Looking for the best ways to get to South America using miles? This post outlines the best options available to get there in business class using frequent flyer miles programs available to the major US transferable currencies like American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou points, Capital One Miles, and Marriott Bonvoy points. This continues our series on the best ways to get to various regions around the world using miles, including:
- Best ways to Europe using miles
- Best ways to Asia using miles
- Best ways to Africa using miles
- Best ways to Australia / New Zealand / South Pacific using miles
- Best ways to the Caribbean using miles
- See all of our “Best Ways to Get To” series here.
What’s new? Several airlines have updated award charts in the two years since we last published this guide. We have updated those sweet spots, added tips like stopovers on one-way Alaska awards, and updated transfer partners to include Bilt Rewards among other tweaks. There remain some excellent values for those looking to travel to South America using points and miles.
South America will always hold a special place in my heart because it is where I had my first extended trip abroad. I spent the better part of a year living in Quito, Ecuador and traveled around that country and parts of Northern South America while there. I left South America with strong intentions to return at the next opportunity and it has simply gotten pushed off again and again ever since.
While I’ve traveled to Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Oceania on award tickets many times in the years since discovering points and miles, I have never booked a ticket to South America using miles. My travels in this region all occurred before discovering points and miles and happened on a shoestring budget.
With a relative lack of luxurious premium cabin options and what are in some cases relatively short flights, economy class might be a desirable option for some award travelers. This post includes both the best ways to get to South America in economy class and business class.
Transferable Currencies
If you want to use airline miles, it’s great to have transferable points. Transferable point programs let you transfer your points to any of a number of airline programs. This is great because it gives you the freedom to book many different flights through many different methods, some of which are strikingly cheaper than others. If you’re not familiar with transferable points programs, please check out our guides:
| Amex Membership Rewards Complete Guide | Capital One “Rewards miles” Complete Guide | Chase Ultimate Rewards Complete Guide |
| Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide | Marriott Bonvoy Complete Guide | Bilt Complete Guide |
Cash fares using bank points
Before you transfer points, keep in mind that cash fares to South America can sometimes be quite reasonable. If you have a card that enables you to redeem your bank points at 1.5c per point, you may be better off using your bank points to book a paid fare and earing miles on your ticket.
For instance, a $913 round trip business class fare from New York-JFK to Quito, Ecuador could alternatively be booked for around 60,000 points round trip for someone with a Chase Sapphire Reserve card.
That would be about 30K each way in business class, which is comparable to what most other programs would charge for an award ticket, but this is a paid ticket that would earn miles that could be credited to Delta or other Aeromexico partners. Award flights are a better deal in some cases, but it’s always worth comparing against paid tickets.
Best ways to get to South America using miles (economy class)
The deals below are sorted alphabetically. Remember that the lowest price isn’t the entire picture: be sure to consider which airlines levy fuel surcharges and the ease of amassing the miles for your chosen award. See each description for where to search, how to book, and which partners you can use to transfer. It is always best to confirm availability before transferring miles to be sure that the award you seek can be booked with the miles you intend.
Air France / KLM Flying Blue (for Delta / Copa)
- The short story: Air France has variable pricing that isn't great but could be attractive if you hit a transfer bonus and/or need to combine points from different programs to book an award.
- Miles required: Varies, but starts below 20K one way and prices become more attractive when a transferable currency offers a 25% transfer bonus. Keep in mind that in addition to Delta, Air France partners with Copa.
- How to find awards: For Delta flights, use the Virgin Atlantic 5 week award search to find availability (see this post for details). Next, confirm your findings at AirFrance.us (you’ll need to create a free Flying Blue frequent flyer account to search).
- How to book awards: Book online at AirFrance.com. Can also book via phone when the website returns errors.
- Key warnings: Air France's website is buggy and will often return errors when trying to complete a booking. If that happens, try calling.
- Transfer from: Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt, Brex Cash, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi Thank You, Capital One, Marriott
Alaska Mileage Plan (for AA or LATAM)
- The short story: Alaska has solid rates to South America on both AA and LATAM and allows a free stopover on a one-way award. With Alaska joining oneworld and LATAM having left oneworld, the future of the LATAM partnership is questionable.
- Miles required: From 25K miles in economy class.
- How to find awards: Search AlaskaAir.com.
- How to book awards: Book at AlaskaAir.com (for both American and LATAM flights).
- Key warnings: With Alaska joining oneworld and LATAM's departure from oneworld (and heavy investment from Delta), it is questionable as to how long the LATAM partnership will last.
- Transfer from: Marriott
American AAdvantage
- The short story: American now offers variable pricing for its own flights (and a much-improved cancellation policy), which can sometimes make them very good deal for award flights to South America. Note that they are no longer partners with LATAM, but they do partner with JetBlue.
- Miles required: Varies. While the traditional pricing was 20-30K miles each way in economy class to Southern South America, web specials make it unpredictable. You'll need to search AA.com for your dates and compare to prices from oneworld partners. JetBlue flights price at 20K one-way in economy class.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at AA.com
- How to book awards: Book online at AA.com.
- Key warnings: Variable pricing means that deals come and go and prices are unpredictable. It is inadvisable to collect American Airlines miles for a specific future award since you can not predict the price, but if you already have miles or have earned them through a credit card welcome bonus it is worth checking to see if AA has specials for your dates and cities.
- Transfer from: Marriott, Bilt
ANA Mileage Club (for Star Alliance)
- The short story: ANA offers one of the best deals for economy class travel to South America, particularly for those looking toward the southern half of the continent. The catch is that you must book round trip.
- Miles required: 55K miles round trip on Star Alliance carriers between North and South America (United / Copa / Avianca).
- How to find awards: Search for available space at United.com (Note: Do not log in — logging in may show you expanded availability based on your credit card or elite status that is not available for partner bookings) or ANA's website (though ANA requires searches to be round trip, so it is easier to find availability by searching one way at United first).
- How to book awards: Book online at ANA.
- Key warnings: Note that transfers to ANA are not instant. Transfers typically take 2-3 days from Amex Membership Rewards or a week or more from Marriott, so there is risk of award space disappearing while you wait for a transfer. While ANA does pass along fuel surcharges, there shouldn't be any on the Star Alliance carriers serving South America (United, Avianca, Copa).
- Transfer from: Amex, Marriott
Asiana Club (for Star Alliance)
- The short story: Asiana offers excellent award pricing on Star Alliance flights to/from South America. The difficulty is in earning the miles since they only transfer from Marriott, though they do have a credit card.
- Miles required: 17.5K miles each way in economy class to South America 1 (includes Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Peru) or 25K miles each way in economy class to South America 2 (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay). Here is a link to search the award charts, though note that Asiana lists the round trip prices. Travel is Free has a handy one-way chart.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at United.com
- How to book awards: Book over the phone with Asiana.
- Key warnings: Transfers from Marriott may take 7 days or more.
- Transfer from: Marriott
Avianca LifeMiles (for Star Alliance)
- The short story: Avianca LifeMiles offers competitive Star Alliance pricing to both Northern and Southern South America with no fuel surcharges. Note that you can mix cabins on partner awards to save miles, which means that in some cases you can fly your long-haul flight in business class for not much more.
- Miles required: According to the old award chart, flights to Northern South America are 20K each way in economy class and Southern South America costs 30K one way in economy class. However, flights on Avianca metal may price out at less than 20K each way in some instances (and always keep your eye out for Avianca pricing anomalies).
- How to find awards: Search for available space at LifeMiles.com (you’ll need to create a free Avianca LifeMiles frequent flyer account)
- How to book awards: Book online at LifeMiles.com. Can also book via email. Phone bookings are known to be a hassle but also possible.
- Key warnings: Availability at LifeMiles.com does not always match what you’ll find at United.com. Phone agents generally do not see better availability than what is shown at LifeMiles.com. Always check the LifeMiles site before transferring points. Also note that as of May 2020, Avianca has filed for bankruptcy protection. LifeMiles is not yet affected by this process and may not be, but given the uncertain state of global economics it may be wise to hold off on bookings that aren't time-sensitive.
- Transfer from: Amex, Citi, Capital One, Marriott
British Airways Executive Club (for AA)
- The short story: British Airways has excellent award pricing for shorter distance American Airlines award flights, whereas you're better off booking with another program for longer flights or if you need connections (since British Airways prices each segment separately).
- Miles required: From 11K miles (Miami to Bogota falls in this distance band) to 31K miles (Los Angeles to Buenos Aires is in this distance band) each way in economy class. The best deals will be from Miami to Northern South America for 11K or 13K miles one way depending on distance (and assuming direct flights). See the full award chart in our Avios Complete Guide.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at BritishAirways.com
- How to book awards: Book online at BritishAirways.com
- Key warnings: Note that British Airways periodically stops showing American Airlines award availability. When this happens, phone agents are generally unable to book the space either and your best bet is to keep searching or book through another partner.
- Transfer from: Amex, Bilt, Chase, Capital One, Marriott
Etihad Guest (for AA)
- The short story: Etihad Guest offers AA's "old" award chart prices, including an excellent price to northern South America and decent pricing to southern South America, (particularly good during off-peak dates).
- Miles required: 17.5K each way in economy class to/from South America 1 (Bolivia, Ecuador, Manaus (Brazil), Colombia, Guyana, and Peru). 20K off-peak or 30K peak to/from South America 2 (the rest of South America). Note that Etihad also partners with Gol, so you can alternatively fly from Orlando or Miami to Brasilia for 23K miles each way in economy class.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at BritishAirways.com or Qantas.com.
- How to book awards: Call Etihad Guest at 1-877-690-0767.
- Key warnings: Note that the British Airways site sometimes fails to show AA availability, so using Qantas to search for availability may be your best bet.
- Transfer from: Amex, Citi, Capital One, Marriott
Iberia Plus
- The short story: Iberia Plus offers a distance-based award chart that matches British Airways. However, since they don't allow changes or cancellations on American Airlines awards, you're probably better off booking via British Airways
- Miles required: From 11K miles each way depending on distance. No fuel surcharges on American Airlines. See our Avios Complete Guide for a full award chart.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at iberia.com. Use the Advanced Avios Search tool.
- How to book awards: Book online at iberia.com. Use the Advanced Avios Search tool.
- Key warnings: Most Iberia partner bookings, including those on American Airlines, are completely nonrefundable and can not be changed. Because of that policy and the fact that Iberia's chart for American Airlines flights now matches the British Airways chart for the same flights, you're probably better off booking via BA. Only book AA flights with Iberia if plans are certain.
- Transfer from: Amex, Bilt, Chase
Qantas Frequent Flyer (for AA)
- The short story: Qantas offers good award pricing on shorter oneworld routes, like Miami to parts of Northern South America.
- Miles required: Qantas has a distance-based award chart that goes by cumulative distance whether one-way or round trip. The shortest-distance flights to South America measure fewer than 1,000 miles one-way but the longest can be more than 5,000 miles one way. Here are the first several distance bands:
- 12K miles for a cumulative distance of 601-1200 miles
- 18K miles for a cumulative distance of 1201-2400 miles or
- 20.3K miles for a cumulative distance of 2401-3600 miles
- 25.2K miles for a cumulative distance of 3601-4800 miles.
- 31.5K miles for a cumulative distance of 4801-5800 miles
- See the full award chart here. No fuel surcharges on American Airlines.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at Qantas.com (you’ll need to create a free Qantas Frequent Flyer account)
- How to book awards: Book online at Qantas.com.
- Key warnings: Avios, either through British Airways or Iberia, might be a better value if you have direct flights (though this varies with precise distance) if you have access to points which transfer to Avios. However, for flights with connections, Qantas can be a better deal.
- Transfer from: Amex, Citi, Capital One, Marriott
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (for Delta)
- The short story: Virgin Atlantic offers distance-based pricing for award flights on Delta flights, which potentially makes for a better deal on shorter flights. Since Virgin Atlantic partners with most major transferable currencies, it is very easy to put together the miles for an award.
- Miles required: From 12.5K each way in economy class on routes of 1,500-2,000 miles (e.g. Atlanta to Cartagena). See the award chart here.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at VirginAtlantic.com. Keep in mind that it may not always correlate to the lowest pricing on Delta.com.
- How to book awards: Book online at VirginAtlantic.com.
- Key warnings: The Virgin Atlantic website can be a bit finicky to deal with. See How to book Delta flights with Virgin Atlantic miles for more info.
- Transfer from: Amex, Bilt, Chase, Citi, Marriott
Best ways to South America using miles (premium cabins)
The deals below are sorted alphabetically. Remember that the lowest price isn’t the entire picture: be sure to consider which airlines levy fuel surcharges and the ease of amassing the miles for your chosen award. See each description for where to search, how to book, and which partners you can use to transfer. It is always best to confirm availability before transferring miles to be sure that the award you seek can be booked with the miles you intend.
Air France / KLM Flying Blue
- The short story: Air France has variable pricing that isn't great but could be attractive if you hit a transfer bonus and/or need to combine points from different programs to book an award.
- Miles required: Varies, but starts in the 40K's one-way to Northern South America in business class or the 70K's to Southern South America in business class. These prices become more attractive when a transferable currency offers a 25% transfer bonus. Keep in mind that in addition to Delta, Air France partners with Copa.
- How to find awards: Use the Virgin Atlantic 5 week award search to find availability on Delta (see this post for details). Next, confirm your findings at AirFrance.us (you’ll need to create a free Flying Blue frequent flyer account to search). For flights on Copa, check United.com.
- How to book awards: Book online at AirFrance.com. Can also book via phone when the website returns errors.
- Key warnings: Air France's website is buggy and will often return errors when trying to complete a booking. If that happens, try calling.
- Transfer from: Amex Membership Rewards, Brex Cash, Bilt Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi Thank You, Capital One, Marriott
Alaska Mileage Plan
- The short story: Alaska has solid rates to South America on both AA and LATAM and they allow a free stopover on a one-way award. With Alaska joining oneworld and LATAM having recently left, the future of the LATAM partnership is questionable.
- Miles required: From 45K miles one-way in business class according to the award chart, though some American Airlines routes still price from 30K one-way in business class to northern South America.
- How to find awards: Search AlaskaAir.com.
- How to book awards: Book at AlaskaAir.com (for both American and LATAM flights).
- Key warnings: Finding premium cabin space on AA is generally very difficult. With Alaska joining oneworld and LATAM's departure from oneworld (and heavy investment from Delta), it is questionable as to how long the LATAM partnership will last.
- Transfer from: Marriott
American Airlines
- The short story: American now offers variable pricing for its own flights, which can sometimes make them very good deal for award flights to South America. Note that they are no longer partners with LATAM, but you can book JetBlue through American Airlines.
- Miles required: Varies. Traditional pricing has been 30K in business class to Northern South America or 57.5K miles in business class to Southern South America, but we have seen web specials for less. You'll need to search AA.com for your dates and compare to prices from oneworld partners. Keep in mind that JetBlue serves a number of routes to northern South America.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at AA.com
- How to book awards: Book online at AA.com.
- Key warnings: Variable pricing means that deals come and go and prices are unpredictable. It is inadvisable to collect American Airlines miles for a specific future award since you can not predict the price, but if you already have miles or have earned them through a credit card welcome bonus it is worth checking to see if AA has specials for your dates and cities.
- Transfer from: Marriott, Bilt
ANA Mileage Club
- The short story: ANA offers one of the best deals for round trip business class awards to South America. Unlike other programs, they do not split South America into two regions. The catch is that you must book round trip.
- Miles required: 88K miles round trip on Star Alliance carriers between North and South America (United / Copa / Avianca).
- How to find awards: Search for available space at United.com (Note: Do not log in — logging in may show you expanded availability based on your credit card or elite status that is not available for partner bookings) or ANA's website (though ANA requires searches to be round trip, so it is easier to find availability by searching one way at United first).
- How to book awards: Book online at ANA.
- Key warnings: Note that transfers to ANA are not instant. Transfers typically take 2-3 days from Amex Membership Rewards or a week or more from Marriott, so there is risk of award space disappearing while you wait for a transfer.
- Transfer from: Amex, Marriott
Asiana Club
- The short story: Asiana offers amazing award pricing on Star Alliance flights to/from South America. The difficulty is in earning the miles since they only transfer from Marriott, though they do have a credit card.
- Miles required: 27.5K miles each way in business class to South America 1 (includes Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Peru) or 35K miles each way in business class to South America 2 (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay). Here is a link to search the award charts, though note that Asiana lists the round trip prices. Travel is Free has a handy one-way chart.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at United.com
- How to book awards: Book over the phone with Asiana.
- Key warnings: Transfers from Marriott may take 7 days or more.
- Transfer from: Marriott
Avianca LifeMiles
- The short story: Avianca LifeMiles offers competitive Star Alliance pricing to both Northern and Southern South America with no fuel surcharges. Note that you can mix cabins on partner awards to save miles, which can be useful if you need a positioning flight.
- Miles required: According to the old award chart, flights to Northern South America are 35K each way in business class and Southern South America costs 60K one way in business class. However, flights on Avianca metal appear to be pricing out at 40K - 55K (while partner awards follow the old chart).
- How to find awards: Search for available space at LifeMiles.com (you’ll need to create a free Avianca LifeMiles frequent flyer account)
- How to book awards: Book online at LifeMiles.com. Can also book via email. Phone bookings are known to be a hassle but also possible.
- Key warnings: Availability at LifeMiles.com does not always match what you’ll find at United.com. Phone agents generally do not see better availability than what is shown at LifeMiles.com. Always check the LifeMiles site before transferring points. Also note that as of May 2020, Avianca has filed for bankruptcy protection. LifeMiles is not yet affected by this process and may not be, but given the uncertain state of global economics it may be wise to hold off on bookings that aren't time-sensitive.
- Transfer from: Amex, Citi, Capital One, Marriott
British Airways Avios
- The short story: British Airways has excellent award pricing for shorter distance American Airlines award flights, whereas you're better off booking with another program for longer flights or if you need connections (since British Airways prices each segment separately). Keep in mind that while LATAM has left oneworld, their flights should still be bookable with Avios.
- Miles required: From 22K miles (Miami to Bogota falls in this distance band) to 92,750 miles (Los Angeles to Buenos Aires is in this distance band) each way in business class. The best deals will be from Miami to Northern South America for 22K or 38,750 miles one way depending on distance (and assuming direct flights). See the full award chart here at One Mile at a Time. No fuel surcharges on American Airlines.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at BritishAirways.com
- How to book awards: Book online at BritishAirways.com
- Key warnings: Note that British Airways periodically stops showing American Airlines award availability. When this happens, phone agents are generally unable to book the space either and your best bet is to keep searching or book through another partner.
- Transfer from: Amex, Bilt Chase, Capital One, Marriott
Etihad Guest
- The short story: Etihad's award chart for American Airlines flights is very competitive. The struggle is finding award space in premium cabins on AA flights.
- Miles required: Etihad offers zone-based pricing on American Airlines flights, with business class to South America Zone 1 for 30K miles each way (includes Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia, Belize, Nicaragua, Peru, Panama, and Venezuela). Business class to South America Zone 2 is 50K miles each way (includes Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile (excludes Easter Island), Paraguay, and Uruguay).
- How to find awards: Search BritishAirways.com or Qantas.com for American Airlines award space, then call Etihad Guest.
- How to book awards: Call Etihad Guest at 1-877-690-0767.
- Key warnings: Finding premium cabin space on AA is generally very difficult.
- Transfer from: Capital One, Citi, Marriott
EVA Mileage Lands
- The short story: EVA offers decent Star Alliance award pricing from North America to/from South America. The best value is booking round trip since EVA allows 2 stopovers (one each way) on a round trip (max 6 segments, no stopover on a one-way). Note that stopovers can not be booked online.
- Miles required: 52K miles each way. See the award chart assembled at Travel Is Free.
- How to find awards: Search United.com.
- How to book awards: Book simple awards online at EVAAir.com. Must call and book over the phone for stopovers.
- Key warnings: You'll likely need to call EVA for complex bookings.
- Transfer from: Citi
Qantas Frequent Flyer
- The short story: Qantas offers good award pricing on shorter oneworld routes, like Miami to parts of Northern South America. Keep in mind that though LATAM has left oneworld, their flights can still be booked with Qantas points.
- Miles required: Qantas has a distance-based award chart that goes by cumulative distance whether one-way or round trip (booking round trip will work out to fewer net miles each way). The shortest-distance flights to South America measure fewer than 1,000 miles one-way but the longest can be more than 5,000 miles one way. Here are the first several distance bands:
- 27.6K miles for a cumulative distance of 601-1200 miles
- 41.5K miles for a cumulative distance of 1201-2400 miles or
- 57K miles for a cumulative distance of 2401-3600 miles
- 68.4K miles for a cumulative distance of 3601-4800 miles.
- 82K miles for a cumulative distance of 4801-5800 miles
- See the full award chart here. No fuel surcharges on American Airlines.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at Qantas.com (you’ll need to create a free Qantas Frequent Flyer account)
- How to book awards: Book online at Qantas.com.
- Key warnings: Avios, either through British Airways or Iberia, might be a better value if you have direct flights (though this varies with precise distance) if you have access to points which transfer to Avios. However, for flights with connections, Qantas can be a better deal.
- Transfer from: Amex, Citi, Capital One, Marriott
Singapore Krisflyer
- The short story: Singapore typically beats United for pricing to/from Southern South America and there are no fuel surcharges. Fly United, Copa, Avianca, or Air Canada.
- Miles required: 65K miles each way in business class to/from South America (note that Singapore prices all of South America at the same rate, whereas United charges fewer miles to Northern South America). See the full award chart here.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at United.com (Note: Do not log in — logging in may show you expanded availability based on your credit card or elite status that is not available for partner bookings) or SingaporeAir.com
- How to book awards: Book online at SingaporeAir.com or over the phone with Singapore KrisFlyer.
- Key warnings: Note that transfers to Singapore KrisFlyer may not be instant. Transfers can take 2-24 hours and Singapore does not hold award tickets.
- Transfer from: Amex, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Marriott
United Mileage Plus
- The short story: While award flights to Southern South America are cheaper with other Star Alliance partners, United offers good pricing on award flights to Northern South America whether on United, Copa, Avianca, or Air Canada. The excursionist perk could be leveraged for a free flight within Northern South America when booking round trip.
- Miles required: Variable, but generally saver awards are 38.5K miles each way to Northern South America or 66K miles each way to Southern South America.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at United.com
- How to book awards: Book online at United.com
- Key warnings: Since United eliminated its award chart, pricing can now be variable and "saver" rates may not always match those above.
- Transfer from: Bilt, Chase, Marriott
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- The short story: Virgin Atlantic offers distance-based pricing for award flights on Delta flights, which can be beneficial in some situations (particularly very short itineraries). Since Virgin Atlantic partners with most major transferable currencies, it is very easy to put together the miles for an award.
- Miles required: From 45K each way in business class on the shortest Delta flights to South America (e.g. Atlanta to Cartagena). See the distance bands here and use a tool like gcmap.com to calculate distance between airports.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at VirginAtlantic.com. Keep in mind that it may not always correlate to the lowest pricing on Delta.com.
- How to book awards: Book online at VirginAtlantic.com.
- Key warnings: The Virgin Atlantic website can be a bit finicky to deal with. See How to book Delta flights with Virgin Atlantic miles for more info.
- Transfer from: Amex, Bilt, Chase, Citi, Marriott
How to get the miles
The following chart shows the available transferable points programs for each of the above airline frequent flyer programs:
| Rewards Program | Amex Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Chase Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Citi Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Capital One Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Bilt Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aer Lingus Avios | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 via Qatar, BA (1 to 2 days) | 1 to 1 via BA (Unknown) | 1 to 1 (~5 Minutes) |
| Air France KLM Flying Blue | 1 to 1 (~10 minutes to 1 day) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (~5 Minutes) |
| Alaska MileagePlan | 1 to 1 (~5 Minutes) | ||||
| ANA Mileage Club | 1 to 1 (~1 day) | ||||
| Asiana | |||||
| Avianca LifeMiles | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (~5 Minutes) | |
| British Airways Avios | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 via Qatar (1 to 2 days) | 1 to 1 (Unknown) | 1 to 1 (~5 Minutes) |
| Etihad Guest | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (~1 hour) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | ||
| EVA Air Infinity MileageLands | 1 to 1 (~2 days) | 1000 to 750 (~1 day) | |||
| Iberia Avios | 1 to 1 (~12 - 72 hours (slower over weekend)) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 via Qatar, BA (1 to 2 days) | 1 to 1 via BA (Unknown) | 1 to 1 (~5 Minutes) |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (~1 day) | 1 to 1 (~1 day) | ||
| Qatar Privilege Club Avios | 1 to 1 (Unknown) | 1 to 1 via BA (Instant) | 1 to 1 (1 to 2 days) | 1 to 1 via BA (Unknown) | 1 to 1 via BA (~5 Minutes) |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (~17 hours) | 1 to 1 (~1 day) | 1 to 1 (~7 hours) | |
| United MileagePlus | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (~5 Minutes) | |||
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Unknown) | 1 to 1 (~5 Minutes) |
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One note on Avianca pricing. As of right now, business class on partners to Southern South America is 50k each way.
Was trying to look at LATAM availability and pricing on Alaska site for MIA/NYC to GRU. There’s for some reason no direct options avail, all with a stop in LIM. For biz class, only LIM to GRU leg is biz for every available option. @Nick Reyes Any reason why no Direct flights avail? Was hoping to use BA miles and call up to book but wanted to confirm availability first.
I don’t know the answer to your question, but I suspect it’s one of two things:
1) LATAM Just isn’t releasing availability on the non-stop during the dates when you want. It’s very common that airlines won’t release availability on their more popular non-stop itineraries since they know they’ll sell those tickets.
2) more likely, my guess is that this route was a TAM route. The airline LATAM was formed by a merger between an airline called LAN and an airline called TAM. Alaska was historically partners with LAN. The last I knew, and it’s been a few years since I’ve dug into this so I don’t know if it’s still true, Alaska was only able to book flights that were former LAN flights, not former TAM flights. As I recall, LAN was mainly headquartered in Peru and Chile and TAM was mainly headquartered in Brazil, which is why I’m assuming this was a TAM flight. I believe that they still fly these flights with the old two-letter code that belonged to TAM. Or again, as of a few years ago, that’s the way that it was. And so Alaska wouldn’t be able to see availability on those flights with a flight number that starts with TAM’s old code. So, again, my bat is at Alaska. Probably just can’t see that availability, though I don’t know that for sure. I’m not sure what Iberia can or cannot see. The bloggers behind the blog No Mas Coach are very familiar with Alaska Mileage Plan – you might find more info from their site on this question.
I think its fair to conclude that award flights, especially Business class, to South America are difficult to come by… one great reason for your next challenge should be something like 2 cards 2 continents… South America and Africa!
Great update, Nick. Thanks.
Great post Nick! I go to Brazil every year to visit family and have been using Aeroplan since I can rely on star alliance + both gol and azul. If you take the Gol international flight it’s only 30k economy.
Hey Nick – I just looked into this extensively while booking a trip to southern SA (Chile/Argentina) and found that across the board flights to/from the US to Santiago are much cheaper with points than flights to/from Buenos Aires. The (relative) sweet spot I found is one-way US to/from Santiago for 61k Avios booked with Iberia and flying on LATAM. As you mentioned, business class can be hard to come by to SA. From what I’ve found LATAM offers the most options to/from SA and one of the best products in SA with lie-flat seats.
With regard to booking Asiana flights on united.com, I have never seen an Asiana option out of SFO to anywhere other than Korea or Singapore. Just want to confirm that is truly an option. Just looked now and don’t see any Asiana options for the entire month of Feb
I do not think you will find Asiana flights from SFO to South America. The section related Asiana is about using Asiana miles as the currency to book star alliance flights (partner award), like United, Copa and Avianca.
What are the best values for intra-South American award flights, specifically within Argentina?
Not sure what the BEST value is but I recently booked an Aerolinas Argentinas flight from AEP to IGR by transferring Citi points to Air France and plan to book other flights within Argentina the same way in the future.
Nick, someone said that it’s possible to book LATAM via Aeroplan. Is this the case?
Having been using points to fly to Northern South America a lot over the past 5 years, I have to say that Avios/AA points are the best option, and maybe really the only option.
United/Star Alliance routing is terrible to most places, you will usually have to route via Panama City. Anything but the biggest cities will require at least 2 stops. Availability isn’t great. Good luck finding anything under 14hrs.
Lifemiles can work out of NYC but for the rest of the country, it never manages to pick up the United connections you need.
I’ve only managed to ever find availability once using Delta at a rate even remotely reasonable. Partner flights intra-South America might be better but I don’t have any experience there. I met some guy recently that said he paid 7000 points from BWI to Bogota so perhaps deals are out there, but I took a peek for that deal and could not duplicate (people often like to exaggerate!)
AA almost always has availability. The only time they don’t are around Christian Holidays (Easter, Xmas, etc). They fly most cities from Miami, and you can get to Miami easily. Anywhere East Coast to North SA won’t take much more than 7-9 hrs. I usually use Avios, all for a lovely 10k or 11k per flight (x2 if you connect, so its 20k all-in). It was a wonderful 7500 avios before devaluation.
Net, this post should probably just say, “For the best chances, fly American and use whatever points are convenient.” Avios are great especially as you can mix-match if you want to take a biz leg (book two tickets). The only downside is the fees to South America are usually over $20 so there is a bigger penalty for canceling compared to American Points, which now allow free cancelation.
Is business worth it like it is for overnight Europe flights? Need to get to EZE from NYC. What’s the cheapest way? My wife has relatives near Cancun and Merida so we could do a stopover there or even in another country. Any idea on how lap infants work? It was great flying delta one to Europe with just $5 in fees.
@Ryan, it sounds like you have a lot more experience booking awards to South America than I do, but I’m surprised to hear that you find American to have more partner availability than Copa/United/Avianca. That’s great if it’s the case, but I’ve struggled lately finding AA awards that are bookable with BA Avios. If you’re finding them on these routes, that’s great news indeed.
I felt like I’d seen some not-awful options out of a few cities I’d checked for Star Alliance awards. I just picked two random dates and searched from Chicago (so not New York) to Santiago, Chile (so not northern South America) using Avianca LifeMiles. Two stops was certainly the norm, but the routings didn’t seem awful to me. On those two dates, I saw quite a bit of two-stop business class award availability, including these options (some were mixed-cabin, but almost all of them were 80%+ business):
ORD-MCO-PTY-SCL
ORD-YYZ-BOG-SCL
ORD-IAD-PTY-SCL
ORD-JFK-PTY-SCL
ORD-MEX-SCL (yeah, you can book AeroMexico with LifeMiles. Somehow, I didn’t realize that!)
My sample size was really small here – sounds like you’re working with a much larger sample set, so maybe AA is indeed the best option. I’d been looking for a specific trip and mostly seeing Star Alliance options for my dates, but I’ll be happy if I can score a good nonstop AA flight to South America for a reasonable number of miles.
Glad you looked into that! I don’t have much experience searching for the rest of South America.
I took a peek on AA.com and looks like you can get direct flights to Brazil and Peru pretty easily at the low rate, while Buenos Aires and Santiago aren’t available.
There might be some sweet spots depending on the location.
United sure is a lot better at finding you a route no matter how convoluted!
Now that you can search for Latam awards on Alaska, you can piece together some great intra-SouthAmerica awards with stopover. It’s only 12,500 and for a BOG-LIMAstopover-SaoPaulo flight!
Great post but I still need some help.
What’s the best program to book United and/or Copa NYC-PTY?
Would be super helpful to share which airlines offers lie flat seats and the best premium cabin experience to South America
I think you are already aware but the post doesn’t reflect this: you can now book Latam flights on the Alaska website.
Correct on both accounts. I’ll update that, thanks!
A follow up post on which alliance you are actually likely to find availability would be helpful.
Actually, they’re all pretty equally likely it seems. There seems to be far less competition for awards to South America. Most routes to South America are not served with flatbed seats so you don’t have so many people clamoring for the availability.
I need help. For 20 years I was Premium, Gold, even 1K on United.
Then retirement and COVID dramatically reduced my mileage earnings, so I have no status but my wife and I each have roughly 70K Miles, but I’m at a loss to understand how they work.
Our goal is to upgrade from coach to Business in November for a RT toSantiago Chile from PDX.
Thanks for any help.
Sorry, somehow I missed this comment before. I’m sure my response is too late for your use, but I’m responding for people who stumble on this in the future: Using miles to upgrade is usually not a very good value. Typically, only the most expensive economy class fares can even be upgraded and then the cost in miles to upgrade is not much less than the cost in miles to book an award ticket. There are a few exceptions, but I would generally only recommend someone consider upgrades with miles when your employer is paying for full fare economy but the company travel policy prevents you from booking business class. When it’s not your money, it hurts a bit less. But otherwise, combination of cash and miles just isn’t particularly attractive.