[Biz Class Deal Alert] LATAM business class to South America

Intro

There is decent availability to fly LATAM business class between the US and South America. For the US to Lima routes, this is a great sweet spot that can be booked for 39-50k points one way. Sadly, the availability right now is only TO Lima and no saver business class awards on the way back to the US. There’s also some good availability between the US and Santiago, Chile; US and São Paulo, Brazil; and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Routes: ATL/LIM; JFK/LIM; MIA/LIM; MIA/EZE; BOS/GRU; MCO/GRU; MIA/GRU; JFK/SCL; MIA/SCL

Airline: LATAM

Programs to book with: Cathay, Finnair, Virgin Atlantic, Qatar Airways, Qantas, or JAL

Travel timeline: April 2026 through February 2027

Cost: Starting at 39-95k points + $40-85 tax/fees one-way before transfer bonuses

Transfer partners: American Express, Bilt, Capital One, Citi, Chase, Wells Fargo, Rove

Summary: Fly lie-flat business class on LATAM between the US and South America

Why I like this deal: 1) Great cost, 2) escape the cold, and 3) many dates have 2-6 seats

See Peru through the eyes of the women who call it home on Intrepid’s brand-new Women’s Expedition.

With an expert local leader out front and a small group of like-minded women by your side, this trip connects you with the local communities you visit ,giving you a unique insight into Peru’s culture and traditions.

With an expert local leader out front and a small group of like-minded travellers by your side, this trip gives you a unique insight into Peru’s culture and traditions.

Part of Intrepid’s Women’s expedition range, this eight-day adventure has been thoughtfully designed to support local women in tourism while delivering immersive experiences specifically for women travellers.

You’ll traverse the lesser-known Chinchero to Urquillos trail in the Peruvian Andes alongside an all-female crew, spend time in an Andean village learning about daily life, take part in a traditional textile workshop led by local women and experience a spiritual cleansing ritual guided by a female shaman.

Find your adventure

Bear with me while I try to break it down. There are a lot of routes and a lot of booking options, some with unique quirks that make it better to book one way vs. another (MIA/LIM only 39k on Qatar or booking through JAL round-trip). I will only highlight the most practical/best options.

Routes to/from Lima

Virgin Atlantic: Starting at 50k points + $55-85 in tax/fees one way. $100 change/cancel fee per ticket.
Transfer Partners: Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, Citi
Tip: Citi has up to 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic through 4/18

Qatar: 39k points (MIA/LIM) or 62k points (JFK or ATL/LIM) + $20-49 in tax/fees one way. $25 change/cancel fee before 24 hours, then $100 between 3-24 hours, then nonrefundable.
Transfer Partners: Direct from Amex & Citi, or transfer from BA (Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, Wells Fargo)

JAL: 42k points + minimal tax/fees one-way or 80k round-trip. 3,100 JPY cancel fee (~$20 USD).
Transfer Partners: Bilt and Rove are 1:1. Capital One is 1,000 : 750
Tip: Capital One has a 30% transfer bonus to JAL through 4/30, making it 1,000 : 975.

Routes to/from EZE, GRU, SCL

Virgin Atlantic: Starting at 95k points + $40-100 in tax/fees one way. $100 change/cancel fee per ticket.
Transfer Partners: Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, Citi
Tip: Citi has up to 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic through 4/18

JAL: 60k points + minimal tax/fees one way or 100k round-trip. 3,100 JPY cancel fee (~$20 USD).
Transfer Partners: Bilt and Rove are 1:1. Capital One is 1,000 : 750
Tip: Capital One has a 30% transfer bonus to JAL through 4/30, making it 1,000 : 975.

Qantas: Starting at 90k points + $45-80+ in tax/fees one way. 6,000 Qantas points deducted per passenger to cancel or 5,000 points to change
Transfer Partners: Amex, Capital One, Citi

Finnair (need to call or chat): Starting at ~76k points + similar fees as other programs one way. $50 change/cancel fee.
Transfer Partners: Capital One and Rove directly or Amex, Bilt, Chase, Capital One, and Citi indirectly through other Avios programs such as British Airways, Aer Lingus, Qatar, Iberia (all Avios programs can generally move freely between each other as long as names match and accounts already opened)

Cathay (need to call): Starting at ~63k points + similar fees as other programs one way. $50 change fee or $120 cancel fee
Transfer Partners: Bilt is only 1:1 program. Amex (5:4 rate), Capital One (5:4 rate), Citi (1:1 for Strata Elite/Premier/Prestige/AT&T Access More)

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It used to be very easy to use the Virgin Atlantic award calendar, but they got rid of that earlier this year…unfortunate. Another quick workaround is to use the Delta award calendar and filter for non-stop flights. Or use an award search tool like Seats.Aero or Roame.

Here’s the Delta award calendar trick.

1) Put in your destination, choose a random departure date, add number of passengers, check the “Shop with Miles” box, check the “My dates are flexible” box, click on “Advanced Search”, and then choose the Best Fares for Delta One. Then hit search.

2) The next screen will show a weekly calendar view. However, if you choose the “Price Calendar” option on the top left, it should pull up a monthly calendar view.

3) Once you are on the monthly calendar view, you will also need to filter for Non Stop flights on the top right. Then you will see a calendar view that should show direct flights between US and South America. These are most likely going to be LATAM flights.

From Atlanta, this may not always work if there is also a Delta flight that services that route (ATL-LIM) for example.You will have to do some more spot-checking and generally look for the “lower priced” option, which is 195-200k points one-way. The 200k+ ones are generally Delta-operated flights on the ATL-LIM route instead of LATAM.

4) Once you have found availability, double-check availability with the program you plan to book through, transfer your points, then book!

The routing is either on LATAM’s 767s or 787s. They have lie-flat seats but the experience can be very different as some 787s have an outdated 2-2-2 seating arrangement. The best way to check is to start with a search on Google Flights to see what type of plane it is, then making a dummy booking until you can pick seats. The layout should help show what type of arrangement it is. But beware of plane swaps the day of due to operational needs.

Also don’t forget, if you’re flying out of Boston or New York, go to the Delta One lounge!

LATAM 767

LATAM 787 (new)

LATAM 787 (old)

Review #1: LIM-MIA (One Mile at a Time)
Review #2: New 787 MIA-SCL (One Mile at a Time)
Review #3: Old 787 LIM-LHR (VeryIvke)

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About Find Flights for Me.

I started the idea of Find Flights for Me back in 2023 to help educate and inspire people to use their credit card points more effectively, with a focus on using points to fly business and first class flights.

When I’m not working on Wall Street or searching for flight deals, you can find me planning for my upcoming wedding, enjoying local restaurants, helping my parents book their next trip, traveling internationally, or visiting friends/family in NYC, Philadelphia, or DC.