Buenos Aires, Iguazu National Park, Santiago, and Torres del Paine National Park. These are just a few of the places that come to mind when I think of southern South America. With that said you may be thinking, what are the best award redemptions to South America? In the post, I’ll cover everything you need to know.

Flying to southern South America is relatively easy for US travelers. Major airports in Santiago, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro offer nonstop flights from the US.

Best Credit Cards to Use to Fly to southern South America

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Earning transferable points on my travel spend helps me to travel the way that I do. With that said, there are number of credit cards with high earn rates in the travel category. The points that you earn can then be transferred to an airline to book a flight.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve, Citi Prestige, and American Express Gold (Learn More Here) are personal credit cards to check out. You’ll earn 3X on travel with the Reserve, 5X on flights with the Prestige, and 4X on travel with the Gold. The American Express Platinum (Learn More Here) is great to have to earn 5X Amex points on flights booked with the airline and for lounge access.

Business owners should check out the Chase Ink Business Preferred. It earns 3X on travel. If you want to earn 5X Amex points on flights booked with the airline and lounge access, the American Express Business Platinum (Learn More Here) is a card to look into.

Best Award Redemptions to South America

As you’re reading this best award redemptions to South America list, it’s important to keep in mind two things. One, award pricing is shown for one-way flights. Simply double the number of miles shown for round-trip flights. Two, the bank transfer partners for each airline are as follows:

• Amex – Aeroplan, ANA, Avianca, British, Cathay, Etihad, Singapore, Virgin
• Capital One – Aeroplan, Avianca, Cathay, Etihad
• Chase – British, Singapore, United, Virgin
• Citi – Avianca, Cathay, Etihad, Singapore, Virgin
• Marriott – All

Air Canada Aeroplan

In 2020, the Aeroplan program will see changes. This is due to the merger between Air Canada and Aeroplan. Until then, you can take advantage of its competitive award pricing to southern South America.

Fuel charges are the reason travelers avoid Aeroplan. When flying airlines like Lufthansa, Aeroplan passes on these charges to you. This can means hundreds if not thousands of dollars out-of-pocket. The good news is that you can use Avianca and United instead to fly Lufthansa without fuel surcharges.

For one-way Star Alliance flights to countries in the southern South America region, all it takes is 55,000 Aeroplan miles to book a flight. For those wanting to fly economy, 30,000 Aeroplan miles gets you a one-way flight.

Aeroplan’s booking process is straightforward:

1. Search with United
2. Confirm the availability on Aeroplan
3. Complete the booking

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

There are many reasons to love the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. For one, Alaska Airlines lets you add in a stopover on a one-way flight. Not to mention the fact that Alaska Airlines offers competitive award prices on many of its partner airline routes.

Alaska Airlines comes up short due to the fact that earning its miles may take some work. That’s not to say earning its miles is impossible. It’s just that the 2 primary ways to earn its miles, outside of flying, are by putting your spend on Alaska Airlines or Marriott credit cards.

For award flights to southern South America, there are 2 options. The first option is to fly American Airlines. With 57,500 Alaska miles, you can book a one-way business class American flight. 30,000 Alaska miles is the cost for one-way economy flights.

LATAM is the second option. With 45,000 Alaska miles, you can book a one-way LATAM business class flight. Economy can also make sense as you’ll only need 25,000 miles to book a one-way flight.

The Alaska booking process for American flights is as follows:

1. Search on British Airways
2. Confirm availability on Alaska
3. Complete the booking online

For LATAM flights, the booking process is slightly different:

1. Search on British Airways
2. Call Alaska: 800-252-7522
3. Provide the agent the flight info and complete the booking

American Airlines AAdvantage

US travelers are likely going to be familiar with the AAdvantage program. One of the primary sweet spots left in the program are award flights to the Middle East. What you may have not considered is using miles to fly to southern South America.

While earning American miles is easy, it takes a ton of them to book an award flight. This is one of the drawbacks to keep in mind when investing your time and money in the AAdvantage program.

For American and Oneworld flights to countries in South America Region 2, 57,500 American miles gets you a one-way business class flight. Economy flyers should consider booking a one-way economy flight with 30,000 American miles.

Booking American flights with American flights is easy:

1. Search for flights on American
2. Complete the booking online

For LATAM flights, the booking process takes extra steps:

1. Search for flights on British Airways
2. Call American: 800-882-8880
3. Provide the agent the flight info
4. Complete the booking over the phone

ANA Mileage Club

ANA Mileage Club is a program that I’ve come to love. There are so many sweet spots that keep me coming back for more. One sweet spot to consider is booking award flights to southern South America.

The requirement to book round-trip partner flights is one of the downsides with using ANA miles. That, and the fact that ANA passes on fuel surcharges. This comes into play when you’re flying airlines like Austrian and Lufthansa that have high fuel surcharges.

With 88,000 ANA miles, you can book a round-trip Star Alliance business class flight to southern South America. That’s right, round-trip! Round-trip economy flights can be booked for only 55,000 ANA miles. When you realize these are the round-trip prices, you can see how much value is to be had with ANA.

Booking flights using ANA is relatively straightforward:

1. Search for flights on United
2. Confirm award availability on ANA
3. Complete the booking online

Avianca Lifemiles

For travelers looking to avoid fuel surcharges, Avianca Lifemiles is your program. When flying airlines like Austrian and Lufthansa, notorious for having high fuel surcharges, using Lifemiles will prevent you from paying high taxes and fees.

The biggest thing to be aware of with Lifemiles is award availability. Lifemiles has an unreliable website, so you can’t count on the same award availability that you found on United to be shown on Lifemiles.

With that said, 60,000 Lifemiles allows you to book a one-way business class Star Alliance flight to the south of South America region. Half of that cost at 30,000 Lifemiles lands you a one-way economy flight.

Lifemiles booking process is as follows:

1. Search for flights on United
2. Confirm availability on Lifemiles
3. Complete the booking online

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

Another Oneworld program to check out is Cathay Pacific Asia Miles. The key to keeping your award cost low with Cathay Pacific is to fly only 1 Oneworld airline partner. The more airline partners in your itinerary, the more miles you’ll need.

Award costs on many Cathay and partner airline routes is why you should be cautious with the Asia Miles program. Many routes require quite a few miles and are simply not competitive.

50,000+ Asia Miles allows you to book a one-way Oneworld business class flight to southern South America. With 27,000+ Asia Miles, you can book a one-way economy flight.

Cathay makes you work for it when the time comes to book the flight:

1. Search for American/LATAM flights on British Airways
2. Call Cathay Pacific: 866-892-2598
3. Confirm the award space over the phone and complete the booking

Etihad Airways Etihad Guest

Similar to Alaska Airlines, Etihad has individual partnerships with airlines. This can open up tons of value. Especially when you’re booking American Airlines award flights.

Partner airline flights can’t be booked on the Etihad website. This may be a drawback for some when using the Etihad Guest program. From personal experience, the Etihad agents are competent and will be able to help you to book a partner flight.

One-way business class flights to South America American Zone 2 will only set you back 50,000 Etihad Guest miles. If you can find American Airlines first class availability, the best option in this list is to use 62,500 Etihad miles to book a one-way flight. Note that American flies first class from Dallas and Miami to Brazil (GRU).

It’s not too difficult to book partner flights with Etihad:

1. Search for flights on British Airways
2. Call Etihad: 877-690-0767
3. Confirm availability and complete the booking over the phone

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

The KrisFlyer program is great to use to book Singapore Airlines premium cabin flights. What you may not have considered is using KrisFlyer miles to book partner airline flights to South America.

An uncompetitive award chart is why you should caution yourself when using KrisFlyer. Singapore Airlines continues to devalue its award charts, which has driven value out of the program.

For Star Alliance flights to southern South American, you can use 57,500 KrisFlyer miles to book a one-way business class flight. Using 30,000 KrisFlyer miles to book a one-way economy flight may also be a deal to consider.

Like many Star Alliance programs, the booking process starts on United:

1. Search for flights on United
2. Confirm availability on Singapore airlines
3. Complete the booking online

United Airlines Mileage Plus

Like American Airlines, the United Mileage Plus program will be familiar to most US travelers. Using United miles to fly airlines that have high fuel surcharges like Austrian and Lufthansa is one of the best ways to use its miles. The reason is because United doesn’t pass on fuel surcharges.

On November 15, 2019, United will remove its award chart. The award program will move to dynamic pricing instead. This means that the award cost will be tied to the cash cost of the flight. As you might imagine, removing an award chart will be a huge downside.

Until that time, 60,000 United miles lets you book a one-way Star Alliance business class flight to southern South America. One-way economy flights can be booked with 30,000 United miles.

United makes it easy to book flights:

1. Search for flights on United
2. Complete the booking online

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Virgin Atlantic and its Flying Club program is another non-major airline program like Alaska and Etihad. One of the most well known sweet spots with Virgin Atlantic is to book ANA first and business class flights to Japan.

A downside to using Flying Club miles is that most partner airline flights require a phone call to book. The reason is because outside of Delta, airline partners can’t be searched on the Virgin Atlantic site.

With that said, 45,000 Flying Club miles lands you a one-way Delta business class flight. An absolute steal! Economy is also a great deal at 22,500 Flying Club miles one-way.

The Virgin Atlantic booking process is as follows:

1. Search for flights on Virgin Atlantic
2. If flights can’t be searched on Virgin, use Delta
3. Complete the booking online
4. Call Virgin: 800-365-9500
5. Complete the booking over the phone

Conclusion on the Best Award Redemptions to South America South

If you need more travel inspiration, check out Kara and Nate’s Argentina, Patagonia and Uruguay vlogs. These vlogs show you how incredible southern South America is.

How do you use points and miles to travel to southern South America? Which programs make your best award redemptions to South America list? Please let me know in the comments or by sending me an email on my contact page.

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