If Zika Virus and city-wide construction in last minute preparation for Rio Olympics 2016 in August does not intimidate you from traveling to Rio de Janeiro, then fare sales to Brazil continue for departures from Los Angeles LAX and San Francisco SFO through mid-June 2016. All three alliances have low fares from LAX to Rio De Janeiro and many other Brazil destinations.
American Airlines has lowest round trip fares from LAX:
- LAX – GIG Rio de Janeiro $571–$589
- SFO – GIG $604
Delta Air Lines
- LAX – GIG $589
- SFO – GIG $639–$648
United Airlines has lowest round trip fares from SFO:
- LAX – GIG $589
- SFO – GIG $592 – $608
American Airlines
Los Angeles LAX – Miami MIA – Rio de Janeiro GIG Brazil
$588.49 Sunday May 15 – Sunday May 22
LAX-MIA-GIG-MIA-LAX = 13,009 flight miles.
United Airlines
San Francisco SFO – Houston IAH – Rio de Janeiro GIG Brazil
$603.49 round trip Friday June 3 – Sunday June 12
United Airlines base fare = $490 for redeemable miles and 13,302 EQM.
Loyalty Traveler curated Airfare Deals and Google Flights and Kayak Explore tutorials.
Brazil is indeed a bargain, and for travellers outside the childbearing ages, a great place to spend a long weekend with little jet lag/time zone impact. Both Rio and Sao Paulo have good museums and art galleries if that’s your thing, or dining and nightlife. The economy is in a downturn (and political scene as crazy as the Republican party in the US) so high end hotels are very affordable too. Also ideal for status mileage runners, as the fares from there to North American are about half what they are from NAmerica, so easy to set up a nested ticket package. 11K-14K status miles each round trip…less than $1,000 for basic tier status, $4,000 for top tier doing eight such r/ts if one’s crazy.