Redeeming frequent flyer points to get from Australia to South America has always been a bit of a challenge. But with all direct flights from Australia suspended since April 2020 due to COVID-19, getting to South America is now especially difficult.
Direct flights from Australia to all other continents have now resumed, including Qantas flights to South Africa which restarted earlier this month. But neither Qantas nor LATAM Airlines have resumed their flights yet from Australia and New Zealand to Santiago, Chile.
Before the pandemic, Air New Zealand was the only other airline in our region offering regular services to South America. But Air New Zealand has permanently axed its Auckland-Buenos Aires route (which only rarely had award availability, anyway).
So if you’re planning a trip from Australia to South America using frequent flyer points in 2022, what are your options?
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1. Wait for direct flights to resume
Currently, LATAM Airlines is scheduling the resumption of its Sydney-Auckland-Santiago service from 28 March 2022. The restart of Qantas’ direct Sydney-Santiago route, which will be operated by the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, has now been pushed this back to late October 2022.
But whether these direct routes actually return this year is anyone’s guess. The relaunch of Qantas and LATAM flights from Sydney to Santiago has already been pushed back numerous times throughout the pandemic.
Currently, LATAM’s Sydney flights are scheduled to resume at the beginning of the IATA northern summer scheduling period and Qantas’ flights are available for sale from the start of IATA’s northern winter period. These are really just arbitrary dates that could be changed again.
At this stage, Qantas is not releasing any Classic Flight Reward availability on its Sydney-Santiago service in any class of travel. So this isn’t really an option if you want to redeem points, anyway.
However, there is currently award availability on LATAM Airlines from Sydney to Santiago via Auckland. We’ve found up to two Business Class reward seats and several Economy seats on some flights.
Although LATAM Airlines is no longer part of the Oneworld alliance, you can still redeem Qantas Frequent Flyer points to book travel on the Chilean carrier. For example, the above flight from Sydney to Santiago would cost 50,300 Qantas points + $91.28 in taxes one-way in Economy Class. In Business Class, this flight would cost 119,200 Qantas points + $91.28 taxes per passenger, one-way.
You can also redeem Cathay Pacific Asia Miles and points with various other frequent flyer programs for LATAM Airlines flights.
For now, LATAM Airlines won’t be resuming its non-stop Melbourne-Santiago service. There are currently no flights scheduled on that route.
2. Fly via North America
If you don’t want to wait until April – or don’t want to risk booking a direct flight to South America that later gets cancelled – another option is to travel via the United States or Canada.
For example, you could redeem Qantas Frequent Flyer points to fly to Los Angeles or Dallas/Fort Worth, with an onward connection to South America on American Airlines.
If you have Velocity Frequent Flyer points, you could theoretically do the same thing flying on Delta (or from April, United Airlines). But realistically, Delta is releasing very little award availability to Australia at the moment. You may have more luck finding flights on Air Canada via Vancouver.
For example, this Air Canada itinerary from Sydney to Bogota is available to book using United MileagePlus miles:
The above itinerary should also be available to book using Air Canada Aeroplan points, other Star Alliance frequent flyer programs or Velocity points. But you would probably need to call the Velocity Membership Contact Centre to book this using Velocity points as it doesn’t appear when you search for flights on the Virgin Australia website.
3. Fly via the Middle East
Another option – albeit an even longer one – is to fly to Brazil with Emirates via Dubai or with Qatar Airways via Doha.
Both Emirates and Qatar Airways offer one-stop flights to Sao Paulo, Brazil from Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Auckland (with Qatar Airways also flying out of Adelaide). Award availability is somewhat limited in Business Class, but there are some options with both airlines that you can book using Qantas Frequent Flyer points.
If you’re redeeming Qantas Frequent Flyer points to fly Emirates to Sao Paulo, we’d suggest departing from Melbourne or Perth instead of Sydney or Brisbane. Why? Because you’ll save a lot of points!
With Qantas Frequent Flyer, the maximum distance you can fly on a one-way Zone 10 (maximum) Classic Flight Reward booking is 15,000 miles. If the total distance flown exceeds 15,000 miles, you can still travel on a single ticket. But the price will be based on the sum of the individual flight sectors, rather than the total distance travelled.
With this in mind, here are the distances from Emirates’ Australian ports to Sao Paulo via Dubai according to Great Circle Mapper:
As a result, a one-way Emirates First Class Classic Reward from Melbourne to Dubai costs 227,500 Qantas points + taxes. But a First Class reward booking from Brisbane to Dubai costs 341,600 points + taxes. That’s a lot of extra points to fly an extra 211 miles!
If you’re looking for multiple Business Class seats, try searching for Qatar Airways flights using a Oneworld frequent flyer program other than Qantas Frequent Flyer. For example, you can often access better award availability (and pay significantly fewer points!) by redeeming Cathay Pacific Asia Miles for Qatar Airways flights.
4. Fly via Europe
If none of those other options work, you could also try flying via Europe.
If using Qantas points, for example, you could make your way to London or Madrid and connect onwards with either British Airways or Iberia to South America. Iberia in particular offers flights to many South American destinations from its Madrid hub including Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Santiago, Lima, Panama City, Bogota, Cali, Quito and Guayaquil.
Using Qantas points, you could also fly to South America on Air France or KLM. But these airlines are not part of the Oneworld alliance, and therefore can’t be used as part of a Oneworld Classic Flight Reward (see below).
You could also use Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles, for example, to fly to South America using Singapore Airlines & Turkish Airlines via Singapore and Istanbul. Or, fly with Singapore Airlines & Lufthansa via Singapore and Frankfurt or Munich.
Summary
Unfortunately, given the lack of direct flights, travelling from Australia to South America in 2022 is unusually difficult. Finding award availability can be even harder. Be prepared for long travel times, but there are options if you don’t mind flying via North America, the Middle East or Europe.
If you have Qantas Frequent Flyer points and can’t find Classic Flight Reward seats on direct flights, consider booking a Oneworld Classic Flight Reward. This may work out to cost fewer Qantas points overall, depending on which Oneworld airlines you’re using. As an added benefit, if you’re forced to travel via another continent, you can also stop over along the way for free.
Here’s just one example of a Oneworld Classic Flight Reward itinerary that I recently found for someone who wanted to travel to Argentina:
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