Quote Originally Posted by PC14 View Post
I work at a local Travel Agent and was myself looking at travelling next year but have decided not to. I also have an interest in the ZPL3 competition and have been reading this thread out of interest to see what everyone was thinking and doing about the travel next year.

The flights I was looking at were with Swiss and/or Lufthansa and the airlines they partner with. It does mean that you would have to travel through Europe to get there or come home. The fares are basically a round world fare, although you will need to purchase a one-way flight between Santiago and Rio (either way).

As an example of the route you could take and airlines that can be used, if you chose the Swiss Air option you could fly Sydney to Dubai on Qantas. Dubai to Zurich on Swiss. Zurich to Rio on Swiss (via Sao Paulo). Santiago to Sydney on Qantas. The bonus with this fare is the fact that you are allowed a return flight form Zurich to basically anywhere in Europe, which breaks the flight up a little.

If you chose to fly Lufthansa the itinerary would look pretty similar but your main stop in Europe would be Frankfurt or Munich.

I thought that this information would help a few people and give you guys some more options. These fares aren't generally used at a lot of agencies.

If you want some more info let me know and I can give you some contact details.
Seeing as you work in a travel agents can you give us a bit of insight into what you would expect fares to be??

Right now Sydney >> Rio De Janiero via Santiago (Chile) with dates approx 1 month before I wish to go and 1 month before I wish to return return are at $2100 return.

What would you expect (from your experience in the travel agent industry) to be the price for (factoring in the inflation rate just cause it is a World Cup) the same flight 1 month later will actually be???