Ok, this one is a bit of a stretch but an awesome deal. Delta has dropped Business Class fares from Sao Paulo-GRU to New York-JFK from around $3,500 to $898. This is great for people living in Brazil looking for a cheap flight to the New York area, less impressive though for US based flyers (unless you’re trying to do a mileage run). But if you pair this awesome deal with a cheap economy fare you can have 2 roundtrips to Brazil for about $2,000 total with 50% of the flights in Business Class. I found a good way to have 2x long weekends in Sao Paulo in Feb and again in May of 2014.

How to book it (just GRU to JFK):

Routing options: Non-stop, via DTW or via ATL

1. Check http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ using its calendar of low fares to see all availability. Make sure to set to “Business class or higher” and Currency as “USD”:
2. There’s tons of availability ($898-$903) in Oct/Nov/Dec 2013 and into Jan/Feb/Mar 2014. Find a few dates that might work, jot down flight times, numbers etc…
   

   Sao Paulo-GRU to New York-JFK/LGA Availability

   

   Sao Paulo-GRU to New York-JFK/LGA Availability

3. Head to Delta.com, enter the exact dates in a search and select your desired flights. The price quoted on ITA Software Matrix should pop up.
4. Proceed through booking

How to book it (from NYC to Sao Paulo w/ 2x roundtrips):

If you’re not based in Sao Paulo-GRU then maybe you could use this fare to book 2x roundtrips from the US to Brazil, with 50% of the route being in Business Class?

1. Check http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ using its calendar of low fares to see all availability. Make sure to set to “Business class or higher” and Currency as “USD” and this time set length of stay much longer, to say 70-75 days.
2. You should see some decent choices, take this for example:
3. Head to Delta.com, enter the exact dates in a search and select your desired flights. The price quoted on ITA Software Matrix should pop up.
4. Proceed through booking

So this will basically take care of your middle 2 segments but you’ll still need to book:

• New York –> Sao Paulo (search for cheapest economy fare)
• Sao Paulo –> New York (Delta Business Class of $898)
• New York –> Sao Paulo (Delta Business Class of $898)
• Sao Paulo –> New York (search for cheapest economy fare)

I head back to http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ and this time search the reverse route for any New York area airport to any Sao Paulo airport in economy and use exact dates (since I already have the flights home booked):

I find a fare of $1,126 in economy on Avianca.

This allows me to take 2x trips from NYC-Sao Paulo for a total of $2,024, with half of the legs in Business class!

>Drop us a line on Twitter (@weekend_blitz) or reply to this post if we can help.

Since we’re all about weekend trips, here is a good example:

• Trip 1: From Thur., Jan 30 to Mon., Feb. 3rd, 2014. Gives you 1/2 day Friday, Saturday, Sunday, & Monday to explore Sao Paulo before returning to frigid NYC.
• Trip 2: Leaving about 3 months later from Thur., May 8 to Mon., May 12, giving you appx 4 days in Brazil–not a bad long weekend!
• Grand total of $2,149 for 1 person on two trips.

Featured image source: http://tourguide.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Sao-Paulo-fly-to-Barcelona.jpg