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Santiago the capital and largest city of Chile. The city has neoclassical architecture with the Andeans Mountains to the East. Once you are done exploring the city, you can easily reach other parts of the country such as Easter Island. Flights to the South American country, can be expensive. But why sit around waiting to save up? Let’s put your points and miles to work on the best use of points and miles to Santiago.
Ways to book:
Air Canada Aeroplan
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
American Airlines AAdvantage
ANA Mileage Club
Avianca Lifemiles
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
United Airlines MileagePlus
How to Earn these Points and Miles
Best Use of Points and Miles to Santiago
Air Canada Aeroplan
Like many airlines on this list, Air Canada doesn’t fly to Santiago, Chile. You’ll be using their Star Alliance partners like Avianca and United. Air Canada uses a distance-based award chart. The further your airport is away from Santiago, the more Aeroplan miles you’ll need.
| Distance | Economy | Business | First |
|---|
| 0-4,500 | 30,000 | 50,000 | 80,000 |
| 4,501+ | 40,000 | 60,000 | 100,000 |
One-way flights to Santiago using Aeroplan milesAlaska Airlines
While Alaska Airlines flies mostly domestic and to a few international destinations. Their oneworld partner, American Airlines, does fly to Santiago from a few cities in the United States. Here’s what you can expect using AS miles.
| Economy | Business |
|---|
| 30,000 | 57,500 |
One-way flights to Santiago using Alaska milesAmerican Airlines
If you don’t have Alaska miles, you can still take that American Airlines flight. American does have a sort of dynamic award prices, you can still find the below prices if you hunt around.
| Economy | Premium Economy | Business |
|---|
| 30,000 | 40,000 | 57,500 |
One-way flights to Santiago using AA miles
You can fly AA Flagship Business to Santiago using points and miles
ANA
ANA represents great value if you can find award availability. The downside is you can’t book a one-way. You could book an open jaw if exploring other parts of South America. While the Japanese carrier doesn’t fly to South America, you can book on United or Avianca with ANA.
| Economy | Business |
|---|
| 55,000 | 88,000 |
Roundtrip flights to Santiago using ANA milesRelated: Best Use of Points and Miles to Honolulu
Avianca Lifemiles
Avianca is the only South American based airline on this list. The Colombian based airline offers affordable options to get to and from Santiago in any class of service.
| Economy | Business | First |
|---|
| 30,000 | 60,000 | 70,000 |
One-way flights to Santiago using LifemilesCathay Pacific
Like their oneworld alliance partner, Cathay Pacific doesn’t fly to Chile. You’ll again be flying on American Airlines for these redemptions. Cathay uses a distance-based award chart like Air Canada. I’ll provide a range of what you can expect.
| Economy | Premium Economy | Business |
|---|
| 22,000 – 30,000 | 30,000 – 45,000 | 45,000 – 70,000 |
One-way flights to Santiago using Asia MilesUnited Airlines MileagePlus
United does have flights to Santiago, but they also partner with Copa. United does have dynamic pricing, be flexible with your dates and use the award calendar to narrow down the lowest options.
| Economy | Business |
|---|
| 30,000 | 60,000 |
One-way flights to Santiago using United milesHow to Earn these Points and Miles
Air Canada Aeroplan miles have recently gotten easier to earn. They recently launched a cobranded card with Chase and Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred to Aeroplan and American Express and Capital One. That means any UR or MR or Capital One Venture card can earn Aeroplan miles.
Alaska Airlines miles are difficult to earn as they only have two co-branded cards with Bank of America, a personal and a business card. Though you can transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to Alaska as well. But not the best option unless transferring at least 60,000 as you’ll get a 5,000-mile bonus.
American Airlines has a variety of cobranded cards from Barclays and Citi. For regular AA fliers, it might make sense to grab the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ Mastercard®. You can get the welcome offers on all the AA cards, but be careful with velocity on opening cards as AA has been known to shut down accounts they feel are gaming credit card applications.
Avianca does offer some cards for US based travelers, but after Avianca does partner with several flexible point currencies. You can transfer from American Express and Citi.
ANA and Cathay Pacific miles are difficult to get for US based flyer with their credit cards. But you do have another option. Both are transfer partners of American Express. Cards such as The Platinum Card® from American Express and the American Express® Gold Card are great MR earning cards.
United miles are easy to earn especially for those under 5/24. There are several personal and business cards with Chase. Since United is a Chase transfer partner, you can transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to United.
Best Use of Points and Miles to Santiago Bottom Line
While there are many more options of airlines you can redeem your points for, they don’t represent the best options. The airlines you’ll actually be flying all have solid hard products. If you are redeeming for business, you’ll get a lie-flat for your long haul flight. If booking economy flights, don’t forget to check all flexible points portals just as the Chase portal to see if the points required are less than transferring.
These opinions in this article are the author’s not those of a bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.