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I recently booked myself an award from Chicago to Buenos Aires in Business Class on a Dreamliner for 45,000 Alaska Airlines miles and $19 in taxes and fees.

AeroMexico releases a ton of award space from United States to Mexico City and from there to Buenos Aires (or elsewhere in Central and South America) in economy and Business Class.

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Fresno only has a direct flight to Guadalajara from where you can connect to Mexico City and beyond. Source: gcmap.com

AeroMexico is a member of SkyTeam, so you can book its award space with Delta SkyMiles and Air France Flying Blue. It is also a partner of Alaska Airlines, which is how I booked the award space. (Economy/Business one way prices to Argentina)

Just how good is AeroMexico award space?

AeroMexico Award Space

Below are some calendars from delta.com. You can also search on alaskaair.com or airfrance.us. Every day below that says “65,000” has award space for two people in Business Class from Mexico City to Buenos Aires. (Oddly Delta charges more from Mexico to Argentina than from the United States. If you start your Delta award in the United States, you pay just 62,500 miles.)

Other than some missing days around Christmas–and even then there’s space if you’re flexible–you can see there is award space for two people in Business Class from Mexico City to Buenos Aires almost every day.

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The pattern is the same from Buenos Aires back to Mexico City. What about getting between the United States and Mexico City?

Award Space Between the United States and Mexico

AeroMexico serves 14 American destinations.

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Fresno only has a direct flight to Guadalajara from where you can connect to Mexico City and beyond. Source: gcmap.com

If you live in any of the cities on the map, you can get to Buenos Aires on AeroMexico with only one connection in Mexico City.

I’ll be going from the Chicago Seminars to Buenos Aires to repeat my now annual tradition of spending the summer down there. Searching and booking my award with Alaska miles took about five minutes because award space is so plentiful.

I started my search from the main search box on alaskaair.com.

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On the results screen, I clicked “Calendar” under “View By.”

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That brings up a calendar like this:

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I had the calendar set to show the lowest price award available each day. It shows that economy award space from Chicago to Buenos Aires is not great in October, available just five days–the ones that say 25k + $19. But on every day of the month, Business Class space is available for 45k + $19.

That’s not that unusual. Business Class space is also widely available in December 2015 and March 2016.

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I picked the date I wanted and was given two options. The first has only one layover for six hours in Mexico City. That’s long enough to leave the airport, but it’s probably too early in the morning for anything to be open. The other option is two layovers, but 1.5 hours less of travel.
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The longer one-stop itinerary looks better to me. I can nap or work more easily at Mexico City’s airport than in the air, and I have less chance of missing a connection.

I clicked on “1 stop” to get more flight details. As you can see, the long flight is on a 787 Dreamliner.
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AeroMexico Dreamliner

Four days a week, AeroMexico flies its new 787 Dreamliner between Mexico City and Buenos Aires. The rest of the flights are operated by 767s. AeroMexico also flies its Dreamliner on some New York <-> Mexico City and Los Angeles <-> Mexico City flights.

The Dreamliner has fully flat beds in Business Class in a 2-2-2 configuration, so, as usual, pick a middle seat if you’re flying alone to avoid having to climb over or be climbed over by anyone else.

God Save the Points has a review of Business Class on the AeroMexico Dreamliner. The review is complimentary of the seat, bed, and entertainment though it refers to the crew as “ghosts, you know those things you can’t see, talk to or receive a drink from.” [Scott: hahaha, I believe it]

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AeroMexico Dreamliner in reclined, but not yet flat, position. Source: http://www.godsavethepoints.com/news/dreamlinerreview

Try your hardest to fly a day served by the 787, because the 767 doesn’t feature fully flat beds.

Other Latin American Destinations

AeroMexico has fantastic award space throughout the Americas, and it is cheap with Alaska miles as well as Delta and Air France miles.

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Alaska Airlines chart for AeroMexico Flights

Here are all the places that AeroMexico flies from Mexico City. There are great options in Mexico, Central America, and South America.

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Awards within Argentina

Argentina is much more than Buenos Aires.

Check out glaciar hiking at El Calafate; Patagonia in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego; the Lake District of Patagonia; the waterfalls of Iguazu; the wine in Mendoza; and much more.

To get around Argentina, use British Airways Avios to fly LAN or Delta SkyMiles to fly Aerolineas Argentinas.

Bottom Line

Buenos Aires is a very easy award ticket for 45,000 Alaska miles + $19 in Business Class. Pick your dates correctly to get the 787 Dreamliner from Mexico City to Buenos Aires.

Alaska also offers cheap awards on AeroMexico throughout the rest of Latin America.

Pay your award taxes with the Citi Prestige® Card. The first $250 in award taxes, airfare, or airline fees per calendar year are refunded to you as a statement credit. If you’ve already maxed out the statement credit, you will still earn 3x ThankYou Points on the award taxes.

Further Reading

 

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