Trying to decide on flights to Buenos Aires

We are going on a Celebrity cruise departing Buenos Aires next February. We have several options. We have miles through Delta and United but not enough for upgrades. We want to be able to upgrade to economy comfort or whatever the airline calls it. This will be a one way flight. Here are our options:

GSP to ATL to Eze on Delta for approx. 1300booked through Delta

ATL to EZE on Delta for approx. 1000 booked through Delta

ATL to EZE on Delta unrefundable for approx. 666 booked through Choice Air

OR

GSP to Houston to EZE for $1700 booked through United

GSP to Houston to EZE on United for 842 booked through Choice Air

ATL to EZE on United to Houston to EZE for 744 booked through Choice Air.

The best connections are the nonstop from Atlanta. I think that is our best choice. But, do I risk the ticket that is non refundable through Choice Air? Yes, I have read comments about Choice Air but now I am more confused. We would need to figure in parking at ATL if that is our choice.

The return is from Miami on Easter Sunday. That will be problematic as well. I am hoping for a reasonable flight back when the flights open up. Doing a multi city destination search is expensive. Purchasing a separate ticket from either FLL or MIA at the moment is cheaper.

For those of you experienced fliers I would appreciate feedback.

Your post leaves one big gap missing. What is your determination of "best"? Because if the answer is "cheapest", then you have answered your own question.

Also, only you can place a value on flying from GSP vs ATL.

You should probably look at your seating options and aircraft details for both the flights from ATL and IAH. IIRC, you would get a 767 on both.

You should take a look at AA - even though they might not be an option through Choice, they definitely serve EZE. You might also research flying Aerolineas from MIA to EZE. Copa through Panama is another option, as they often have pricing less than the non-stops from the USA.

Finally, I don't understand about "when the flights open up" regarding coming home from MIA. Those schedules are already loaded into the GDS by UA and DL. If you are talking about WN from FLL, that's a different story.

We flew down to Buenos Aires last February to board a B2B2B cruise series. Our solution was to purchase RT first class tickets on Alaska Airlines from our home in Fairbanks, Alaska to Ft. Lauderdale. We used GoShuttle to pick us up at the airport and transfer us to our Miami hotel. After a few relaxing days in Miami we flew down to EZE; we had purchased Business Class tickets on American Airlines, and were pleasantly surprised to be upgraded to first. The last leg of our cruise series disembarked in Ft. Lauderdale.

What I call best is one with a fair price and not a lot of connections or time to get there. Delta has the best times to get to BA. Next best is UA through Houston. When I checked American the flight routes the travel time was many hours with two or more connections. Plus they connected through Dallas. I also checked just leaving Miami. I was surprised to see that there were several connections leaving from Miami. I really don't want to spend 30 hours trying to get to BA. It is hard for me to wrap my head around flying west to go southeast. Is Choice Air a good option? On the Choice Air website I found the same flight for the same economy seat and refundable with a fee for $400 difference in price. Why is that?

As to the return, yes, I was thinking of Southwest from FLL. Getting to GSP from Miami is not an easy task. Many of the flights would take several hours just to get home. Most of the flights leaving MIA are in the early am. We would not be off the ship in time for those. That is why I was looking at Southwest. I also do not want to spend time in Miami, especially Easter weekend.

I am just trying to make sense of the price difference if the flights are exactly the same. I usually book through the airlines. It may be a false sense of security but perhaps the airline would be more helpful if there were issues.

Thank you for responses thus far.

Pearl

GSP to ATL to Eze on Delta for approx. 1300booked through Delta

ATL to EZE on Delta for approx. 1000 booked through Delta

ATL to EZE on Delta unrefundable for approx. 666 booked through Choice Air

 

The best connections are the nonstop from Atlanta. I think that is our best choice. But, do I risk the ticket that is non refundable through Choice Air?

At $1300, I can pretty much guarantee you that the ticket purchased directly from Delta is also non-refundable. BUT.. what does that mean, exactly? Purchased from Delta at that price, it may be non-refundable, but for a change fee (I believe $300/ticket for international) you can likely make a change to the itinerary if necessary, though you'd also owe any fare difference, and you can also cancel, and get the value of the ticket, less the $300, as a voucher to be used within a year.

On the other hand, non-refundable from Choice Air could mean a few different things. It could mean your ticket is the same as described above, possibly with additional fees charged by CA in addition to those charged by Delta, or it could really mean non-refundable, non-changeable and non-cancellable per Delta. It could also mean that the "non-refundable" restriction is added by Choice Air, not Delta, and once CA has your money you either take the flight or lose your money.

When I did this trip I booked Copa Airlines business class from Miami to BA with a stop in Panama City. While Copa business is not the same as business on many airlines it was certainly an improvement on premium coach. Very comfortable seats, lots of room, and good service. Copa is a member of the Star Alliance member. You can currently get a refundable business class ticket for this route for around $1600.

Not sure why your AA search yields no non-stops, because they do from MIA along with LAN and Aerolineas Argentina.

I would avoid a Choice Air option. Plenty of threads about the pitfalls that you can read.

What I call best is one with a fair price

That's also pretty subjective.