MileValue is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.

Note: Some of the offers mentioned below may have changed or are no longer be available. You can view current offers here.


Last year, United reduced its service to Buenos Aires. Across its entire system, United has only one daily flight to Buenos Aires, which leaves from Houston. The flight is operated by a 767-300 with two cabins: economy and flat-bed business.

I’m bummed because I love Buenos Aires, having spent six months in 2013 there, so I always hope for more options to get there.

With the reduced capacity, award space has almost completely disappeared.

Screen Shot 2014-02-09 at 2.23.58 AM

If you have United miles and want to fly to Buenos Aires, your options are bleak.

How bad is the award space on the United flight? What is your other option with United miles?

I count eight days in the next 11 months–mostly in August–with one economy award seat from Houston to Buenos Aires in economy. There are no Saver seats in business on the route.

Screen Shot 2014-02-09 at 2.24.22 AM

Screen Shot 2014-02-09 at 2.24.48 AM

Other Options

Since United’s only flight to Buenos Aires has such poor space, you’ll need to connect if you want to get to Buenos Aires.

The two main options are connecting in Lima or Panama City.

Copa Business Class

Copa, a Star Alliance carrier based in Panama City, has up to three daily flights between Panama City and Buenos Aires.

Screen Shot 2014-02-09 at 2.26.27 AM

Space is fantastic in business class on the route, but there is rarely economy space on the route.

Screen Shot 2014-02-09 at 2.25.39 AM

Getting to Panama isn’t too hard since Copa flies to 10 cities in the US and Canada with excellent award space.

Screen Shot 2013-12-22 at 3.41.12 PM

Flying Copa costs the same 60k miles roundtrip in economy and 110k miles roundtrip in business that the direct United flight would cost if it ever had business class Saver space.

Be aware that Copa Business Class seats are simple recliners like you’d find in domestic First Class on any US-based airline.

The bottom line on Copa is that it’s not a great product, but it has great availability and convenient one-stop itineraries from 10 North American cities to Buenos Aires.

Screen Shot 2014-02-09 at 11.18.18 AM

United and TACA Business Classes

The other option that yields Saver award space is to fly United business class from Houston to Lima on a flat bed, spend the night, and connect in the morning to Buenos Aires in TACA business class in a recliner sear.

Screen Shot 2014-02-09 at 11.17.04 AM

This routing accounts for much of the space on the award calendar if you search Houston to Buenos Aires on united.com.

Screen Shot 2014-02-09 at 11.17.47 AM

Most people would probably find a ten hour overnight layover in Lima inconvenient. You can lengthen it to as several days or weeks by making Lima your free stopover on a roundtrip United award. (Lima’s an underrated city that shows up a few times on my Peru Top Ten.)

Recap

Now that United only flies one flight a day to Buenos Aires, it is offering very little award space to one of my favorite cities.

If you have United miles and dream of steak and tango, you can fly to Argentina in a Copa business class recliner or by spending some time in Lima en route.

Buenos Aires is definitely a destination where you’re better served with American Airlines miles.

Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.

With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!


Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers.

The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.