Flight Deal: fly to South America from $1065 return with LATAM and Qantas

Taking advantage of Qantas and LATAM’s nonstop services between Sydney/Melbourne and Santiago, you can get cheap fares to a traditionally expensive destination across a wide range of dates, plus pick up more than enough points for a domestic award flight.

Travellers in Brisbane and Adelaide can connect in Sydney, Melbourne or Auckland for ~$50 more and those in Perth for an extra ~$300.

Santiago is a good hub to start and end your South American trip.

Below are some tips on how to maximise points earn on this flight and get cashback on your purchase.

Depart: Melbourne or Sydney

Arrive: Santiago

Stops: None

Dates: July to October 2018 (the best prices can be found in July and August)

Airline: LATAM and Qantas

Cost: From $1065 in Economy

Points earn:

With the example above, you’ll earn 7,500 Qantas Points and 80 Status Credits, or more than 14,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles, which offers better value redemptions by topping up your balance through buy miles promotions.

To put it into perspective, 30,000 Alaska miles will get you to Asia in Cathay Pacific Business Class; or you could use 12,500 miles to fly anywhere in Australia in Qantas Economy Class.

By crediting this flight to Alaska, you are almost halfway to a one-way Business Class flight to Asia with Cathay Pacific (plus you can get a free stopover in Hong Kong)

If you want to maximise your points earn, then make sure you sign up for an Alaska Mileage Plan account and add your membership number at one of these stages in your trip planning.

Note that your miles will not be credited until a few weeks after you complete your return trip.

Best credit card to use for purchase: Credit cards that offer bonus points for booking travel

Booking link: Go to the CashRewards Expedia site to earn 0.7% cashback, which isn’t much but it is better than nothing. Click on Go To Store, sign up for Cashrewards for free and you will be redirected to the Expedia site. More information is available in our Expedia+ rewards program guide.

Once you are in South America, you may wish to use British Airways Avios to reduce the cost of expensive cash fares in both Economy and Business Class on LATAM.

Airfare deals are typically only available on limited dates. Fares may disappear quickly, so we suggest booking as soon as you are confident in your travel dates.