Flights within South America are typically very expensive. But by redeeming miles or points, you can save a small fortune!
If you have Qantas points, for example, you can redeem these for flights within South America on LATAM Airlines. But if you don’t have enough Qantas points – or there’s no award availability with LATAM Airlines – there is another option.
Aegean Airlines, a member of Star Alliance, sells its frequent flyer miles. In fact, this month Aegean is offering 50% bonus miles. This is worth knowing because award flights within South America are a sweet spot in the Aegean Miles+Bonus award chart! By buying Aegean Miles+Bonus miles at a discount, you can then redeem them for award flights within South America on Avianca and potentially save hundreds (or even thousands) on the normal ticket price.
South America is a sweet spot with Aegean Miles+Bonus
Under the Aegan Miles+Bonus award chart, any award flight within South America is the same price. It costs 12,500 Aegean miles for any one-way Avianca Economy flight within South America. And Business Class redemptions within South America cost just 21,000 miles. This makes longer flights within the continent particularly good value when redeeming Aegean miles.
Here are the countries included within the Aegean Miles+Bonus “South America” zone:
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela
When Aegean is offering 50% bonus miles on purchases (as it currently is until the end of October), you can purchase the 12,500 miles needed for an Economy award for €225 ($365). And it will cost you only €350 ($569) to buy enough miles for any one-way Business Class redemption.
Redeeming Aegean miles for Avianca flights
Once you’ve purchased the miles, you can redeem them for Avianca flights within South America. The Star Alliance carrier has bases in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil, and operates many routes across the South American continent. What’s more, award availability in both Economy and Business Class is generally excellent. And there are no fuel surcharges on Avianca award flights!
Here’s one example where it would make sense to buy and redeem Aegean miles, instead of paying for full-price airfares. It would cost $625 one-way to fly from Santiago, Chile to Cartagena, Colombia in Economy:
In Business, the airfare would set you back $2,558:
Alternatively, you could redeem 12,500 Aegean miles for an Economy ticket or 21,000 Aegean miles for Business class on exactly the same flights. The miles would cost $365 for Economy or $569 for Business. On top of that, you would just pay €39.77 ($64) in taxes for the redemption.
If you booked Economy from Santiago to Cartagena, you would save $196 using this method. In Business, the savings add up to $1,925!
This trick is especially useful if you want to travel to somewhere like Machu Picchu. Flights in and out of Cusco, the Peruvian gateway to Machu Picchu, are typically overpriced. In one example we found, an Economy flight from Cusco to Buenos Aires would cost you a whopping $1,190:
But there is Business Class award availability on the exact same flights. You could book Business by buying $569 worth of Aegean miles and paying just €30.27 ($49) in taxes for the redemption. So you’ll not only save $572, but you’ll also fly Business instead of Economy!
There are a few catches when redeeming Aegean Miles+Bonus miles. For example, you’re only allowed up to two flight sectors per award booking. And mixed-class redemptions are not permitted.
Read more: How to Buy & Redeem Aegean Miles+Bonus Miles
You can book award flights on the Aegean website. Alternatively, you can call the Aegean Airlines call centre in Greece.
You can also use the United or Aeroplan websites to search for Star Alliance award availability.
Want to learn more about maximising frequent flyer points?
Aegean Miles+Bonus is one of the programs covered in our Frequent Flyer Training course on buying points! This course is available to AFF Platinum members.
Finally, don’t forget that we offer a personalised Frequent Flyer Concierge service that’s designed to take the hard work out of redeeming your frequent flyer points!
