Hola folks,
I'll be travelling to Buneos Aires in a few weeks and I'd like to visit Montevideo, Uruguay + Porto Allegre, Brazil + Santiago, Chile

I have no clue on what the LatinPass is about, can you please give me more info?
As well, can I get AAdvantage miles for the flight segments?

thanks for all your help

To get miles on American for your flights, fly one of the following: American, TAM (Brazil), Aerolineas Argentinas, Grupo TACA, or LanChile. If you're looking for status miles, AA and LanChile are the ones you need.

LatinPass is a frequent flyer program covering (I think) nine airlines in the Central America/northern South America region. Its partners outside the area are US Airways, KLM, and National Airlines.

http://www.latinpass.com

Sargento: Silverpie is right, the LatinPass airlines cover northern South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Peru) but for travel around Brasil, Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina, the LatinPass airlines won't help much (unless you fly via Lima each time).

LatinPass allows you to combine miles for trips from different Latin American airlines, but for your trip plans, you may have to fly different airlines and earn orphan miles in different programs.

One thing to look for is flights between the capital cities on different international airlines, i.e. Lufthansa or British Airways for Buenos Aires-Santiago, Air Canada for Buenos Aires-Sao Paolo, and United or Iberia for buenos Aires-Montevideo..... right there, I put you on all Star Alliance carriers. :P Add in Varig for flights within Brasil, and you have it made.

The answer to the Advantage mile question on Latin Pass Carriers is maybe. GROUPO TACA, which consists of LACSA, TACA, and Aviateca, does offer American Advantage miles. Many fares that qualify for Latin Pass and Distancia miles do not qualify for Advantage miles. The fares that do qualify for Advantage miles tend to be significantly more expensively. Finding out which fares qualify for which mileage plans can become a nightmare.

Many thanks for all your help.

I think I'll try the high speed boat between BA and Montevideo and then see if I can get a cheap fare to Porto, Allegre . (or is it possibly to take an overninght bus? is it safe to do so? )

I'll look into the Luftahnsa and BA flighst to SCL. Many thanks..