Originally Posted by FrankMorris

I'm researching the majors as I plan on a lot more Latin American travel next year (trying to determine who to seek status with), and I've consistently heard that American is the best airline for Latin America. First, of course, this begs the question - what does that even mean? The most flights? The cheapest flights? The best planes? Home airport? As I've read through this forum, I consistently see wide variability in those factors across airlines.

I'm in New Mexico and would be likely flying through DFW (AA) or IAH (UA). Delta would be tough because it seems like a lot of flights head out of MIA, though I'm sure there are offerings from ATL (I can fly direct to ATL, but MIA departures would require 2 layovers - a dealbreaker).

Assuming the question is even a fair one, does anyone have any opinions or experience with this? It seems like the game changed with the Delta LATAM acquisition - between Aeromexico & LATAM, Delta seems to have the only partners in Latin American that offer a robust network of flights between Latin American cities. I've heard good things about Copa, Avianca, etc., but those are all very much based in one area, so unless you're trying to fly in/out of Colombia, for example, I'm not sure Avianca is a huge advantage for within region/continent travel.

For me personally, I'm not sure much of this matters - Delta is too expensive, and beyond Latin American travel, they only run 2 flights out of my home airport (ATL & SLC), so not really robust for other needs. AA & UA are the main options (unless I'm missing something).