At the moment, the cheapest coach fare is $699 from San Francisco / Los Angeles to Lima. While TACA’s business class seat is similar to domestic first class (e.g., you will get more legroom, 2×2 seating and that’s about it), this is a good deal in a better seat to Lima for approximately $300 more. In addition, business class will entitle you to premium checkin, lounge access and more miles.

If you want a lie-flat business class experience, the only option is LAN and that’s about twice as much as this. Most business class fares allows for stopovers — this fare allows for one. We are going to do our standard deal sheet and then show a stopover.

(And yes, we are trying to do some business class deals. You asked, we try to accommodate. We are working on a set of criteria for what is a good business class deal. Like our feature The Shorthaul, do not expect this to be a regular feature. Let us know your thoughts)

Lima, Peru Photo: ydnammmm, used under Creative Commons License (By 2.0)

Sample Travel Date:

• Sample from Los Angeels
• September 3rd – 10th

Fare Availability:

• Valid for travel from mid-August – December 15th. Use ITA Software Matrix Airfare Search and flexible month search to see availability — enable advanced routing codes and enter “ta+” on both the outbound and return fields to search only TACA availability. Must purchase by June 17th
• Beginner’s Guide on How to Use Matrix by ITA Software
• How to Read Airfare Rules and Use It to Your Advantage

Partner Fare Class:

• D

Stopover:

• 1 Stopover for free

Routing:

• LAX – SAL (El Salvador) – LIM (Lima) – SAL – LAX

Mileage:

• 8,516 miles or 11.7 cents per mile. TACA is a member of the Star Alliance and partners with United and US Airways. This fare will earn 100% mileage with either United or US Airways. Provide the checkin agent with your United or US Airways number to receive credit.

Stopover Example:

We had challenges in doing a stopover on the outbound, but managed to get one to work on the inbound. TACA is part of the Avianca airline group — you can have a stopover in numerous cities – we have made it work with Bogota, El Salvador and Quito.  There are no easy ways to search for stopovers — it’s all manually testing different date combinations.

Using Hipmunk’s multi-city functionality, here’s what we found as a stopover in Bogota.

• Outbound:
  • September 3rd: LAX – SAL (El Salvaldor) – LIM (Lima). Lima is the destination
• Stopover:
  • September 6th: LIM – BOG (Bogota). We used Bogota as the stopover on the return.
• Return:
  • September 10th: BOG – SAL – LAX

As you can see, the price is about $60 more than without a stopover. That $60 can be attributed to taxes and fees for entering Colombia.

How to Book:

• Use dates found at ITA Software Matrix Airfare Search and book on TACA.COM for regular roundtrip. We used Hipmunk to price out stopover as when we do it on TACA, it kept resulting back a coach even when we selected business class. Hipmunk will most likely direct you to Priceline.

Background Information:

Peru:

• Visa: US Citizens – Not required. Other nationals, check the TIMATIC Visa Database
• Currency: Peruvian Nuveo Sol (PEN) $1USD = 2.7 PEN

Colombia:

• Visa Requirements: US Citizens – Not required. Other nationals, check the TIMATIC Visa Database
• Currency: Colombian Peso (COP) $1USD = 1,880 COP

Tips for saving when using credit cards at international destinations:

• No Foreign Transaction Fee Credit Cards to save on international purchases
• Don’t get hit with Dynamic Currency Conversion
• Get your taxes refunded when shopping

For more of the latest cheap Los Angeles Flight Deals:

• Go to the The Los Angeles Flight Deals page

=====

To make sure you receive our latest deals, LIKE our  The Flight Deal Facebook Page, follow us on Twitter @TheFlightDeal, or subscribe to The Flight Deal RSS Feed or Subscribe via Email (Once a Day)

The Flight Deal does not sell travel products or services. We provide you with information about third-party travel suppliers’ offers, and link you to their sites. The information posted by The Flight Deal is valid at the time of publication. However, we have no control over the suppliers, and we therefore do not warrant or guarantee that their offers will not change or become unavailable. Nor are we responsible for their products, services or site content. Please see their sites for their most up-to-date offer information and all applicable terms and conditions.