Star Alliance member SWISS is offering great business class fare from four Spanish airports to São Paulo, Brazil. With a stop in Zurich, you can fly across the South Atlantic Ocean for less than €800. Since availabilities are fairly good until June 2022 (except during Christmas), those who are daring can score a great price at the supposed tail-end of the pandemic.
The only downside of this deal is Swiss’ rebooking policy. The airline offers no refunds for this fare. While the rebooking fee may be waived, you still have to pay the price difference if you change travel dates.
Our calendar shows all available dates for trips of 7 – 28 days. Once you’ve selected your preferred route and travel dates, we’ll redirect you to Swiss’ booking site.
Here are some of the cheap prices that we were able to find:
- Palma de Mallorca: €797
- Valencia: €797
- Gran Canaria: €803
- Malaga: €804
- Bilbao: €807
- Barcelona: €808
- Madrid: €809
Flights to Bilbao are only available on Lufthansa’s website.
Inner-European flights are operated by Swiss’ short-haul Airbus fleet (A220 or A320 family aircraft). A Boeing 777-300ER takes you from Zurich to São Paulo and back.
With SWISS, it very much depends on the specific seat, as SWISS has a throne seat in every row. While the double seats share a platform in the middle, the throne seat has its own platform on each side, which you won’t have to share with anyone. Those seats thus offer privacy and comfort to an extent that the other seats cannot compete with. Therefore, you may be disappointed if you don’t get one of the throne seats, even if the other seats obviously also have a very high standard.
Search & Book
Sadly, we have not been able to locate fare rules for these flights. We have found availability from November 2021 through June 2022.
Google Flights is your reliable friend when it comes to looking for availabilities, as is our calendar above. We strongly recommend booking directly on swiss.com.
For just €220 more, you can select the Business Flex fare, which makes your ticket fully refundable!
Why is booking with an airline better than with an online travel agency?
More often than not, online travel agencies offer lower fares than airlines do. We still recommend booking with the airlines directly. There are two main reasons for that:
Better Customer Service
In case any problems like delays, cancellations or missed connections arise, you can communicate directly with the airline. The airline has to take care of you because you have a contract with them.
If a travel agency issues your ticket, you may have to reach out to them first. You also depend on your OTA to forward information like flight changes instead of receiving them directly from the airline. In many cases, you may get a prime exhibition of responsibility shifting rather than problem-solving.
This especially applies to premium tickets. You don’t want to spend more than €1,000 to wind up with some budget OTA’s telephone hotline in case anything goes wrong.
Baggage and Other Fees
Economy fares not including hold luggage are industry standard by now. In most cases, travel agencies charge much higher baggage fees than the airlines themselves. If bags are not included in your fare, airlines are often the cheaper alternative.
This also applies to other things like food services, insurances or priority treatment. In almost all cases, you pay less for additional amenities when booking on the airlines’ website.
Mileage
Swiss tickets all flights in booking class P. A round trip starting and ending in Madrid earns you the following mileage:
- 16,856 Miles on Singapore KrisFlyer
- 13,542 Miles on Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
- 13,484 Award Miles + 2,696 PQP on United MileagePlus
- 13,484 Miles on Aegean Miles+Bonus
- 13,484 Points on SAS EuroBonus
- 13,484 Miles on Asiana Club
- 13,484 Miles on Avianca LifeMiles
- 13,484 Miles on Copa ConnectMiles
- 13,484 Miles on Ethiopian ShebaMiles
- 13,484 Miles on EVA Infinity MileageLands
- 13,484 Award Miles on LATAM Pass
- 13,484 Miles on TAP Miles&Go
- 13,484 Miles on Thai Royal Orchid Plus
- 13,484 Miles on Egyptair Plus
- 12,714 Miles on Air Canada Aeroplan
- 9,440 Miles on ANA Mileage Club
- 3,008 Award Miles + 480 Points on Miles&More
While flights from/to Gran Canaria cover a larger distance, they are partly operated by Edelweiss. That leaves you without any mileage for the trips between Las Palmas and Zurich.
United MileagePlus is probably the best option to credit these flights, even if Thai Royal Orchid Plus would directly give you the (rather worthless) Star Alliance Silver status.
Information & Tips for Sao Paulo
Sao Paulo is an important economic and cultural center in Brazil and at the same time the most populous city in the country with 11 million inhabitants and a metropolitan region of 20 million.
The city is comparatively easy to reach from Europe, and the major hub airports are served by numerous European and Brazilian airlines. Bargains are not as common as to Rio de Janeiro, but there are still good offers.
Best Time to Visit
The best time to visit Sao Paulo is between March and May and between October and November. At this time of year, the weather is warm, and precipitation is comparatively low.
From the airport to the city
You can get a taxi for about 23€-28€. Note that Guarulhos International Airport, which serves most international flights, is located pretty far outside the city and it can take between 45 minutes and 3 hours to get to the city center depending on traffic conditions!
→ All Dealz for Sao Paulo