Best Cards For South America Flights

Making the list, yet again, is Chase Sapphire with its Ultimate Rewards. The greatest thing about these rewards is their flexibility. Think of the ease of booking a flight to South America if you have 10+ different airlines you can transfer points to at a 1:1 rate. With JetBlue and Southwest expanding their international services, these are great options for economy seats. Or you can grab a ticket on United, which has a considerable hub in Houston that offers lots of options for straight flights to South America. With all of the varied transfer options, finding a flight to South America is made easy using just one card.

American Airlines may have lost Latam, but it’s still drawing attention with its new routes offered from the US to South America. For example, use miles to fly non-stop economy or business to Brazil, Mexico, Honduras, Dominican Republic and Argentina from the US for just $5.60 in taxes and fees one way. There are 58 daily flights to 16 Latin American countries and 78 daily flights to 24 cities in Mexico. Their planes are super comfortable, the service is still excellent and earning miles can be extremely easy with the AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite MasterCard. And being part of the OneWorld Alliance means you can still use American Airlines Miles to fly on any of their travel partners if you find a better route/ticket there.

This card gets you some flexible awards that can be very useful when looking for flights to South America. Something unique about American Express transfer partners is that most of them are 1:1. The exception is AeroMexico, which offers a 1:1.6 transfer rate and happens to have some of the newest planes on routes from the US to South America. You also can transfer miles to Avianca, a Colombian carrier that flies from 6 different major hubs in the states to destinations all over South America. Delta has a 1:1 instant transfer rate as well and offers saver-level seats that vary depending on where you want to go in South America. While we still prefer Chase, the ease of accumulating and transferring rewards when traveling abroad makes American Express a worthwhile alternative to consider.

This one may come as a surprise considering South America is nowhere near Great Britain. But for that very reason we’re including it on our South America list. By avoiding London, you will actually be avoiding those enormous surcharges and fuel charges. And, because British Airways is a distance-based award chart organized by cabin class, if you search and book through the British Airways site for an American Airline flight going south of the border, you can find some better deals than if you just went straight through the AA site. Plus, you won’t be paying those high surcharges that British Airways likes to tack on.

Because Delta is starting a new, exciting relationship with Latam, the South American door is now wide open. So while you may not be on a Delta plane to get there, you can use Delta points flying Latam, which happens to be the largest South American carrier. Grab the Platinum Delta Amex card as a great middle option. The sign-up bonus is decent and comes after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months. The perks offered with this card are still good enough to offset the annual fee. Because it's an American Express card, you only get one sign-up bonus per lifetime, so might want to wait for a special so you can really collect.

United has an awesome international presence -- and that includes going to South America. After Latam jumped ship over to Delta, United wasn’t left shrugging its shoulders. They sprang into action by forming a new partnership with Azul Airlines, which is Brazilian based. Plus, United already has Columbian, Avianca Airlines and Copa Airlines under the Star Alliance umbrella. United is still one of the best ways to get to South America. And because they're partnered with 28 airlines through Star Alliance, you can use your United miles to book with any of their partners. The United Explorer Club Card is a great personal card to start collecting points with. Keep in mind that with the standard sign-up bonus, you can usually get one round trip economy ticket, so stay tuned for sign-up specials where you can sometimes score 60,000 points all the way up to 100,000 points on the business versions after reaching your minimum spend.

Latam has been tossed about here and there. But once settled in with its new SkyTeam alliance, it'll be back to business as usual. Latam is by far the best airline in South America. With its new relationship with Delta, it’s looking forward to breaking down barriers and borders, creating more flights between the two Americas. You can now earn and redeem Latam Pass Miles on all Delta Air flights, and vice versa. That's why we're tossing the Delta SkyMiles Cards in the South American mix. There are a number of Delta cards you can pick up with American Express. This particular one is a great middle ground. Latam Miles are not the easiest to earn, but thanks to its new liaison, just focus on earning Delta miles. Once miles are earned, look on the Delta site to find flights.