US (east coast) to Lima, Peru

Barefootwoman

Barefootwoman

Level 2 Member
It looks like the primary carriers are Copa, United and Avianca, haven't searched for others, but will.

I'd like to take my family of 4 to Lima sometime in 2016 (we are flexible on dates) - if you have any tips or suggestions, much appreciated. Off the top of my head, I have the most points in UR, MR and American, FWIW. Will pay $ if I find a good deal....so options are open.

Thank you!
 
smittytabb

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
Barefootwoman said:
It looks like the primary carriers are Copa, United and Avianca, haven't searched for others, but will.

I'd like to take my family of 4 to Lima sometime in 2016 (we are flexible on dates) - if you have any tips or suggestions, much appreciated. Off the top of my head, I have the most points in UR, MR and American, FWIW. Will pay $ if I find a good deal....so options are open.

Thank you!
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One World has the most flights to South America and AA and LAN both are great options. I'd begin with them for sure. DFW and MIA are connecting points to look closely at.
 
bayguy

bayguy

Level 2 Member
I am taking my family of 4 to LIM next June in Business on LAN(LAX-LIM-CUZ) using AA miles. LAN releases seats at 330 days out and you grab them as soon as they are available.
 
Suzie

Suzie

Level 2 Member
bayguy said:
I am taking my family of 4 to LIM next June in Business on LAN(LAX-LIM-CUZ) using AA miles. LAN releases seats at 330 days out and you grab them as soon as they are available.
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Good point to mention - I made mine at 330 days also. Booked two one ways to be able to grab the seats in Business. On return flight was able to get CUZ-AQP-LIM-JFK on one award - giving us 23 hours in AQP and a full day (12 hours) in LIM.
 
smittytabb

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
K

knick1959

Level 2 Member
That IS a great article. I used Avios to book a couple LAN flights moving us around Peru and Ecuador in April. I was able to book most one ways for 9k Aviois (2 people) + $10 or $11 fees. Even better, as we changed our mind on some details. I would book a slightly modified path for the same low cost and cancel the previous bookings. All I lost on the cancel was the $10 fees on each canceled flight.

If this article would have been published before I did all of my bookings, I might have saved some miles on our RT to GPS; the Galapagos Islands. But we did ok there anyway. I have hindsight opinions on the Galapagos, but this may not be the place for those :).

The one thing I disagree on from this article is the transfer speed between SPG and LAN. We needed a handful of LAN miles to book our GPS RT so I sent them from SPG. It took 5 weeks even with weekly phone calls. By the time they arrived, the award was still there but had gone up. I had to BUY another handful of LAN miles to make up the difference. In all of my complaining to SPG, they finally threw me a chip (500 SPG points, how generous) for my troubles. It didn't quite make up for things. This might have just been a glitch, but folks should keep glitches in mind when transferring to "non-primary" airlines.

Other tiny transfers from SPG to US carriers have gone quickly ... 2-3 days, as expected. I try not to have to do this, but sometimes it just makes sense. And the convenience is very nice.
 
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K

knick1959

Level 2 Member
I'll share a few additional details about our trip. There were many "firsts" for us on this trip, which means I'm no expert. For what it's worth ...

We flew from CLE to LIM on American in Business. I scored one excellent award seat right off the bat (using BA Avios), but there was only one and I never did see another come up. NEXT TIME we will fly on separate flights if we can. Anyway, I took an American anytime "award" for the second seat for too many AA miles. Still, I was happy. The flight times were as close to ideal as you could ever get and lay flat seats! Of course, American canceled this flight and rebooked us on one with crappy times. But we got there.

We flew back in Business from Quito to Washington DC for an overnight++, then on to CLE. This on United Business awards that were reasonable. Layover too in Panama City. Normal straight back seats, tho, on Copa. Made use of the time before our next day flight out of DC by stopping in the Air and Space museum attached to the airport. Very cool! A negative turned out to be a plus for our overall 25 day trip!

Flights from LIM->CUZ and back and then LIM->UIO/Quito were super cheap awards (coach) using Avios (and switching some things at the last minute as described above, still cheap with Avios). I did not see Awards to GPS/Galapagos via the BA website (which is where this article would have inspired more creativity). I ended up getting a LAN credit card early for the points and (noting some drama described above) this paid for MOST of our RT to/from the islands.

There is a Ramada attached to the LIM airport that is adequate. We used Wyndham points for one night when we first arrived there, very late. We paid for a night transferring from CUZ to Quito because of timing. Mixed results, but it is a handy resource ... although I would find something better when actually STAYING in Lima. We spent 4 nights in the Miraflores Raddison on Club Carlson points (2 nights free, I miss that benefit).

It was a great trip. I hope you have as much fun as we did!
 
F

Familyof5

New Member
Help!

I tried to search for space on BA.com from any US locations to Lima and there is NO availability. Am I doing something wrong?

I'm trying to get from FSD-CUZ around 9/3-9/10/2016. I've searched AA and can get FSD-DFW-LAX but cannot find anything to Lima. Also, LIM-CUZ doesn't even show up on BA.com, only on LAN. I called AA and they don't see anything on LAN.

On United I can get ORD-LIM on business but if I type in SFD-CUZ if sees nothing. Do I have to call in to book it on United since I have to search individually for FSD-ORD and LIM-CUZ?

Any suggestions would be appreciated as this is my first attempt at booking an award and living no where near a major airport is confusing.

(I'd like to have the long portion of the trip be in comfortable seats of possible.)

Thanks!!
 
K

knick1959

Level 2 Member
Familyof5 said:
I'm trying to get from FSD-CUZ around 9/3-9/10/2016. I've searched AA and can get FSD-DFW-LAX but cannot find anything to Lima. Also, LIM-CUZ doesn't even show up on BA.com, only on LAN. I called AA and they don't see anything on LAN.
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Not sure what FSD/SFD is ... neither did BA's site unless I didn't get it right. But I checked 9/6 from ORD to LIM. There are 2 seats in business class but Avios-expensive!! 70k + $20 each. Yikes! Economy (6 seats) is available on 9/3 at 27,500 + $20 and business again (4!) at the same high cost. I checked no other dates, but I see things searching from Chicago. Layovers in MIA or DFW. These are AA flights (correction: Mixed AA/LAN).

Hang on ...

I think you are just checking too early for the intra-SA flights. I found nothing LIM->CUZ either for September, but switching to August shows 6 different flights each day with 7 seats each (coach only, ever) for 4500 + $10. These flights are so cool! I wouldn't worry about the small city hoppers for now. Get to and from Lima, then fill in the others later. From my (limited) experience, these are available for a long time and there are plenty of award seats to be had.

(Looked it up, FSD = Sioux Falls. Got it)
 
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Familyof5

New Member
What an I doing wrong in my search? I see nothing ORD-LIM.

Here are my steps, please advise:
Ba.com
Executive club
Spending avios
Book a reward flight
Enter ORD-LIM in the Book with Avios tab

I must be a complete moron.
Thanks
 
K

knick1959

Level 2 Member
Familyof5 said:
What an I doing wrong in my search? I see nothing ORD-LIM.
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Not sure. Mind your dates, as the BA search thing gets confused trying to accommodate US and British date formats. Sometimes it transposes months and day and you have to reset to get the calendar to be right. But I did exactly as you described (logged into my BA account, and searching for one-ways):

ba1.PNG
And I get this ... hopefully these images are not too large:
ba2.PNG
 
K

knick1959

Level 2 Member
I just noticed that 2 available seats were BUSINESS. When I selected these I saw the 70k Avios and assumed they were charging for first. Not that Business is bad ... I LOVE business. Hey, if you have the Avios ...
 
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