Arranging travel from Brazil to UK (Newcastle) on behalf of family

chrispdav

Not sure if this is the right forum but

My partners parents are planning to come to visit us in Newcastle upon Tyne, England for a least three months from the beginning of Nov 2008. Ideally the return journey will be flexible as the they aren't sure when they wish to return. Where is the cheapest place to purchase the travel? Is is best to book sooner rather than later,

Cost is definitely a major factor

Any other advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

alanrowell

Probably your best bet is Air France via Paris, then there's only one connection to worry about.

You could consider Iberia via Madrid as that's normally the cheapest way to/from South America but that would mean 2 connections or picking them up somewhere like Manchester or London

benjus

It's not easy to find cheap flights to/from South America I'm afraid...

It might be worth trying to contact some of the agencies that serve the Latin American immigrant community in the UK, mainly in London - especially since you are trying to get flights from Brazil. They may be able to offer some advice on UK entry requirements - but confirm any advice you get with the official channels.

I have a copy of Express News (http://www.expressnews.uk.com/main.html) at home which always has adverts for London travel agencies specialising in Latin America... unfortunately the online edition doesn't have the adverts but you could drop them an email (in English!) to ask for the details of travel agencies that advertise with them. I'd send it to the departamento administrativo. As long as they are ABTA bonded I would just go with whoever offers the cheapest flight.

I think one of the agencies that advertises with them is Bravo Travel: http://www.bravo-travel.com/

I was also wondering around London the other day and passed a travel agent with loads of offers to various Brazilian cities in the window. I think it was this one:

Holiday Express
30, Poland St, London, W1F 8QS
Tel: 020 7851 0000

You could also try contacting Journey Latin America: http://www.journeylatinamerica.co.uk/ - although they are more geared towards British people taking holidays in Latin America.

duchy

Good advice to contact the South American specialist travel agents in London. It's also often cheaper to buy a fixed date return that can be changed for a fee rather than an open ticket.

Voyager2002

Please ensure that they have visas for the UK before you pay anything for air tickets. And check that they are likely to be able to get visas before you put too much effort into the hunt for air tickets.

Incidentally, don't KLM fly into Newcastle (via Amsterdam)? Amsterdam is a much easier airport for changing 'planes than is Paris.

lily_the_pink

Journey Latin America would be definately the people to call

KLM fly from Sao Paolo and sometimes do good deals. (not sure if they go to Rio). TAM fly direct to Heathrow from Sao Paolo (no idea what they are like as a carrier - I remember stories about the Peruvian and Columbian airlines from friends on very low budgets travelling to Europe) - not sure about other cities in Brasil.

There is a lot of flights between Portugal and Brasil - so although TAP not the best airline in the world (though who is these days), they might have some of the best prices. Also, advantage of doing the connection in Lisbon would be that your parents in law speak the language. SOmetimes it might be a lot cheaper to book the 2 legs seperately - ie Brasil to Lisbon then Lisbon to UK - this can be problematic though if there are delays in flights and you miss connecting flight.

They might be able to source something locally? (When I lived in South America I bought the tickets myself locally as it worked out cheaper and was easier to find a decent deal).

lily_the_pink

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Please ensure that they have visas for the UK before you pay anything for air tickets. And check that they are likely to be able to get visas before you put too much effort into the hunt for air tickets.

Incidentally, don't KLM fly into Newcastle (via Amsterdam)? Amsterdam is a much easier airport for changing 'planes than is Paris.

And once they get the visa (if your partner is settled here then should not be major problem as they would be making a family visit), make sure they bring documentation stating who they are staying with, and anything that will prove that they will not be wanting to stay here but will want to go home (friends who have good jobs bring a letter from their boss for example,). And make sure they have all your address/telephone information written down to hand over to customs. (Not likely that they will get pulled over and questioned but it can happen).

chrispdav

Appreciate all your advice and they will definitely have correspondence with them when they arrive with necessary info. My partner has dual nationality and is settled here however they haven't
Are you sure they need visas for a family visit?

Regards

benjus

I don't think Brazilian citizens need visas for visits under 6 months. However, this can be a double-edged sword... a citizen of a country that does require a visa arriving at immigration with a valid visa will be allowed through unless there is a very good reason why not. A citizen of a country that does not require a visa is entirely at the mercy of the immigration official. They should be OK for a family visit but they need to be prepared and carry the documents listed above, and make sure they are not carrying anything that might indicate that they intend to stay in the UK.

You can find information here:

https://www.visainfoservices.com/Pages/Welcome.aspx
http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/howtoapply/infs/inf2visitors

As mentioned above it's always worth investigating the price of flights purchased in Brazil... personally I found flights more expensive in South America than in the UK, but you never know.

Voyager2002

lily_the_pink wrote: »

Journey Latin America would be definately the people to call

KLM fly from Sao Paolo and sometimes do good deals. (not sure if they go to Rio). TAM fly direct to Heathrow from Sao Paolo (no idea what they are like as a carrier - I remember stories about the Peruvian and Columbian airlines from friends on very low budgets travelling to Europe) - not sure about other cities in Brasil.

Now you've provoked me into another response: Avianca (the national airline of Colombia) is actually one of the best airlines I have ever used. Definitely preferable to British Airways!

Journey Latin America would understand what was needed, but beating their quotes is generally not very difficult. For airlines like KLM, the best fares are usually offered on their websites (although once I telephoned Lufthansa and they told me about a brilliant fare from India that was on sale there, but not on the website).

mad_rich

Good advice so far.

Given how expensive the flights are between South America and Europe, I might be tempted to take Newcastle out of the equation. There will be a much broader range of options if they take London as the destination (and even then, they can expect at least one stop on the way).

They can go on to Newcastle quite easily for a tenner each way on the train, and also get to visit London for a few days if they want (and, lovely though the Toon is, it would be a shame to come all that way and miss out on London). The amount they save on the air fare may well cover the cost of a hotel.

Also consider sending them via Miami, although bear in mind that they'll have to run the gauntlet of US Immigration.