Earlier today I noticed a $560 round trip fare from Boston to Lisbon, Portugal with airline SATA. The deal here is SATA is another airline offering low priced one way fares to Europe. After the past hour studying the Azores, I am thinking I would like to hang out on this mid-Atlantic island chain. The Azores politically are one of two autonomous island regions of Portugal, the other being the island of Madeira. National Geographic in 2010 named the Azores as the second best islands for sustainable tourism. After reading this blog post today from TravellingWeasels – 10 Reasons You Must Visit Azores, this place is on my bucket list. My wife might even like it since the islands rarely get temperatures above 80 F and fog is a major climatic feature. The islands never get too cold either with temperate weather year round.
Kind of sounds like our home town of Monterey, California.
Many readers probably have never heard of SATA.
Azorean Society for Air Travel Studies founded the airline of the Azores in 1941 to end the Atlantic island chain’s isolation. SATA miles are pretty much only good for TAP Portugal credit. The cheap fares in SATA X only earn 10% miles.
The deal here is SATA offers one way fares to from Boston to Ponta Delgada PDL in the Azores and onward to Lisbon, Portugal.
SATA Boston BOS – Ponta Delgada, Azores PDL – Lisbon, Portugal LIS
$261.20 one-way (Priceline) November 20, 2016
SATA fares were lower through OTA sites than their own website in every search I made.
The one way fare from Lisbon back to Boston is higher at $310 one-way.
SATA Lisbon, Portugal LIS – Boston BOS
$309.76 one way November 27
Boston to Lisbon round trip is $570.96 with these two one-way fares. I found another ticket on Priceline for $560 round trip with a 30 hour layover in Ponta Delgado for $560 round trip, if you just want a little taste of the Azores.
SATA Boston – Azores PDA – Lisbon, Portugal
$559.96 Sunday November 6 – Monday November 14
This was my original find that got me thinking about Azores travel.
Alternative ticketing strategy for Azores and Portugal trip.
The real deal is you can fly SATA to the Azores from Boston or you can start your trip to the Azores if you are in Portugal.
Google Flights November 12 map shows Lisbon LIS to Ponta Delgada, Azores is $33 on RyanAir.
RyanAir $33 one way from Lisbon to Ponta Delgada, Azores on a 2.5 hour flight from mainland Europe.
EasyJet, SATA, and TAP Portugal also fly to PDL with under $50 fares. Return flights I checked were same price back from Azores to Lisbon.
SATA for Azores Inter-Island Travel
SATA flies between different islands of the Azores with higher prices on average from $30 to $100+ one way.
Cheaper Route Home to USA
One of the major problems I tackle is when a great airline low fare deal require me to get to or from Europe on a positioning flight to take advantage of the great airline fare deal. I find myself needing to get to Europe or back to the USA from Europe without spending $1,000 or 60,000+ miles.
This SATA route via Boston and the Azores, Portugal is a one-way strategy to remember when you need to fly one way to or from Europe.
Getting to Portugal from most major airports in Europe is possible for $100 or less. Then, $300 from Lisbon to Azores to Boston is a potential discount route back to the USA.
For me, a Mid-Atlantic stopover in the Azores would certainly contrast to the Nordic countries I have been transiting through frequently these past few years as a result of the Arctic north enticing tourism through low Norwegian Airlines and WOW fares and the accompanying deals from all the major alliance airlines.
SATA Ponta Delgada PDL – Boston BOS
$260.36 Sunday November 27, 2016
From this research report on Azores tourism, I think this volcanic island chain outpost in the Atlantic will benefit from increased tourism. This destination looks like one of the best bargains I have seen for Europe in the past few years.
Thinking about the Azores has me singing an old song in my head Please Come to Boston.
