Travel Question of the Day: Simon Calder on how to choose the best airline to South America

Q Which is the best airline to South America?

Name withheld

A That all depends where you want to travel to in South America - and how long you want to spend getting there. South America is arguably the most inaccessible inhabited continent for British travellers (while Australia is further away and has only three direct flights a day from the UK, dozens of connections are available).

Absurdly, South America has fewer destinations served by direct flights from British airports than it did 40 years ago. You can fly to non-stop to only three South American capitals from Britain, all from Heathrow: Bogota on Avianca, and Buenos Aires and (from next month) Lima on British Airways. BA also flies to Brazil’s two biggest cities, Sao Paulo and Rio, and Tam also flies to Sao Paulo. On the basis that South America involves a long flight, I suggest that the best airline is the one that flies to your destination.

For flights somewhere not covered by those possibilities, then “best” is a more nuanced answer. For Brazil, TAP Portugal has the best range of connections via its compact hub at Lisbon. The widest range of destinations in Spanish-speaking South America is offered by Iberia via Madrid.

After that, it all comes down to price. Air France/KLM offers a multiplicity of UK airports and South American destinations at keen fares. Avianca and Tam provide connections from their respective hubs in Bogota and Sao Paulo, though the timings on Avianca can be uncomfortable. And airlines from Mexico, the US and Canada will also offer competitive fares to win business.

Every day, our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles readers’ questions. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder

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