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The Ultimate Guide To United Miles: Part 12 – All the Ways To Get To The Caribbean, Central & South America

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    You can use your United miles to fly to the Caribbean, Central America, and South America on United Airlines and their partners airlines.

    In general, the United.com website will display routes to and from the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, but it won’t show every possible option.

    Your United Miles Can Get You To The Caribbean

    The Ultimate Guide To United Miles Index

    The Best Tip for Searching on United.com

    Don’t forget to change your search results to show you 50 flights (instead of the default) when you search on United.com

    Step 1 – Click On “Advanced Search”

    Go to United.com and click on “Advanced Search” at the bottom of the award search page.

    Step 2 – Change “Number of Flights to Display” To “50”

    Click on the drop-down box by the “Number of Flights to Display” and change it from the “Default” to “50“

    Step 2- Increase the Number of Flights to Display to 50

    You will see MANY more flight options this way!

    How To Use The Information In This Post

    You could rely on United.com to find you awards seats to the Caribbean, Central & South America.  And United’s website is pretty good.  But it is unlikely to find every possible option on using United miles to the Caribbean, Central & South America.

    If you’re really committed to finding award seats to the Caribbean and South America and don’t want to hire an award booking service, you could search for award seats on many of the routes below.

    The information below will help you find the long-distance flight to the Caribbean and South America.  The best way to search is segment-by-segment.

    Once you find the long-distance flight to the Caribbean and South America, you should start searching for flights to your final destination in the Caribbean and South America and then from your US departure city to the gateway (i.e. where the flight to the Caribbean & South America departs from the US).

    CARIBBEAN, CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICAN AWARD Routes

    Today, we will go over finding award flights from North America to the Caribbean, Central & South America.

    United splits the South Pacific into 3 regions:

    Here is the chart for one-way awards between mainland North America and the Caribbean, Central & South America.

    United’s One Way Award Chart From Mainland North America And The Caribbean, Central & South America

    For one-way awards from the US, Alaska, or Canada to the Caribbean and Central America, you will pay:

    For one-way awards from the US, Alaska, or Canada to Northern South America, you will pay:

    For one-way awards from the US, Alaska, or Canada to Southern South America, you will pay:

    United Miles to Caribbean, Central & South America

    The following list includes which airlines fly between North America and the Caribbean, Central America, or South America.

    1.  United Airlines

    You can use United miles from Houston (IAH), Newark (EWR), and Washington, DC (IAD) to:

    You Can Fly On United To These Caribbean Destinations

    B.  Central America & Mexico

    United’s Mexico And Central American Destinations

    You Can Fly To 7 different South American Cities Using United Miles

    2.  COPA Airlines

    You can use United miles on COPA Airlines.  While COPA is a separate airline, they use the same frequent flyer program as United.  COPA’s hub is Panama City (PTY) which allows great connections from North America to the rest of Central America and South America.

    Just check out the following map!

    Using COPA To Fly From North America To South America Through Panamá City

    A.  Panama City (PTY)

    You can use your United miles on United to fly to Panama City from:

    Or  you can use your United miles on COPA and fly to Panama City from:

    B.  South America

    Then from Panama City, you’d use United miles on COPA to fly to:

    3.  US Airways

    US Airways will be leaving Star Alliance on March 1, 2014.  While you can book US Airways awards before March 1 for travel past that date, you won’t be able to change the date of a US Airways flight after March 1 because they won’t be available with United miles.

    You can use your United miles to fly to these Caribbean destinations:

    US Airways Flies to These Caribbean Destinations

    Your United Miles Can Take You to Central America

    US Airways Flies To Brazil

    4.  Avianca (includes TACA)

    Avianca is a fairly new member of Star Alliance, based in Colombia.  They fly all over South and Central American.

    A.  From Miami (MIA)

    You can use United miles to fly from Miami (MIA) to:

    Avianca Offers Lots Of Flights From Miami To Central America
    Avianca Flies To Other US Cities From Central And South America

    B.  Central And South America From The US

    You can use your United miles to fly:

    You will notice that most US airports have flights to either Bogotá (BOG) and/or San Salvador (SAL).

    C.  South America From Bogota (BOG)

    You can use your United miles to fly from Bogotá (BOG) to:

    Use Your United Miles On Avianca To Fly to South America

    D.  South America From San Salvador (SAL)

    You can use United miles to fly from San Salvador (SAL) to:

    Avianca Flies From San Salvador To Many Central American Cities

    5.  Air Canada

    While it may seem odd to use Air Canada to fly to South America, they are a useful airline if you are trying to fly from Canada or the northern parts of the United States.

    You can use United miles to fly from Toronto (YYZ) and Montreal (YUL) to:

    You Can Use United Miles On Air Canada To Fly To The Caribbean

    You Can Fly On Air Canada To Central America

    Air Canada Flies To South America

    If you are in South America and need a flight between Buenos Aires and Santiago, you can use your United miles to book Air Canada between Buenos Aires and Santiago!

    Travel Codex has more examples of these interesting “Fifth Freedom” routes.

    6.  Aeromar

    Aeromar is not a member of Star Alliance, but they are partners with United.  Aeromar is based in Mexico City and is great for connections within Mexico.  Matthew at upgrd explains how you can book mileage tickets on Aeromar using the United.com website!

    Aeromar flies to many Mexican destinations, according to the route map on their website.

    You can fly into Mexico City with United or with a partner, then connect to Aeromar to:

    Aeromar Flies To All These Cities

    Bottom Line

    You can fly to the Caribbean, Central, and South American using your United miles.  You can fly on United, COPA, US Airways, Avianca, Air Canada, or Aeromar.

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)