(Air) ways to get into the USA

I flew to New York, USA in 1971, on a Varig airplane. Varig was the Brazilian international carrier then. It is no more today. All flights to the USA and Europe started from Rio de Janeiro. As I lived in São Paulo I had to take a 'domestic flight' from Congonhas Airport to Galeão in Rio. It took around 9 hours to get from Rio to JFK in NYC. 

As time went by and I settled in the US, I realized that most people I met from South America arrived in the US through Aerolineas Peruanas or Braniff International Airways. Here are some 1950s ads I've got from the Brazilian Reader's Digest. 

In the late 1950s, the flight from Rio de Janeiro to New York City took 'only' 25 hours and 3 minutes, according to this Braniff ad. One would take off from Rio on a DC-6 and fly over the Andes to Lima. From Lima it would fly to Guayaquil (Ecuador), Panama, Havana (Cuba) and finally New York.

Braniff and Aerolineas Peruanas ran more-or-less the same route from Rio de Janeiro to New York City in the late 1950s.

Rockefeller Center on 5th Avenue off 50th Street with Varig Brazilian Airlines offices on the right in May 1962.

12 February 1961 - 10 years before I flew to New York the air-fares were a lot cheaper. Look at these Varig prices. I paid more than double those prices in 1971; 19 February 1961 - on the right Braniff also advertises their low prices at Estadao (a week later).

Real - Aerovias Brasilia - flew from Rio de Janeiro to Mexico City and Los Angeles twice a week. They don't say how long the trip took (maybe) not to frighten their customers. They only extolled the virtues of their food and the excitiment of visiting such marvelous cities. The planes had stop-overs at Manaus, Bogota (Colombia), Mexico City and finally Los Angeles.

6 May 1960 - ad in S.Paulo's daily OESP - Loja para brasileiros em New York - stores especially catering for Brazilians who spoke little English. 

9 April 1961 ad in S.Paulo daily OESP from Victor Appliance Co. on 22 Albany Street, catered for Brazilian middle class who had their shopping done in Manhattan. Note that Victor is 'soon moving to 46th Street' where Brazilians of all persuasions have congregated since then.

Victor Appliance Co. had been selling TVs, radios, stereos, lingeries, linen, nylons to Brazilians for 15 years. They had a van-service Brazilians could use just ringing them up.

23rd June 1963 - Varig's Boeing 707 takes off from Rio de Janeiro's Galeão Airport at 11:00 pm and arrives in NYC at 7:30 in the morning. You fly during night-time which has got less turbulence. After a hearty dinner you will have a nice sleep. At 7:30 the plane will be touching down in New York. This was probably Varig's first non-stop flight from Rio to NYC. 

28 July 1964 - Ad at OESP in which Varig boasts of having 4 weekly flights to New York from Rio de Janeiro with stopovers in Recife-PE, Belém-PA & Santo Domingo (instead of Cuba which was ruled by Fidel Castro now). On top of 4 weekly flights to New York City, Varig had another 4 flights to other cities in the USA. Probably Los Angeles.

9 May 1965 - See this reel-to-reel Sony portable tape-recorder? This is the kind of stuff Brazilians bought in New York when they visited the city in 1965. New York World Fair was still on in May 1965. Victor International was now relocated at West 46th Street between 5th & 6th Avenues (Avenue of Americas).