Business Class Flights to Rio de Janeiro

American flies Rio nonstop from Miami daily and from New York JFK in season with Flagship Business on the 777 and 787; Delta flies from Atlanta with Delta One, seasonally on some frequencies; United flies Polaris from Houston and Newark in season; and LATAM serves Rio from Miami and New York with lie-flat business. Every nonstop is a widebody with a flat bed. Because Rio has fewer nonstops than São Paulo, a one-stop via Guarulhos — an hour's flight or the Santos Dumont shuttle — is often the answer from cities without direct service, and it prices close to a nonstop. From Europe, Air France, British Airways, Iberia, Lufthansa and KLM fly Rio. No US–Rio flight has a First Class cabin.

The flights are overnight in both directions — depart 9 to 11pm, land 7 to 9am — and Galeão is 40 to 60 minutes from the Zona Sul beaches depending on traffic; hotels arrange transfers, and the Linha Vermelha expressway has improved the run. Santos Dumont, on Guanabara Bay in the city center, handles domestic flights and the shuttle to São Paulo, and is the departure point for Iguaçu, Salvador and the Northeast. An open-jaw into Rio and home from São Paulo, or the reverse, prices like a round trip and is the natural Brazil itinerary.

Rio's calendar is the sharpest in South America. Carnival — Friday to Ash Wednesday, in February or early March — and New Year's Eve, when two million people gather on Copacabana in white, are the two weeks when premium cabins and hotels sell out months ahead at the highest fares of the year; book Carnival by October. December through March is the summer, hot and busy. May through October is the southern winter — dry, 75°F, quieter, and the cheapest time to fly, with business fares from Miami at or below our $2,000 starting price. April and November are the value shoulders with beach weather.