Air France to South America?

[calmac]

I've been looking for flights from the UK for next March. We'll be flying to Buenos Aires and back from Santiago. The cheapest prices seem to be with Air France. Has anyone flown to/from South America with them? Is there another airline you would recommend or advise us to stay clear of?

 

Thanks.

[Wotan758]

I've been looking for flights from the UK for next March. We'll be flying to Buenos Aires and back from Santiago. The cheapest prices seem to be with Air France. Has anyone flown to/from South America with them? Is there another airline you would recommend or advise us to stay clear of?

 

Thanks.

 

I did several times fron Sao paulo to Paris and other european destinations. Always on schedule! The food is average (french style) and wine is available with hot meals. Snacks, soft drinks and jouice ai available all the time.

 

The aircraft (Airbus) is very good and confortable.

[afghancrazy]

I have used Air France on business and they're fine. I am using them next January/February for Santiago/Rio de Janeiro flights as they were giving the best deal when I looked. Also if there are any delays Air France have almost hourly flights to Heathrow (probably not much use to you though!)

 

Incidentally I used http://www.itasoftware.com/demos/ and then took the results to my TA. Celebrity were going to be considerably more expensive.

[minke]

Avoid Iberia if you can, worst International airline I have flown with!

 

Check exact routing with AirFrance, a change of terminals may be involved in Paris but not sure. I have heard it said that their baggage sometimes goes astray when changing flights in Paris. Not flown with them just what I have heard.

[calmac]

Thanks for all your responses. I've ruled out Iberia and have Air France (cheapest and most direct) and Lufthansa (DH and I both have FF membership in Star Alliance) in the running. I'll check out the prices with our usual TA now that I know what to expect online. Thanks again.

[edinburgher]

CALMAC, if its not too late, looking at your location its likely you would be using Edinburgh via Paris as your routing.

 

We did this last year, flying out to Santiago (and transfer to Valparaiso) and back from Miami, and the experience was ok enough for us to book again for next year, in March, Edin/Paris/Rio and (transfer from Valparaiso) Santiago/Paris/Edin.

 

The jourmey is long and last year we had a delay leaving Paris approx 1 and 1/2 or 2 hours later than scheduled. Departure lounge was a zoo with all the SA flights leaving from adjoining gates...and apparently all full. Certainly ours was. Lots of Regal Princess passengers and lots of QM2 passengers as both ships on changeover the same day in Valparaiso. After that everything went well. When we boarded all we heard were multiple complaints from the Iberia passengers about conditions on the plane itself, lost baggage etc. And BA didnt fare much better with multiple changes and, I think, a change of airline along the way to a BA partner airline.

 

Overall, we found AF was the better option...at least on that occasion.

 

Our biggest problem was connecting in Paris on the return. From Miami we had an 8 hour layover in Paris for the Edin flight. Next March on a different routing we will have 4 hours in Paris. At least there are amazing shops in the departure area.....to browse.

 

You need to change terminal in CDG and last year at least, we were unable to pre book our seats on the Paris/Santiago route until we checked in at Edin. We (and one other couple also flying out to Valparaiso to the QM2) were actually waiting for check-in to open at Edin to try to get decent seats for Paris/Santiago run.

[calmac]

Hi edinburgher, I got your message on my "next" roll call. Thanks for letting me know that you'd posted and also thanks for providing your view of Air France. We're still trying to choose between Air France and Lufthansa. The overall journey durations are very similar but Lufthansa has an extra stop but with shorter layovers at each airport. Your experience seems to have been fairly positive which is encouraging. I guess we'll have to make the decision soon.

[Tony UK]

Hi

We had been puzzling over the same options. BA were just too expensive, although we prefer them if we can!

We have opted for Air France - Manchester - cdg - BsAs outbound. Return is Santiago- cdg - man. That routing clinched it!

Angie

[Cruzer Two]

Hi

We had been puzzling over the same options. BA were just too expensive, although we prefer them if we can!

We have opted for Air France - Manchester - cdg - BsAs outbound. Return is Santiago- cdg - man. That routing clinched it!

Angie

 

 

Have you checked the fares using Delta Airlines from the UK to South America via Atlanta. Delta flies nonstop to Atlanta from several airports in the UK including London Gatwick, Manchester, and Edinburgh. From Atlanta, the flights to Argentina and Chile are all non-stop.

[SelectSys]

Have you checked the fares using Delta Airlines from the UK to South America via Atlanta. Delta flies nonstop to Atlanta from several airports in the UK including London Gatwick, Manchester, and Edinburgh. From Atlanta, the flights to Argentina and Chile are all non-stop.

 

The trip from the UK to EZE via ATL is way longer in distance and time than going through CDG. The fare would have to be pretty cheap for me to buy into that deal.

[Cruzer Two]

The trip from the UK to EZE via ATL is way longer in distance and time than going through CDG. The fare would have to be pretty cheap for me to buy into that deal.

 

True, the distance is longer, but then you could avoid the hassels of CDG:D !

[SelectSys]

True, the distance is longer, but then you could avoid the hassels of CDG:D !

 

You mean compared to the hassle ATL? Not really too much difference. Note the travel times from MAN to EZE:

1) via CDG: 16 hours

2) via ATL: 23.75 hours

 

Even if I was a Delta shareholder, I would still go via CDG and AF...

[kazover40]

We are flying to Santiago in November! I did extensive research when sourcing flights! Always do lol.

 

Air France was the quickest and the cheapest. I have flow AF to Tokyo and had a great flight.

 

We are flying IOM- Dublin-Paris-Santiago with approx h 20 hours travelling time. Any route through USA was going to take anything from 29-45 hours. Due to either connections or 4 stops.

 

N.B. We cannot fly IOM to Heathrow direct so did not consider BA long coach journey from Gatwick to Heathrow!

[calmac]

We've opted for Air France for various reasons

 

- From Edinburgh we only have one stop each way, albeit at CDG

 

- Including stops at CDG Air France have the shortest, or closest to shortest, overall travel times

 

- Current allocated aircraft allows us, a family of 3, to have the 3 seats in the centre giving DH and I both an aisle seat

[SelectSys]

- Current allocated aircraft allows us, a family of 3, to have the 3 seats in the centre giving DH and I both an aisle seat

 

Good call on the seats. The middle 3 are way better than the window side 3's on AF 777. I really don't like the 3-3-3 configuration for coach. Climbing over or getting climbed over by multiple people to get out of a window seat on a long haul flight is a pain.