Fares start at $3,131 to Brazil, with built-in fare upgrades for $400; while American had some free upgrades to Argentina and Brazil—and even for less than Business Class to Chile.
[aside headline="A Little History" alignment="alignright" width="half" headline_size="default"]Before December 2012, deep First Class fare discounts were seldom offered by either airline to South America. But then Delta introduced EasyUp fares to Europe, and a few amazing fares to South America on American started to surface: Dallas-Buenos Aires $3,971 and Miami-Buenos Aires $3,952. United’s fares remained high, from $10,000 to $14,000. (Find details on the evolution of EasyUp Business and First Class fares to Europe and travel to Asia.)[/aside]
There’s not much choice to South America when it comes to flying First Class from the U.S.; only American and United have a bonafide First Class cabin, the rest only offer Business Class—and not all of them offer a flat-bed.
So, it’s astonishing that American and United are making wholesale changes to their fare structures, as these routes are much less competitive than Asia or Europe. To us it signals the end of First Class for both carriers is near.
New South America First Class Fare Evolution
United has also slashed fares to São Paulo, starting at $3,131from the East Coast and $3,145 from the West Coast. Often, the fare code contains the word “UP” to identify them: PNN7G9LS/UPDI. United’s flat-price fare difference between Business and First (a.k.a. an upgrade) is often as low as $400 (see image below).
At press time, American pulled the great First Class LAX-São Paulo fare, as low as $3,095, and its great First Class fares to Santiago, which started as low as $2,197 from Miami. A First Class fare that was $1,867 less than Business Class. American also eliminated great First Class fares on the Los Angeles Buenos Aires route, which started at $4,067, the same as Business Class. But watch for new ones to come back and be announced in FCF’s newsroom.
FCF believes two new things are at play: crazy-amazing flash First Class fares which we call Mayfly fares (learn how to work them here), which you can scan FCF alerts for. The second item at play is the new fare structures, which FCF predicts will stick.
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EasyUp Fare Perspective
On United, the $400 Business-to-First upgrade fares often cost $600 less than the co-pay required when using miles to upgrade. (You also save 50,000 miles!)
On What Routes Can They Be Snagged?
The lower First Class fares to South America are currently offered on 60%+ of the United routes to São Paulo we surveyed. Current restrictions: seven-day advance purchase, seven-day minimum stay, ticketing deadline Oct. 7, and travel commencing by Dec.18. (United currently has even lower First Class fares during the holiday season)
Upgrade Mindset Bullets
- South America very seldom has seasonal First Class fare discounts, so don’t premise your search on low seasons only.
- On United, paying cash for these fares is a better deal than using miles to upgrade from Business to First Class.
- When fares are this low, mileage awards, tend to get scarce because First Class demand goes up, and American and United increasingly prefer cash over miles.
- There is more “UP” fare inventory than mileage upgrade inventory.
Your Destination or Departure City Not Listed? Then Consider a Two-Ticket Strategy
Connect the dots: Okay, so lower fares are now offered to some major South American cities, but what if you’re flying somewhere else in South America or departing from a U.S. city where these fares are not available?
The answer is simple: Buy a second ticket—the “Two-Ticket Strategy”. Use the new low First Class fares to get to South America and buy a second ticket or buy a separate ticket to a U.S. gateway. You lower the cost and get a second city if you like (the stopover) for free.
Two Ticket Strategy Example
Washington-São Paulo in First Class is $3,131 on United. A connection from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro costs about $100 round-trip in economy class on TAM (only an hour flight), for a total of $3,231. Book this itinerary in First on AA and it costs $5,126, a difference of $1,895 / 37%.