florianopolis - B.Aires in the off season(our winter) is not possible - I think. You will fly over to Sao Paulo or maybe Porto Alegre to change flights.

A good place also to go is Foz do Iguaçu. But Florianopólis depending on the time of the year is beatifull as is any of our cities in this wonderfull state (giving my location he?) We even have a city that have the second biggest Oktoberfest in the world and is considered today the national beer capital. :ok:

Salavdor is also worth..as is fortaleza and Rio..

GOL is supposed to be the cheapest...but check, that is not always true. TAM and VARIG also have good deals.

Any more questions..please ask.

Hope to have helped a bit....

[Panama Jack]

I suggest checking www.flyzed.com.

If you work for any kind of a half-sizable airline that has employee travel department, they will able to give you the company user name and password so that you can check out all available flights between city pairs, with times, etc. One stop shopping for non-revenue travellers!

[coast2coast]

Thanks for the replies! Much appreciated! Ive had a good look through those websites, but does anybody know if any carriers fly Caracas - Salvador in Bahia? That would be great if I could find that. Otherwise I know Varig fly CCS - Sao Paulo, but I would like to be able to get from CCS - Salvador directly if possible.

Also, Im having second thoughts about Colombia because Im a bit pressed for time available, but are there flights from Cartegena to anywhere outside of Colombia in SA?

Thanks again!

[Panama Jack]

Not technically part of South America, but Copa Airlines offers direct flights between Cartagena and Panama City, and from their Panama City hub they fly direct to many South American destinations.

Copa Airlines' website (http://www.copaair.com/)

Lots of interesting things to see in or near Panama City-- and a relatively safe place compared to some other South American destinations (like Bogota). Depending on your employer, may also be cheaper to fly to PTY and then onwards if you are able to get something like a ZL ticket on COPA rather than an ID90 on another one despite going in the wrong direction for your itinerary.

[malagajohn]

Don't think Caracas - Salvador exists as a non stop flight - there used to be a lot of charters ex Buenos Aires to Salvador but they finished with the economic crisis - direct international flights to Lisbon , Madrid and Miami ( once a week with TAM)

The last time i was there , there was nothing else direct on a scheduled serviceto a Latin Amer can destination

[Hunter58]

Jack

are you insinuating that Bogota is dangerous?

[Panama Jack]

Bogota, murder capital of the Americas. . . no, not insinuating, I thought I was clearly stating it!

[coast2coast]

Ive also just been informed that I cant miss Punta Del Este either. How do i get there? I cant even find it on a map!

[malagajohn]

Punta del Este is a holiday resort in Uruguay used by the Argentinian and Uruguayan middle classes -

Very Busy from December through March - otherwise dead - you can drive from Montevideo or fly from Buenos Aires

If you're planning to visit outwith those months I'd give it a miss

[Hunter58]

Jack

well, strange enough I am still alive... And I have been there.

I hear Sao Paulo is much more dangerous, but since I have never been there I cannot comment.

Sure enough you were in Bogota how many times???

Oh, and you forgot to mention that the COPA-flight actually flies CTG-BAQ-PTY...

Not that you see a lot of B/quilla when you are on the ground of Ernesto Cortissoz, but on departure you might actually get a glimpse of the city (provided you sit on the left).



Coast2coast

how long do you plan to be on the lovliest continent of all? 3 months? (I just wonder since you try to go anywhere in one trip).