A swing through South America

[Scarlett]

For six weeks in September and October I’m heading off to South America, an area of the globe I’ve not spent much time in previously. I have been to Lima, Peru in the past as part of a oneworld Circle Atlantic fare, but that was nearly 20 years ago and for only four nights. For this trip, the plan is to visit Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay and Chile and some of the unique highlights of those countries. Whilst in Peru I’m heading out to Machu Picchu; in Bolivia to the world’s largest salt flats at Uyuni; in Uruguay I’m mostly planning to stay in Montevideo; and in Chile to a couple of places on the coast, in the southern Lake District and then to Santiago.



It has proven fortunate that I had booked my major airfare to a part of the world well away from the current Middle East troubles and booked before additional fuel costs or charges started being applied. Although, I missed out on the slight strengthening of the AUD over the past month, so a bit 'swings and roundabouts' for my luck.

Now, it would be fair to characterise me as someone who does embrace the ethos of ‘why fly direct, when you can connect’, but in many cases it’s not because I’m chasing extra SCs or miles, but because it’s cheaper and maybe something different, or maybe a more interesting routing as I see it. The simplest way to get to SthAm is, of course, to fly across the South Pacific Ocean and there are multiple options available to do that. When I was pricing up airfares – looking for J long-haul return Aus-SthAm there were a few sub AUD6K with various options of QF/LA flights, but they were to places like Porto Alegre and Quito (POA and UIO if you want to look them up on Google Flights), which then meant other connections. To get into LIM and out of SCL was going to be closer to $7K for the dates ranges I wanted. Additionally, I’ve already got QF lifetime SG so don’t really have any need to chase QFF SCs and LA is a bit of an orphan and so earning with them and their partners doesn’t help me.

I’ll also note here that I did look to see whether my points in QFF or VFF would help me get to/from SthAm and, probably because I was looking only 7-8 months out, wasn’t having any luck. I also have TK M&S miles but *A was pretty much a waste of time for me with NZ stingy with award seat releases and poor connections within SthAm for travel from our direction.

Instead, I ended up looking for cash fares that would assist with my TK *G requalification. When I flew to the US and Caribbean in Dec24-Jan25, I’d used an excellent value UA J fare from Asia to the US and so decided to go with the same kind of thing as my main long-haul J ticket. That gets me to/from NthAm for about $3.5K and I figured I could then add the Aus-Asia return and NthAm-SthAm return legs in whY for about $1K each and be well ahead of the simpler routing across the Pacific. I subsequently wussed out of the whY legs and booked them in J as well, but with some QFF J availability I have the main 'to-and-from' travel sorted for about $7K. This is about the same as I’d pay to go ‘direct’ but will requal me *G; has opened up some additional travel options; and, I reckon, is going to be much more interesting.

 

[kpc]

Im sure you have done your research but I spent 8 days in Bolivia including Uyuni Salt flats 2 months ago So if you have any Qs....

Post in thread 'South America travel tips for Australians'

Apr 9, 2026

Our 2 months' trip is looking like we will run of time! (and I have been to Sth America 5x before!)

Plan is arrive in BsAs, stay for 2 nights, then fly to Ascension for 2 nights, then 3 nights in Medellin, 4 nights in Bogota, followed by 8 nights in La Paz incl Uyuni Salt Plains and Lake Titicaca. Then back to BsAs for 2 nights, before we head to Ushuaia for 3 weeks for an expensive boat trip south! Then back to BsAs for 5 nights before homebound!

If we have time, energy and money left, a quick trip to Mendoza could be considered.

After this trip, I would have been to every country...

• kpc

• 

 

[Scarlett]

This is what the trip looks like on GCMaps:



Stats: 29 flights / 73,170 Km / 14 different tickets (yes, I am an idiot!).
Breakdown of this flight distance by class: J 64,046 Km / Y+ 3,194 Km / Y 5,930 Km.
Entering or transiting 22 different airports, in 13 countries, on 10 different airlines. 13 games of golf planned: it's not for no reason that this will be a SWING through South America!

New for me will be:

• Countries (entering, not just transit) 3 – Bolivia, Uruguay and Chile. Uruguay will be the 100th country I will have visited. (to have visited a country under Scarlett rules you have to have left the airport and spent at least one night in the country; tied to that is to have tried to speak the local language and tried to spend the local currency... none of this passed through in a drunken stupor on a Contiki tour, or entered just to get a passport stamp then turned around and left straight away; those people can GTFOH!)
• Airlines 5 – CM Copa, AV Avianca, OB Boliviana, ZP Paranair, AR Aerolineas Argentinas
• Airports 13 – PTY, CUZ, LPB, UYU, VVI, ASU, MVD, SCL, LSC, PMC, BOG, GUA, SGN
• Aircraft types 1 – 737 Max9 (CM)
• Countries played golf in 4 – Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay and Chile, which will take me to 95 out of about 197 countries with a golf course – my long-term goal is to get to all of them.
• Playing golf in the District of Columbia, Maryland and West Virginia, which will take me to 25 of the 50 US States + 6 other territories – I reckon I’ll get to all of them over time as well.

 

[Scarlett]

Let me break it down into the major flights:

1. To get to South East Asia. CBR-MEL-SYD-CGK (QF – J)

Before getting to that first leg, I had to work out where my south-east Asian departure point would be. I searched variously from MNL, DPS, CGK, SIN, BKK and KUL for the cheapest J fare to the main hubs in the US that would also allow me to connect to SthAm for a reasonable price. Ideally, this would have been to MIA, but those fares were closer to $5K. LAX, SEA, BOS, DCA and EWR were consistently the cheapest arrival points in NthAm and the UA ticketed fare using NH & UA metal to those points was around $3K-$4K range. For the dates I wanted I settled on Jakarta to Washington DC as the best return fare for about $3.5K.

So I needed to get to CGK. Multiple times in the past I have flown Aus to DPS (usually with VA using points, or cash, if was looking to sure up future VA status) and then taken a connecting domestic flight DPS-CGK with GA. On this occasion there was a QFF J seat available from CBR to CGK so I went with that. I guess, because I was searching J flights, that the QF engine mostly offered options via MEL, rather than via SYD and the Y only Dash8s that predominate CBR-SYD vv. This routing has me doing CBR-MEL on the A220, which will be the first time in J on that QF aircraft, then MEL-SYD on the A321 in J, another first, before the daytime A330 mid-haul hop up to Jakarta (done quite a few times). Looking forward to this comfortable start.


I’ve then booked two nights (about 30 hours) in a CGK area hotel so that any delays don’t impact my long-haul J ticket.

 

[Scarlett]

2. To get to North America. CGK-NRT-ORD-DCA (NH & UA J)

The key choices I had to make for this leg were, whether the transit points were materially different and whether I wanted the Japan to US leg to be on NH or on UA. On the first point, there were short layover options via HND or NRT so no real difference there, but then transits in the US via LAX, SFO, DEN, ORD and EWR. I wanted to have that longest leg be as long as I could make it, to minimise the time on a UA ‘First Class' domestic US flight. ie: much better to be in a long-haul airliner in J for 12 hours and head toward the US east coast, than to spend 9 hours to the west coast and then have a five-hour connection in a UA recliner. On the second point, I had the option for 12 hours on a UA B787 in their ‘Polaris’ product or on NH. I have chosen the Japan to US leg in the new(-ish) NH B777-300 J ‘Suite’ or as their marketing people call it ‘The Room’. Here’s Lucky waxing lyrical about the product (and the First Class product on the same aircraft): Which Routes Feature ANA's New Boeing 777 First & Business Class Cabins? - One Mile at a Time

Looks nice for the NRT-ORD leg!

versus

NH ‘The Room’ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - UA ‘Polaris’

One advantage of heading via the US is that I then decided to stop over for a few days, rather than just transit straight on through to SthAm. I plan to get out to Potomac Links in the Capital District on my first day (very effective jet lag recovery: walk around a golf course in bright daylight!), then hire a car and base myself out of Frederick in Maryland which is an area close to some interesting US historical names like the Shenandoah Valley, Antietam and Harpers Ferry.

 

[Scarlett]

3. To get to South America. IAD-PTY-LIM (CM J)

Copa Airlines (CM) is part of *A and have a decent network around the Americas. It also helps that their J product, whilst mediocre, is also generally well-priced. They only fly out of IAD in the DC area, therefore the hire car I’ve booked in the US is being collected from DCA and returned to IAD and appears to not have any associated one-way charge. I hope that the IAD-PTY flight will have the CM 737Max9 as indicated when booked, because it has lie-flat seats in J: they have a tendency to regularly swap their B737 fleet around, so I won’t be surprised to end up with standard B738 J recliners.



v
The CM B737Max9 J lie-flat seating versus the older style B737-800 recliners


CM route network is pretty comprehensive!

 

[Scarlett]

4. Short domestic hop within Peru LIM-CUZ (LA Y+)

This is a very frequent route for LATAM with flights every hour; more frequently for the early morning and again in the evening to cater for the tourist market around Cusco. LA don’t have a J cabin domestically, instead using a eurobusiness style Y+ for the first few rows on their predominantly A320 fleet. The fares seem to be about double for Y+ versus Y and include lounge access and a bag included in the fare.



I’m planning to do a DL status match / status challenge in the month before departing (probably against my VA WP, but I believe it is also accepted against QF SG) and use that DL status when flying on their partner LA. This should give me an extra bag and will cover the cost of my golf bag, which will need to be checked-in for every flight.


Machu Picchu


Rainbow Mountain (clearly an ‘enhanced’ image from a tour company - I'll be very happy to eat my words if reality looks anything like this)

 

[Scarlett]

5. Short international hop CUZ-LPB (AV Y)

I don’t believe it is scheduled every day, but this direct flight is scheduled on the day I want to go. From the altitude of Cusco up even higher to La Paz: hopefully my body will have got over any symptoms before getting to El Alto. It’s another short one-hour flight so whY will be fine and my *G status will come in handy.



Avianca Airbus A320 Economy Class Review – a review from @Mattg

 

[Scarlett]

6. Short domestic hop in Bolivia LPB-UYU (BO Y)

I have no idea what this will be like, but all BO planes have a Bolivarian egalitarian (or should that be socialist?) all whY layout. It’s an hour by air from the capital to the town of Uyuni and saves an 8-hour bus ride.



I did see that they still fly some ex-NZ B737-300s, which I thought would be interesting to travel on. However, on reading into it, they only fly from the BO hub of Cochabamba, which is at a much lower altitude than the 4000m of LPB. Actually, looking on FR24 they flog those old airframes doing 10-12 sectors (all under an hour) in a day! (thoughts of metal fatigue on an Aloha B737 come to mind…)


Salar de Uyuni

Some of the earlier trip reports covering this part of the world (especially by the incomPERable (sic) @JohnM) whet my appetite such that I made it a core part of my trip.

 

[kpc]

5. Short international hop CUZ-LPB (AV Y)

I don’t believe it is scheduled every day, but this direct flight is scheduled on the day I want to go. From the altitude of Cusco up even higher to La Paz: hopefully my body will have got over any symptoms before getting to El Alto. It’s another short one-hour flight so whY will be fine and my *G status will come in handy.

View attachment 507313 View attachment 507314

Avianca Airbus A320 Economy Class Review – a review from @Mattg

I did Bog-Cuz-Lpb in AV Y....it is only an hour from Cuz to Lpb

 

[Scarlett]

7. Another short domestic hop in Bolivia, but this time over two-sectors UYU-LPB-VVI (BO Y)

This will take me from the high-altitude region around the Salar de Uyuni, down to Santa Cruz de la Sierra in the tropical lowlands east of the Andes Mountains. I’m hoping that this part of Bolivia will feel a little more authentic rather than the other areas which are more well-known and more frequently visited by tourists. It'll certainly be warmer!

Having spoken the word 'authentic' I'll now prove that I'm speaking out of my backside by showing one of the places I'm planning to visit:


Could be anywhere in the world, right? But I'll be savouring the warm, highly-oxygenated Bolivian Amazonian air at Urubó Golf when playing here.

 

[Scarlett]

8. Onward to Uruguay VVI-ASU-MVD (ZP Y)

This is a rather random leg but appears to be the only way to get from Santa Cruz to Montevideo in a single day. All other options would be overnight flights or an overnight transit in LIM, SCL, EZE or the major cities in Brazil. According to Wikipedia, Paranair are a Paraguayan airline based at Silvio Pettirossi International Airport (ASU), in the country's capital of Asunción. It utilizes a fleet of Bombardier CRJ-200LR aircraft to operate scheduled flights between Paraguay and other South American countries.

The flights are overly expensive (around AUD650 at present, plus another USD70 for my golf bag, on the day I want, but over $1000 on adjacent days) but will hopefully get me to MVD in about 6-7 hours rather than the longer and more convoluted alternatives. Their biggest issue seems to be that they only have three aircraft, so any form of irrops usually has a significant impact on their schedules.



I'm mostly planning to stay in Montevideo but will need to hire a car and drive about three hours out of the city toward Buenos Aires on one of the days. This is because Carmelo GC is the top-rated golf course in Uruguay and I'm keen to play there. Still deciding on whether to make it a day trip or an overnight. Carmelo is next to the Rio de la Plata, the river and delta forming the border between Uruguay and Argentina.

 

[Scarlett]

9. From Uruguay to Chile (going to La Serena - LSC)

I’m not certain how this leg is going to end up as I haven't booked it yet. The simplest option is probably just LA Y+ MVD-SCL-LSC, but this requires an overnight at SCL as there is only one late afternoon LA flight out of MVD to SCL. I used this path on the map of my flights earlier in the thread. Another option is to catch AR via Buenos Aires MVD-AEP-SCL in the morning/early afternoon and then a separate ticket SCL-LSC in the evening. As this option can be done in a single day, it is probably my preferred option right now.

Fly with LA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - or - - - - - - - fly with AR? DL status will come in handy on both.

 

[Scarlett]

10 & 11. Some internal Chile flights LSC-SCL-PMC and then a few days later PMC-SCL (LA Y+)

This will get me down to the Lakes District area around Puerto Montt and then back up to Santiago for a few days there in the capital before starting the journey home.

 

[Scarlett]

12. Back to NthAm to connect to the long-haul ticket home SCL-BOG-GUA-IAD (AV J)

There was the option to take CM back to the USA, but this option is similarly priced and takes me via some new transit points. The first five-hour leg to Bogotá is scheduled to be on an AV B787-8 with lie-flat J so will be the nicest part of the journey. AV has *A lounges in all of the airports so a couple of hours at each stop should be fine. Both legs BOG-GUA (Guatemala City) and GUA-IAD are scheduled on an A320 with at least one likely to be on the newer ‘refreshed’ A320neo. Both are eurobusiness style, but the newer layout adds a little more width to the J seat; it’s not a recliner but should be fine for a four-hour leg.

The trip should see me flying on different subsidiaries within the Avianca Group. The B787 will be from the Colombian part of the business; then the first A320 will probably be the same, but could be from the Guatemalan entity (formerly the airline Aviateca); then the flight to the US will be operated by the Costa Rican entity (formerly LACSA).



Newer AV eurobusiness J seating used on the A320s:


The final flight gets me in to Dulles in the early AM, so I’ve booked a local airport hotel (booked for the night before, with a note in the booking of when I arrive) to get some sleep after arriving. I’ll then take the DC Metro for the connection IAD-DCA, am planning to go and visit Arlington and then stay in a DCA area hotel that night.

 

[Scarlett]

13. Return leg of my UA J ticket. DCA-ORD-NRT-CGK (UA / NH J)

This is the reverse of my trip to get to NthAm from Asia. Commence with a short US domestic ‘First’ flight then back on ANA for the two longer international legs. Hopefully the B773 ORD-NRT will be the ‘individual suite’ refreshed layout again. Looking on FR24 it appears that one of the older NH B773 aircraft is on the route about once a week.

Start with this

Then one of these

Finish with this one

The journey arrives into CGK just before midnight so I’ve booked the Anara hotel landside at CGK T3 to head straight there and sleep (if I need it).

 

[Scarlett]

14. Getting back to Aus. CGK-SGN-MEL (VN J)

There were no QFF J seats available on the flights to SYD or MEL when I was looking to make this booking, so I considered alternatives. The most likely was for me to try out the new DPS-CBR direct VA flight, which would have meant booking a CGK-DPS domestic flight to get over to Bali and then (unfortunately) overnight on a B737 to get direct to CBR with VA. They were selling for about $1000 for J one-way when I was looking (now the price seems to be around $1500). I don’t know about you but I can’t get any proper sleep in VA J recliners, so whilst I’d consider it for the novelty of the direct flight, I generally try to steer clear of VA overnight flights.

However, there was also the VN J flight CGK-Aus coming up for about the same price as the VA DPS-CBR. Afternoon flight to SGN on an A321 in a recliner, a couple of hours in the SGN lounge and then eight and bit hours overnight in J lie flat A350. That sounded much more appealing than a VA B737 recliner!





Therefore, that is what I have booked. I have flown two whY flights domestically with VN in the past, but they were short perfunctory hops so nothing to really base an opinion on. I guess if I have a DL status match I should probably credit these VN flights to DL rather than finding some new program with Skyteam.

 

[Scarlett]

15. Short hop home. MEL-CBR (VA J)

I have a VFF points booking for three hours after the planned VN arrival into MEL. There’s no other option with VA until another five hours later, so if necessary (if my VN flight was delayed), I’d look to cancel the VA booking and see what best fare was available after my delayed arrival time.

And that would be that.

It will all work out flawlessly!

 

[Scarlett]

The detailed planning and booking process continues… including sussing out insurance. Due to spending a couple of days in the USA, my usual go to Covermore policy looks like a 45-day policy at a cost of nearly $800. I see Medibank seems to offer a policy with comparable wording, at least for what I’m after, but their online quoting process doesn’t seem to be working at the moment, so I might have to give them a call.

I’ll be using my Bankwest debit card to withdraw foreign currency overseas with no fees and the BW Zero CC for any expenses that can go on card during the trip. I’ll also plan to travel with some USD cash to exchange if I can’t find ATMs at airports on arrival. Local cash likely needed in Peru and definitely needed in Bolivia. Chile I’m not so sure about as I’ll be in well populated areas so will probably be able to get away with putting things on card.

Come September I guess I’ll start updating with what really happens on the trip rather than just what is planned. If anyone wants to make suggestions about the places I’m visiting, please do so! I'm

 

[JohnM]

The detailed planning and booking process continues… including sussing out insurance. Due to spending a couple of days in the USA, my usual go to Covermore policy looks like a 45-day policy at a cost of nearly $800. I see Medibank seems to offer a policy with comparable wording, at least for what I’m after, but their online quoting process doesn’t seem to be working at the moment, so I might have to give them a call.

I've used Covermore in the past but in recent times I've been using Zoom which has been consistently well-priced. Rely on my Amex CC cover as backup.

Have never made a claim, the ultimate test.