Best Ways to Fly to Argentina With Points

Hey Travel Junkies,

Argentina is popping up on a lot of travelers’ radars. Even 10xTravel founder Bryce recently enjoyed his own trip to Argentina.

Whether you’re looking to enjoy a hike in Patagonia, the wineries in the Mendoza Valley, or the nightlife of Buenos Aires, you’ll definitely find something to do in this vast country.

There are plenty of non-stop flights to Argentina from the US, and quite a few award sweet spots to help you get there. Let’s take a look at some of the best ways to fly to Argentina with points.

American Airlines AAdvantage

American Airlines AAdvantage program is one of the best ways to fly to Argentina with points. When flying to Argentina with American Airlines AAdvantage miles, you’ll want to try flying on American Airlines itself, rather than one of its partners. What makes American Airlines flights to Argentina great is that American offer the only true first class flights between the US and Buenos Aires (EZE). If you want to fly business class, you’ll get a lay-flat bed instead of a recliner seat that you may find on other airlines.

You can find non-stop flights to Buenos Aires on American Airlines from New York (JFK), Miami (MIA), Dallas (DFW), and Los Angeles (LAX).

While award availability in first class is harder to find, you can readily find available seats in economy and business class on American Airlines planes. Here are the number of miles you’ll need for a one-way award ticket.

How to Book with AAdvantage Miles

Booking a flight to Argentina using AAdvantage miles is easy. Simply log into American Airlines and do an award search. Taxes and fees are reasonable, costing $5.60 for flights departing from the US, and $91.33 for flights departing from Argentina.

If you want to book a business or first class seat, be sure you’re not being put on a mixed-itinerary ticket. Check that you have the right class of service in each cabin. If you’re connecting, it isn’t uncommon for the first leg to be in first class, and then have the long flight to Buenos Aires in economy.

How to Earn AAdvantage Miles

Unfortunately, the only flexible points program that transfers to AAdvantage is Marriott. You’ll need to transfer 60,000 Marriott points to receive 25,000 AAdvantage miles.

The best way to earn AAdvantage miles is with an AAdvantage co-branded credit card. You can get a personal and business from both Citi and Barclays. With 4 available cards, it is easy to earn a lot of AAdvantage miles quickly, and save your Marriott points for another trip.

Cards to Help Earn AAdvantage Miles

The best thing about American Airlines AAdvantage Miles is how easy they are to earn. Although no bank programs transfer, AA partners with both Citi and Barclays. These partnerships mean there are an abundance of personal and business card bonuses to earn that will have your AAdvantage account overflowing in no time.

Asiana Asiana Club

Asiana Airlines is one of South Korea’s two largest airlines but its loyalty program, Asiana Club, isn’t talked about often as the miles are a bit more difficult to earn. Given the great award rates to Argentina from the US, however, you absolutely should consider this as an option for booking your flight to Argentina.
Asiana is part of Star Alliance, so you’ll be looking to book a partner award ticket on a Star Alliance partner. From the US, you’ll use Asiana miles to book a flight on either United, Air Canada, Copa, or Avianca.

Asiana uses a region-based award chart with South America divided into two regions. Argentina is in South America region 2. Here is the Asiana award chart for partner airlines. Mileage requirements are round-trip, so if you’re only trying to fly one-way it will be half the cost.

Flights to Argentina using Asiana Club miles will only cost 25,000 miles one-way in economy or 35,000 miles one-way in business. Flights to Argentina can be over 10 hours long, making 35,000 miles for business class a great option.

Asiana does pass on fuel surcharges, so you’ll want to pick your flights carefully. Air Canada has high fuel surcharges, around $300 one-way while flights on United, Copa, or Avianca don’t have surcharges.

How to Book with Asiana Club Miles

You can’t book Asiana Club partner awards online, so you’ll have to first find award availability and then call in to book. Their number is 1-800-227-4262.

The best ways to search for Star Alliance award availability is on the Air Canada Aeroplan or United Airlines website. Any award availability you see there should be available with Asiana over the phone.

How to Earn Asiana Club Miles

Asiana Club Miles aren’t the easiest to earn. The only transferable points are Marriott. When you transfer 60,000 Marriott Rewards points to Asiana, you’ll receive 25,000 Asiana Club miles.

You can also earn Asiana Club Miles with the Asiana co-branded credit card issued by Bank of America. Bank of America offers both a personal and business version of the card.

Cards to Help Earn Asiana Club Miles

The Bank of America Asiana Club Card is the easiest way to earn Asiana Club Miles. Although the bonus isn’t often very high, it is an easy way to directly earn points. After this, you’ll need to transfer Marriott Bonvoy Points which you can earn from a number of Marriott co-branded cards.

Singapore KrisFlyer

Singapore’s KrisFlyer program is a solid option for booking flights to Argentina. Although using KrisFlyer miles won’t be the lowest-cost points option, the program’s multiple transfer partners make it easier to get points than some other SkyTeam programs.

Singapore is part of Star Alliance, so you’ll be looking to book flights on United, Air Canada, Copa, or Avianca. Singapore does pass on fuel surcharges if applicable, so try to fly United, Copa, or Avianca.

A one-way flight from the US to Argentina will cost 30,000 miles in economy, or 50,000 miles in business. Other than Asiana, you won’t find business for fewer points. Taxes and fees will be fairly low on United, Copa, or Avianca. Expect them to be higher (around $300) on Air Canada.

How to Book With Singapore KrisFlyer

Singapore’s website doesn’t have the flexible ability to search multiple dates like other websites do. Because of this, you should search on United or Air Canada’s website for award availability. Once you find it on United or Air Canada’s website, you can go to Singapore’s website to book the award flight.

If you’re still unable to pull it up on Singapore’s website, try giving them a call on their North American service line at (312)-843-5333. You should not be charged the typical $25 phone booking fee since your flights were not available to be booked online.

How to Earn Singapore KrisFlyer Miles

Singapore Krisflyer miles are very easy to earn. You can transfer from all three major bank programs: Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, and Citi ThankYou Rewards. This makes it easy to get a lot of Singapore KrisFlyer Miles.

Cards to Help You Earn Singapore KrisFlyer Miles

The best part about Singapore KirsFlyer Miles is that you can transfer from any of the major three bank programs. If you’re under 5/24 you should start with Chase cards. The Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

are an easy way to earn a lot of Chase Ultimate Rewards. If you’re over 5/24, look at the American Express Platinum, or Citi ThankYou Preferred cards to earn even more.

Air France-KLM Flying Blue

If you’re looking to fly via SkyTeam, then Flying Blue – the loyalty program of Air France and KLM – is your best option. Although Flying Blue removed its region-based award chart in 2018, there are still some good deals to be found. Using Flying Blue to fly to Argentina is a great use of these miles, and one of the easiest ways to fly on one of two SkyTeam partners, Delta or Aerolineas Argentina.

You can fly on Delta out of Atlanta (ATL), or Aerolineas Argentina from New York (JFK) or Miami (MIA). If you’re wanting to fly business class, try to fly Delta so you’ll have lie-flat seats. Aerolineas Argentina’s business class is fairly outdated with seats that recline, but don’t turn into a lie-flat bed.

Here’s how much you can expect to pay for flights in economy and business:
Economy – 29,000 miles and approximately $9 in taxes and fees
Business – 72,000 miles and approximately $30 in taxes and fees

How to Book with Flying Blue

The easiest way to book using Flying Blue is to go to Air France or KLM and login. You can then perform an award search which can show you up to a month’s worth of availability.

The Air France website is a good way to find and book SkyTeam availability all in one place. If you’d prefer to call to book, you can call Flying Blue at 1-800-375-8723.

How to Earn Flying Blue Miles

Flying Blue miles are very easy to earn. You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One miles or Citi ThankYou Points to Flying Blue. This makes it easy to build up Flying Blue miles fast. You can also transfer Marriott Rewards points, but it makes more sense to transfer from a flexible bank program instead.

There is a Bank of America Flying Blue co-branded credit card, but with so many transfer partners you won’t find yourself needing one to get enough points to fly to Argentina.

Cards to Help Earn FlyingBlue Miles

Your primary strategy for earning FlyingBlue miles is transferable bank points. Since every major bank point transfers, you can easily earn a lot of FlyingBlue miles whether you are under or over 5/24.

British Airways Executive Club

British Airways Avios can be redeemed on some flights for great value, and on others for pretty poor value. One great value use of Avios is on a direct flight from the US to Argentina in economy on American Airlines.

When you use your British Airways Avios for a non-stop American Airlines economy flight, you’ll only pay 25,000 Avios and $5.60.

British Airways charges per segment – meaning flights with stops will cost more than non-stop flights. To get 25,000 Avios, you’ll want to fly nonstop. American flies non-stop to Argentina from New York (JFK), Miami (MIA), Dallas (DFW), and Los Angeles (LAX). You can also fly on partner airline LATAM which flies to Buenos Aires from Miami (MIA), Los Angeles (LAX), and New York (JFK).

How to Book With British Airways Avios

Booking an award flight with Avios is easy. Simply log into your British Airways account and to search and book online. The one downside of searching with British Airways is that it doesn’t provide a flexible date search option. If you want to see a calendar of options, search with Qantas to narrow down your search.

How to Earn British Airways Avios

Avios are one of the easiest currencies to earn. You can earn them directly from the Chase British Airways Visa Signature® credit card, or you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards.

American Express frequently offers transfer bonuses, so if you are able to wait for a bonus to come around you can stretch your Membership Rewards even farther.

Cards to Help You Earn More Avios

Transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards are the best ways to earn Avios. Keep an eye out for a transfer bonus from American Express, they offer an extra 25% Avios about once per year which will stretch your Membership Rewards even farther.

Final Thoughts

There are a lot of great ways to get to Argentina on points and miles. Whether you’re looking to fly economy, business, or first class, you’ll be able to do it with points and miles.

You can fly economy for as low as 25,000 miles using British Airways Avios or Asiana Club Miles. For those looking for a more luxurious business class experience, it is hard to beat 35,000 Asiana Club Miles for a flight that is over 10 hours.

However you choose to get there, I’m certain you’ll have an amazing trip that you’ll never forget.