South American Connections
 

I'm Continental Platinum and will need to fly semi-annually to Buenos Aires , which CO doesn't service. CO does fly to Rio, Sao Paulo, Santiago and Lima in South America. I flew UA from JFK direct 3 weeks ago...but am losing 22,500 CO miles (5 k each way plus 125 % bonus) each trip. Copa (via Panama City)is a partner but the connections to BA are terrible.

I'd like to take CO "somewhere" in South America, then connect to an airline there - such as Varig, A. Argentina, etc.

Any suggestions / comments ? ....thanks.

CO flies to Santiago via Lima from EWR and IAH. There are frequent connections between Santiago and Buenos Aires on Lan Chile and Aerolinas Argentinas (and AA may still fly a daily route as well - they did two years ago at least). Problem with the Santiago flight is that it usually arrives in Lima in the dead of night (I think). The only benefit is that if you get a left side window seat you will see one of the most amazing sunrises (over the Andes as the plane is descending) ever.

Nope - AA hasn't flown SCL - EZE in quite a while. But there are plenty of other choices, just not sure if any of them are CO partners.