Best Ways to Fly to Argentina on Points for an Antarctic Expedition

For the type of traveler who enjoys going to remote places that few other people have visited, Antarctica is definitely a bucket-list destination. The population on this icy continent at its peak is only around 5,000 people, and the lack of human development makes Antarctica an amazing place to be awed by the forces of nature.

The Earth’s seventh continent can be accessed from Australia, South Africa or Argentina, the latter being the most popular option for U.S.-based travelers. Many fly to the southern tip of Argentina and then take a cruise across the Drake Passage (which refers to the stretch of ocean between South America and Antarctica).

The Drake Passage sailings depart from the small Argentinian city of Ushuaia. However, no airlines operate direct flights between the U.S. and Ushuaia. So, your best option to reach this city will probably be by flying to Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, and then boarding a domestic flight to Ushuaia, a town in southern Patagonia.

Unfortunately, this relatively long flight journey can be fairly pricey if you book your tickets with cash. The vacation becomes even more expensive when you tack on the cost of a cruise to Antarctica (which can cost upwards of $10,000 with some operators).

So, to help you save some money, we’re going to look at the best ways to fly to Argentina with points. If you’re interested in going on the 10xTravel Antarctica group trip, you can use this guide to help you get there with credit card rewards.

Best Ways to Fly to Buenos Aires with Points

If you’re a U.S. citizen planning on accessing Antarctica via the Drake Passage, the first thing you’ll need to do is find a flight to Buenos Aires (EZE), and then catch a connecting flight to Ushuaia (USH). Currently, cash prices for round-trip flights between major U.S. cities (like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles) and Buenos Aires in economy class are fluctuating between $600 and $1,200.

So, by booking these flights with rewards, you can significantly reduce the out-of-pocket cost of your trip to Antarctica. Luckily, Ezeiza International Airport is a major airport, and there are several frequent-flyer programs that allow you to book award flights between the U.S. and Buenos Aires.

Let’s look at some examples of how you can fly between major U.S. cities and Buenos Aires with points.

U.S. Cities to and Buenos Aires with Avianca LifeMiles

One of the best programs through which you can book flights between the U.S. and Buenos Aires is Avianca LifeMiles.

First of all, this program is a 1:1 transfer partner of many of the major U.S. credit card rewards programs, including American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Brex, Capital One Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards and Wells Fargo Rewards. This means that earning miles with this program is easy if you have a credit card from one of the aforementioned issuers.

Second, if you’re willing to deal with a layover in each direction, you can find some low rates for award flights between the U.S. and Buenos Aires through this program.

For example, we found a round-trip economy-class Avianca flight between New York (JFK) and Buenos Aires (EZE) for 36,700 Avianca miles plus about $111 in taxes and fees. These flights have layovers in Medellin, Colombia, on the outbound and in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on the return.

If you were to book this same flight itinerary on the same dates with cash instead of miles through the Avianca website, it would cost you about $810.

Factoring in the taxes and fees you’d have to pay for the award flight, this redemption would give you a value of about 1.9 cents per mile, which is pretty good for an economy-class award. So, by booking these flights with Avianca miles rather than with cash, not only can you save around $700, you’ll also get a good value for your rewards.

Through the Avianca LifeMiles program, we also found round-trip award itineraries at good rates departing from several other U.S. cities, such as Miami; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Orlando, Florida; and Dallas.

Earning Avianca Miles with Credit Cards

As mentioned above, the Avianca LifeMiles program is a 1:1 transfer partner of many major U.S. credit card rewards programs. This means that if you have a balance of credit card points with any of Avianca’s transfer partners, you can transfer those points to the LifeMiles program.

If you don’t currently have enough credit card points to afford a round-trip flight between the U.S. and Buenos Aires, you might consider signing up for a new card, earning a welcome bonus and then using those points to book your flights.

Here are some cards with which you could earn a welcome bonus and then transfer your points to the Avianca LifeMiles program:

• American Express® Gold Card ($325 annual fee, see rates and fees)
• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card ($95 annual fee)
• Citi Strata Premier℠ Card ($95 annual fee)
• Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Card ($95 annual fee)

Currently, each of these credit cards is offering a welcome bonus that’s large enough to easily cover the award flight in the example above (and probably still have enough points left over to cover your flight between Buenos Aires and Ushuaia).

U.S. Cities to Buenos Aires with American Airlines AAdvantage

Another great program for booking award flights between the U.S. and Buenos Aires is American Airlines AAdvantage. This program just recently became a 1:1 transfer partner of Citi ThankYou Rewards, which is the only major U.S. credit card rewards program from which you can transfer points to the AAdvantage program. And because American Airlines is one of the “Big Three” U.S. airlines, many U.S. residents may already have a balance of AAdvantage miles from flying.

You can often find high-value redemptions for flights between major U.S. cities and Buenos Aires through this program. For example, we found a round-trip economy-class American Airlines itinerary between Denver (DEN) and Buenos Aires (EZE) with a layover in Dallas (DFW) for 50,000 AAdvantage miles and about $106 in taxes and fees.

If you were to book this exact same itinerary with cash instead of miles through the American Airlines website, it would cost you about $1,065.

Thus, factoring in the taxes and fees on the award flight, this redemption would give you a value of about 1.9 cents per mile, which is pretty good for an economy-class award.

We also saw award availability on routes between Buenos Aires and several other major U.S. cities, including San Francisco, New York, Miami, Orlando, Oklahoma City and more.

You can also find business-class awards on American Airlines metal between the U.S. and Buenos Aires through the AAdvantage program. However, these business-class awards are slightly more difficult to find than economy-class awards.

We found a round-trip American Airlines-operated flagship business-class award itinerary between New York (JFK) and Buenos Aires (EZE) for 179,000 AAdvantage miles and about $100 in taxes and fees.

If you were to book the same flight itinerary with cash instead of miles through the American Airlines website, it would cost you $4,771.

So, accounting for the taxes and fees you’d have to pay for the award flight, this redemption would give you a value of 2.6 cents per mile, which is decent.

Depending on your origin city, you could find business-class flights at even lower rates if you’re willing to fly with connections. For example, here’s a one-way flight from New York with a layover in Miami for 65,000 AAdvantage miles.

Keep in mind that it helps to be flexible with travel dates if you want to redeem fewer miles for flights in a premium cabin.

Earning AAdvantage Miles with Credit Cards

As previously mentioned, the American Airlines AAdvantage program is a 1:1 transfer partner of Citi ThankYou Rewards, which means that some Citi credit cards allow you to get your hands on AAdvantage miles through transfers. Additionally, several AAdvantage co-branded credit cards earn AAdvantage miles directly. These AAdvantage cards could be a great option if you fly with American Airlines often.

Here are some of the credit cards you may want to consider if you want to book a flight to Argentina with AAdvantage miles:

• Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® ($595 annual fee)
• Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® ($0 intro annual fee for 12 months, then $99)
• Citi Strata Elite℠ Card ($595 annual fee)
• Citi Strata Premier℠ Card ($95 annual fee)

Each of these cards is currently offering a welcome bonus that’s large enough to afford the AAdvantage redemption in the example above as well as have some miles left over to use towards your flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia.

Each of these cards is currently offering a welcome bonus that’s large enough to afford the AAdvantage redemption in the example above as well as have some miles left over to use towards your flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia.

U.S. Cities to Buenos Aires with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Another frequent-flyer program through which you can find award flights between major U.S. cities and Buenos Aires is Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. This program is a direct 1:1 transfer partner of most of the major U.S. credit card rewards programs, including American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards and Wells Fargo Rewards.

Additionally, this program offers award flights between the U.S. and Buenos Aires at decent rates. For example, we found a round-trip LATAM-operated economy-class flight between Miami (MIA) and Buenos Aires (EZE) for 75,000 Virgin points plus about $168 in taxes and fees.

If you were to book this same flight itinerary on the same dates with cash through the LATAM website, it would cost you about $1,228.

So, taking into account the taxes and fees you’d have to pay for the award flight, this redemption would give you a value of about 1.4 cents per mile, which is decent.

We also saw availability on routes between Buenos Aires and several other major U.S. cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Houston and more.

If you’re interested in booking a business-class award flight between the U.S. and Buenos Aires, you also can find these awards through the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program, but they’re more scarce than economy-class awards.

For example, we found a round-trip LATAM-operated business-class itinerary between Miami and Buenos Aires in March 2026 for 190,000 Virgin points and about $168 in taxes and fees.

If you were to book this same itinerary with cash through the LATAM website, it would cost you $3,460.

So, factoring in the taxes and fees you’d have to pay for the award flight, this redemption would give you a value of about 1.7 cents per point, which is not great for a business-class award, but it’s still a decent use for your miles.

It’s worth noting that LATAM doesn’t offer an overly impressive business-class product. Nonetheless, this route between Miami and Buenos Aires is operated using Boeing 787-8 aircraft, which offer lie-flat seats, allowing you to arrive in Buenos Aires feeling well-rested.

Earning Virgin Points with Credit Cards

Virgin points can be earned by transferring points from several credit card rewards programs to the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program at a 1:1 ratio. These programs include American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards and Wells Fargo Rewards.

Additionally, Virgin Atlantic has its own co-branded credit card that allows you to earn Virgin points directly.

Here are some of the credit cards we recommend looking into if you’re interested in booking an award flight between the U.S. and Buenos Aires through the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program:

• American Express® Gold Card ($325 annual fee, see rates and fees)
• Bilt Mastercard® ($0 annual fee)
• Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card ($395 annual fee)
• Virgin Red Rewards Mastercard® ($99 annual fee)

Several of the credit cards listed above currently offer enough points to cover economy-class flights in the example above.

Best Ways to Fly from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, Argentina

Once you arrive in Buenos Aires, you’ll need to then fly to Ushuaia on the southern tip of Argentina to catch a cruise to Antarctica.

There are two major airports in the city of Buenos Aires from which you can catch a flight to Ushuaia: Ezeiza International Airport (EZE) and Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (AEP). Aeroparque is located in Palermo, which makes it much more accessible if you’re staying in that neighborhood. Ezeiza Airport is much farther from the city center. However, we recommend checking for flights from both airports to compare price and availability.

The majority of flights from Buenos Aires (both EZE or AEP) to Ushuaia (USH) are operated by Aerolíneas Argentinas. However, low-cost carriers JetSMART and Flybondi also operate flights on this route.

Booking with Air France-KLM Flying Blue Miles

Unfortunately, despite the fact that Aerolíneas Argentinas is a member of SkyTeam Alliance, many SkyTeam loyalty programs don’t seem to offer Aerolíneas Argentinas award space on this route. The only frequent-flyer program that’s a transfer partner of major U.S. credit cards that offers Aerolíneas Argentinas award space on this route is Air France-KLM Flying Blue.

For example, we found a round-trip award itinerary between Ezeiza International Airport (EZE) and Ushuaia (USH) for 29,000 Flying Blue miles and about $22 in taxes and fees.

If you were to book the same flights through the Aerolíneas Argentinas website with cash, it would cost you about 309 euros (about $356).

Thus, factoring in the taxes and fees paid for the award flight, this redemption would give you a value of about 1.2 cents per mile, which is decent for an economy-class award.

The Flying Blue program is a 1:1 transfer partner of several of the major U.S. credit card rewards programs, including American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Brex, Capital One Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards and Wells Fargo Rewards.

Of course, you can also book Aerolíneas Argentinas-operated award flights on this route is the airline’s own Aerolíneas Plus program, which isn’t a transfer partner of any of the major U.S. credit card rewards programs.

Booking with Credit Card Travel Portals

Unfortunately, the majority of Flying Blue redemptions on this route offer value of around 1 cent per point. In this case, you may be better off booking your award flights between Buenos Aires and Ushuaia through your credit card travel booking portal (such as American Express Travel®, Capital One’s travel booking site or Chase Travel℠).

Typically, when booking flights through these credit card travel booking portals, you’ll get a fixed value of 1 cent per point. However, there may also be more award availability than you’ll find through the Flying Blue program.

Let’s take a look at an example of how you can book a flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia through Capital One’s travel booking site. To start, enter your departure airport (Buenos Aires), your arrival airport (Ushuaia) and your desired flight dates.

Then, conduct your search and view all of the available flights on those dates and their respective prices in cash.

Once you find an option that works for you, select the fare that you want to book and click the “Continue” button to add that flight to your itinerary. Repeat this process for your return flight.

You should then be able to see a price summary for your selected flights that includes the number of points or miles required to book those flights. As you can see in the example above, Aerolíneas Argentina’s flights can be booked for either $217.90 or 21,790 Capital One Miles.

Finally, when you get to the checkout page, you’ll simply need to select whether you want to pay with cash, with points or with a combination of the two.

All credit card travel booking sites work essentially the same way, so you shouldn’t have any trouble using your credit card points to book your flight between Buenos Aires and Ushuaia.

Booking with Cash

As you can see from the example above, flights between Buenos Aires and Ushuaia are generally pretty inexpensive, so many travelers tend to prefer to book inexpensive short-haul flights like these with cash and save their points for long-haul award flights with high cash rates.

If you want to book your flights between Buenos Aires and Ushuaia with cash through a credit card travel booking portal, you can do so by simply selecting money as your payment method at the checkout page.

However, we recommend checking other booking sites before completing your booking through your credit card travel booking portal. While some of these portals offer a price match guarantee (ensuring that you’ll get the lowest price available), others do not and you may be able to get a better price on your flights elsewhere.

We recommend checking rates on the airline’s website as well as with third-party online travel agencies, including Google Flights, Expedia, Kayak, Kiwi.com, Momondo and more. In some cases, it may be significantly cheaper to book through one of these sites.

Booking Hotel Stays in Buenos Aires and Ushuaia with Points

When traveling to Ushuaia to catch your cruise to Antarctica, you’ll need to book a hotel in Ushuaia. In all likelihood, you’ll also want to book a hotel in Buenos Aires where you can sleep for a night or two before catching your flight to Ushuaia (rather than hopping off one long flight and directly onto another flight).

If you have some credit card points to spare, you can use those to cover the cost of your hotel stays, thus further reducing the out-of-pocket cost of your trip.

Booking Hotels in Buenos Aires with Points

If you want to book a stay in between your arrival in Buenos Aires and your departure to Ushuaia, then you want to stay at a hotel relatively close to the airport if your arriving flight and departing flight are both out of Ezeiza International Airport. There are two options that we found for hotels near this airport that could be booked through hotel loyalty programs that are transfer partners of major U.S. credit card rewards programs.

Hotels Near Ezeiza International Airport

The first hotel we found is the Howard Johnson by Wyndham Ezeiza Convention Center, which is just a short drive from the airport. Since the Howard Johnson brand is owned by Wyndham, you can book this hotel with Wyndham Rewards points.

If you don’t currently have a balance of Wyndham Rewards points, you can transfer either Capital One Miles or Citi ThankYou Points to the Wyndham Rewards program.

We searched for a one-night stay at this Howard Johnson location in February 2026, and the rate was 15,000 points per night.

The nightly cash rate for this property is about $150, so this redemption would give you a value of about 1 cent per point, which isn’t good. Nonetheless, if you want to keep the out-of-pocket cost of your trip low, then it may be beneficial to book this hotel with points.

Capital One Miles can be transferred to the Wyndham Rewards program at a 1:1 ratio. If you have either the Citi Prestige Card, the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card or the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card, then your ThankYou Points will transfer to the Wyndham Rewards program at a 1:1.25 ratio. If you have any other Citi card that allows transfers, then your points will transfer at a less favorable ratio of 1:0.875.

The second hotel we found, which is even closer to Ezeiza Airport, is the Marriott Buenos Aires Ezeiza Airport. We searched for a one-night stay in February 2026, and the rate was 28,000 Bonvoy points.

As you can see in the screenshot above, the cash rate for the same night was $216, which means that this redemption provides a value of a little under 0.8 cent per point, which is right around the average value of Marriott. In this case, you may want to just pay for this stay with cash since your credit card points could be worth significantly more through another transfer partner. However, if your main concern is keeping the out-of-pocket cost of your trip low, then you might want to book with points.

You can transfer points from American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards to the Marriott Bonvoy program. However, since this redemption offers a value of less than 1 cent per point, you’d be better off just booking this stay through your credit card’s travel booking portal and getting at least 1 cent per point (and possibly more if you’re booking through Chase Travel℠).

Hotels Near Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (AEP)

If you want to check out Buenos Aires for a day or two before continuing to Ushuaia, then it may be a good idea to book a flight out of Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (AEP), which is located in Palermo, one of the nicest neighborhoods of Buenos Aires.

In terms of hotels that can be booked through hotel rewards programs in the Palermo neighborhood, the closest one to Aeroparque is Dazzler by Wyndham Buenos Aires Polo.

We searched for an award stay at this location in February 2026 and found that a standard room cost 30,000 points per night.

If you were to book the exact same nights at this location with cash instead of points, it would cost you $124 at the Wyndham Rewards member rate.

Thus, this redemption would give you a value of only about 0.4 cent per point, which is poor.

Once again, the Wyndham Rewards program is a transfer partner of both Capital One Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards. However, instead of transferring credit card points to the Wyndham Rewards program and making this low-value redemption, we recommend redeeming your points for this hotel stay (or another hotel) through your credit card travel booking portal (both Capital One and Citi offer a fixed value of 1 cent per point through their respective travel portals).

Recoleta Grand, Buenos Aires, A Tribute Portfolio Hotel is another option that’s relatively close (about 30 minutes by taxi or bus) to Aeroparque. This hotel is part of the Marriott Bonvoy program, which is a 1:1 transfer partner of both American Express Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards.

We found that the nightly award rate for a standard room in February 2026 at this location was 40,000 Bonvoy points.

If you were to book this same room on the same night with cash instead of points, it would cost you about $304.

So, the value of this redemption is about 0.8 cent per point, which is average for a Marriott Bonvoy redemption but still a low value for either Amex or Chase points. Once again, we recommend booking this hotel (or another hotel in the area) through either credit card programs’ travel booking site, both of which offer at least 1 cent per point in value.

Nonetheless, if you already have a balance of points in either the Marriott Bonvoy or Wyndham Rewards program, then you may want to consider booking one of the hotels above through one of those programs.

Booking Hotels in Ushuaia with Points

Ushuaia is a relatively small town. So, when looking for a hotel in between your arrival and your departure for Antarctica, you don’t really have to worry about being close to the airport or to the pier. Everything is in close proximity to everything else.

If you’re planning on participating in the 10xTravel Antarctica group trip, then you don’t need to worry about booking a hotel stay in Ushuaia the night before the ship’s departure. This tour package includes a one-night pre-departure hotel stay at a four-star hotel in Ushuaia.

However, if you aren’t participating in the 10xTravel Antarctica group trip or you are participating in this trip and arriving in Ushuaia more than one night before the ship’s departure, then you may want to book a hotel stay in Ushuaia with points.

In terms of hotels that could be booked through hotel rewards programs in Ushuaia, the only option we found was the Wyndham Garden Ushuaia Hotel del Glacier. We searched for a one-night stay at this location in February 2026, and the rate was 15,000 points.

The cash rate for the same night for Wyndham Rewards members was $172, which means that the value of this redemption was about 1.2 cents per point, which is decent.

The Bottom Line

Antarctica remains one of the few places on Earth that’s largely untouched by human influence. For this reason, this mysterious continent is alluring to particularly adventurous travelers. Unfortunately, getting to Antarctica can be difficult, time-consuming and expensive. However, you can significantly reduce the cost of a trip to Antarctica and potentially bring it within your budget by using points and miles to book flights and hotels.

For most U.S.-based travelers, the route to Antarctica will begin by flying from the U.S. to Buenos Aires. From there, you’ll need to take a domestic flight to Ushuaia, which is located on the southern tip of South America. From Ushuaia, you’ll sail across the Drake Passage and arrive in Antarctica.

You can book a round-trip flight between the U.S. and Buenos Aires at favorable rates through frequent-flyer programs like Avianca LifeMiles, American Airlines AAdvantage and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. However, if you want to book flights between Buenos Aires and Ushuaia with points, you’ll most likely have to book through your credit card’s travel booking portal or through the Flying Blue program.

You can also reduce the overall cost of your trip by booking your hotel stays in Buenos Aires and Ushuaia with points through Marriott Bonvoy, Wyndham Rewards or your credit card’s travel booking portal.