(newbie) Getting to Santiago using points
 

I've never posted here before, so let me apologize up front if it is rude shamelessly asking for help like this.

So here's my situation: a (somewhat poor) family of 5 that I know is moving to Santiago, Chile (SCL) some time this summer. A group of friends and I are trying to figure out a way to all sign up for credit cards and buy them tickets using reward miles (ideally from AZO, but GRR would also work; AZO is very small).

I have done a fair bit of this over the years, so I have been doing a lot of searching. We are a group of poor college kids and summer is coming up fast (it may be too late already), so a first-purchase bonus would be ideal. The only one I have seen is the 40k first-purchase United card (60k total), but that requires some United miles in your account already, which I don't think the others would have.

Anyway, I thought I might post this here to see if anyone knew of anything that would work. One way North America to Chile is 30k on most airlines, so the ideal would be a card with 30k first-use bonus points. But any creative ideas or help would be greatly appreciated!

dl,ua,aa do 1 stops from grr-scl....dl & aa from azo....there are various partners that might be used....

aa & ua have 1 way awards....dl doesn't iirc, so you should forget them....

getting 5 seats w/rewards might be hard....so check for the lowest cost for 1 way purchase...

what is the date?

1 way on a wed in july was ~$1100

aa has 1 way awards to scl aug 16 thru mid nov @ 20k mi each....maybe only 2 cc's needed....

Yu can also get the BA card with 50k + 50k miles and use your Avios for flights on AA or LAN.

i looked at aug for 5 seats on aa....it showed about 10 days w/5 seats available in the last 2 weeks...so maybe it will work if you hurry....

edit to add....i went a bit farther in the process & got to entering names etc before i quit, so it is possible for 5....

ps....$5 per ticket in tax

another thought....you/they can buy 40k mi for $1100 or $550/ticket [a bit more for the 5th one....there is a 30% mi bonus, but it takes a while for those to post, so i wouldn't count on the use of them & it would be less than a ticket...

think about it..its about half price w/ those buying the mi & getting the tickets picking up the bonus mi....

the buying of the mi by 3 people could be done w/ the awards on hold...

there is ~ $113 tax on the mi purchase, but still the way to go.....

or do 30k mi pp for earlier than late aug....

Another thought is that the 5 could accumulate miles in a program allowing free transfer (say Citi Thank You Rewards) and swap 1:1 with someone who has existing AA, LAN or BA inventory and could secure the flights while they remain available.

Another thought is to purchase discounted AA giftcards. These are hard to find on the market, but some may have them in inventory. As I recall COSTCO had/has them?

Just alternative possibilities in the spirit of "creative ideas."

look at the current cc offers on aa & united .com....

note that the bonus mi post after the statement period in which the required spend is met $1k iirc for aa....ua is after 1st purchase but says 6-8 weeks....

how about some input from you?

ba also has a card w/bonus mi that can be used on aa/lan...

i think buying the mi is the way to go to save them some money....

If you want to get some United miles in your account, just sign up for their "Dining for Miles" program, then go to a participating restaurant one time.