Anyone ever fly this LAX/GIG route thru Panama? $764 roundtrip is good price.

You have to leave LAgX at 1 am, chane planes in Panama City, and then again in Sao Paulo. Really long trip.

mm

(Message edited by majormajor on July 21, 2007)

That routing is pretty bad as it will take a lot longer with the stops, changing planes, etc. I would seriously consider spending the extra $100-200 to have a more direct flt. Keep searching the airfares, they are out there.........
Buy the time you get there, enjoy yourself and party hardy, wherever you stay, that return routing would be a killer..food for thought.
Not to mention the opportunities to lose your luggage if you don't carry it with you!

BTY, do you really want to sit on a narrow body aircraft THAT long? Hell, just 3 hrs on a 737 is enough pain for anyone. Get yourself on a nice widebody, direct flt and treat yourself right.

Ive done the LAX to MDE on Copa several times and had a great flight every time.

Looking at the routing, its 17hrs in the air, leave at 2am/arrive 11pm same day. That's better then AA or Cont has for someone on the west coast. Direct flight PHX/GIG is out of my league. But I am concerned about the 737. How many people would be on the Panama/Rio leg? I like empty planes.

(Message edited by bluelight on July 21, 2007)

What are your thoughts on being shot on the Linha Vermelho coming in from the airport at midnight?

That's a horrible routing, as you spend a whole day flying down and another coming back. Redeyes are the way to go, so you get the full days in. With a routing like this you're out a lot of potential mongering time.

Catocony could you please suggest a route that doesn't take a whole day for me? Which airline has a redeye from Phoenix to Rio?

Your best routing is probably Phoenix-Houston on Continental in the late afternoon-early evening, then Houston-GRU-GIG with the brief stop in Sao Paulo that gets you into Rio late morning. Or AA routing to Dallas and then GRU-GIG.

Or, if they have flights, take AA to Miami, Delta to Atlanta or as of October Phoenix-Dulles on United, which will cut you down to two flight segments. If Arizona did daylight saving time you would be in better shape by only being an hour or two behind the connection points instead of 2-3 for most of the year. Still, heading east is better than heading west, especially with a bad connection time in LA.

So, as an example, leave Phoenix on a Friday afternoon to get to Houston/Dallas or better Miami/Atlanta/Dulles, then take the flights down from there over night. You get in from early in the morning to noonish, depending on the airline and connection point. On the way back you'll get into Phoenix mid-day or afternoon probably, again depending on the routing. You'll still miss minimal time in Phoenix - you could probably get a full morning of work in on departure day and an afternoon in on the return - vs burning a full day in both directions, with those full days being Rio days.

There's only so much you can do from a spot like Phoenix but those are your best bets. Your goal is to take the shortest number of connections with the shortest layovers that has the most amount of flying time done at night.

Example:

Fri, Sep 14

Delta Air Lines 1570
Depart:
12:37pm
Arrive:
7:25pm
Phoenix, AZ (PHX)
Atlanta, GA (ATL)
* 3hr 48min
* Boeing 757
Change planes. Time between flights: 1hr 15min
Delta Air Lines 61
Depart:
8:40pm
Arrive:
7:15am
Atlanta, GA (ATL)
Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (GIG)
* 9hr 35min
* Boeing 767
Total duration: 14hr 38min
Return
Sun, Sep 23
Delta Air Lines 60
Depart:
10:55pm
Arrive:
7:35am
Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (GIG)
Atlanta, GA (ATL)
1 stop
* 9hr 40min
* Boeing 767
Change planes. Time between flights: 3hr 21min
Delta Air Lines 949
Depart:
10:56am
Arrive:
11:47am
Atlanta, GA (ATL)
Phoenix, AZ (PHX)
* 3hr 51min
* Boeing 757
Total duration: 16hr 52min

I did the Panama to LAX on COPA a few years ago...737 non stop. Dude I can handle non stop LAX to Manila and Bangkok, but that flight sucked the life out of me.

A few months ago they ran low on fuel, and had to put into Tijuana. The bad thing was they could not refuel and fly the plane to LAX before they lost their time window at customs and imigration so they had to sit on the tarmac in Tijuana for 7 or 8 hours before they took off.

Your best bet would be to take Southwest to DFW and then AA via MIA to GIG. Either that or start looking at Asia for your mongering. I have.

RG.

Thanks guys. Ok, next question - we have decided on staying in a hotel. We need, guest friendly, big beds, great A/C, about $75 a night. Of all the info already posted, not much of it is current. I'm sure the prices & policies have changed.

You won't get a hotel for $75 anymore. I was checking out Ipanema.com earlier and the Atlantico is still R$155 a night but with the exchange rate and service charge it'll hit around US$90 a night. That's about as cheap as it gets, the AC is good and they're guest friendly but the beds sucked a few years ago and are most likely worse now. Still, the breakfast is good, the pool is up on the roof so good and the Metro and Luomo are across the street.

I'm not sure where I'm going to stay in August, maybe back in Ipanema but I'll try and get an apartment north of Constante Ramos or so. I don't want to be close than 4-6 blocks of Help if possible.

Southwest does not fly to DFW. You only get to Love field on Southwest. Better to go AA all the way from Phoenix.

MM

(Message edited by majormajor on July 21, 2007)

Scooby, I recall teasing you about having flown only 3 times in the last 25 years. I believe all three were on Copa (737)..once you have been on different airplanes/equipment you quickly see the differences. Had you ever flown on a "widebody" you would definitly feel the comfort difference, and most assuredly have a preference. I still say you deserve a first class seat on a w/b...

Bluelight; to summarize what Cat & RG have said:
Best to get to a gateway city: (LAX is , but apparently no deals) so fly to either DFW (AA)or IAH (Continental) or ATL (DL) and then direct from one of the Gateways non-stop. You will be glad you did, and then you will owe all three of us a cervesa. You can use SW to Love field but then taxi to DFW or AW or CO to IAH, or DL fr Phoenix to ATL, several choices really.

Copperfieldkid, my first trip '05 I went thru Miami on AA. That was miserable. A really really long trip. But the plane was 1/2 full and I had alot of room. My second trip '06 I went thru IAH on Continental and it wasn't bad at all. But the plane was full. Now I have 14k miles on 2 airlines I never fly. This year I have a medical issue which has altered this year's plans greatly. I need to walk around during the flight and not sleep. Having 5-6 hour legs sounded like a great idea. But I think getting the mileage on Continental sounds like the best idea. I found $980 thru IAH last night - it will get me a free ticket from the miles.

For the hotel I'm thinking Premier Copacabana Hotel near L. Maybe a couple of nights at Rio Othon Palace if i can win a cheap auction. That will leave me with $400 a day for entertainment and food. There is a good chance this will be my last trip to Rio - want this one to be memorable.