Award Success! KLM SCL-EZE 5th Freedom Flight Between Chile & Argentina

There are some interesting 5th freedom flights in South America, such as this KLM flight between Santiago de Chile and Buenos Aires, a route that Air Canada also used to serve.

I am on a trip to Latin America and have already covered the Buenos Aires—Rio de Janeiro British Airways award (read more here), which I booked last weekend to connect with this Flying Blue ticket.

You can access Flying Blue here.

KLM Santiago de Chile – Buenos Aires

I was aware of this KLM route, which the airline flies between Argentina and Chile. This way, the plane doesn’t have to sit an entire day at Ezeiza and incur fees, and no other airline offers widebody service between these two capitals.

The award pricing, before the latest massacre (read more here) was rather interesting, as the business class was the lowest price option, significantly less than the Premium Economy at 60K miles.

The number of allowed checked bags is not correct here.

I wondered if this award would error out, which is often the case with Flying Blue.

There is an interesting option to boost your XPs (elite qualifying points): paying for “Sustainable” Aviation Fuel (SAF). This option is not cheap, but it may work in your favor if you are short of XPs.

You can also buy some Flying Blue miles during the process, but these prices make no sense. The price of buying 2,700 miles is 1.44 US cents each, and the price at the 5,500 level is precisely the same.

Here, Flying Blue tries to hit you with a credit card application. The free bags here are 3, when previously they were 2.

It is interesting that the booking class is D, which is rather high in the business class fare hierarchy.

The KLM award was not available using Delta SkyMiles that were pushing LATAM flights in economy.

I flew this same route on Air Canada Metal back in 2012 on a United award ticket and connected to a Qatar Airways service to Sao Paulo (Qatar was United’s partner back then).

This KLM award ticket “connects” to a British Airways flight from Buenos Aires to Rio de Janeiro.

Award Success! British Airways EZE-GIG 5th Freedom + Buying Avios Cheaply

Conclusion

The most convenient airport in Buenos Aires is Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (AEP), which is almost in the city center, unlike Ezeiza, which is far away.

Regional international flights can depart from AEP, but all widebody planes, like this specific KLM flight, use Ezeiza.

If your regional flight is short, it is probably worthwhile to accept Premium Economy or Economy and use the more convenient airport in/out of Buenos Aires.

The most common fifth-freedom route in South America is Sao Paulo—Buenos Aires, and I have flown it with British Airways, Lufthansa, Qatar, and Swiss.

These planes tend to arrive in South America in the morning, and airlines don’t like having them sit on the tarmac for 12 to 16 hours. Many passengers don’t want to take long-haul daytime flights to North America or Europe.

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