Which frequent flyer program is best for Latin America?

Start with the airport, not the app

The program question starts at the airport. You want San Jose in February, Cartagena in November, Mexico City for a long weekend. The miles you already hold only count if the airline that earns them lands where you are going. That rules out more programs than most travelers expect.

Five US programs carry most of this traffic: American AAdvantage, Delta SkyMiles, United MileagePlus, Southwest Rapid Rewards and JetBlue TrueBlue. Each flies a different set of US cities to Costa Rica, Colombia and Mexico. Each prices awards its own way. Everything below comes from the airlines' own pages, read on 28 September 2026.

The regional programs matter too, and they are the hole in this page. Ten minutes in the programs' own award search gets you further than any published chart would.

Which programs fly to Costa Rica?

Two US gateways, five programs, and a spread of seven US cities to three.

Costa Rica has two US gateways, and the programs split unevenly between them. Juan Santamaria in San Jose (SJO) and Daniel Oduber Quiros in Liberia (LIR) both take US nonstops. United serves the most US cities across the pair, seven counting seasonal flying. JetBlue serves three. Pick the airport first with MMT's San Jose or Liberia comparison, then pick the program. ^{1, 2}

United's lead is a hub story. Houston, Newark and San Francisco run all year, and four more cities join in season. American's steadiness is the other kind of advantage: Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth and Miami hold at both airports in every month. Live near one of those six cities and the program choice is close to made for you. ^{1, 2}

Which programs get you to Colombia?

Colombia splits the field in two. American and JetBlue both publish Colombia pages with named US cities on them. Southwest doesn't fly there at all. JetBlue's featured fares and 'most popular routes' list name well over a dozen US and Puerto Rico cities serving four Colombian ones (Cartagena, Medellin, Cali, Barranquilla); American's featured fares name five US cities. ^{8, 3}

Two JetBlue one-ways at that price come to $292 for the round trip, $132 under American's Miami to Bogota fare on the same day. San Juan to Medellin was cheaper again at $126 one-way, $252 for the pair. The fares will have moved by the time you read this. What holds is the shape: JetBlue flies to Colombia from the northeast and Florida, often and cheaply. ^{8, 3}

Getting between Colombian cities is a separate budget line. MMT's Colombia domestic flights guide prices the fares and the bag rules on the internal legs, which is where a cheap international ticket often gives its saving back.

What about Mexico, and Aeromexico Rewards?

Mexico is the market with the widest choice, and American publishes the most of it. Dallas to Mexico City showed from $394 round trip on 28 September 2026 and Miami from $444, a $50 gap into the same city from two American hubs. ⁹

Southwest puts Mexico inside its own network description: over 100 destinations in the US, Mexico and the Caribbean. ⁵ That single line makes Rapid Rewards a real Mexico program and a dead end for South America, which is the clearest boundary any of these five draws around itself.

Aeromexico Rewards is the obvious Mexican program, and this page carries no figures for it. What can be said comes from Delta: its own SkyMiles page names Aeromexico and LATAM among more than 20 partner airlines you can earn miles with in the air. ¹⁰

That partner line does real work for a Mexico trip. A SkyMiles member flying Aeromexico can route the miles into an account they already hold, and the same goes for LATAM, which left oneworld in 2020. ^{10, 11} Alliance membership is where this page stops: staralliance.com and skyteam.com both refused to open, and oneworld's own member page lists destination counts with the airline names set as images, so a plain read can't attribute them. ¹²

Why the miles price moves with the fare

Four of the five big programs price an award off the cash fare, so there is no chart to look up. Southwest says so on its own page: the points needed for a reward flight depend on the fare, and when fares go on sale the points go on sale with them. ⁵ JetBlue says the same thing in its own words, redeeming on current fare price with no blackout dates. ⁴

Delta dropped its fixed award chart in 2015 and has priced dynamically ever since; one worked example from a points publisher put a sampled domestic round trip at about 1.1 cents a mile. ⁶ American prices flights on its own aircraft the same way, though award charts survive for some partner airlines and for off-peak deals, which is where AAdvantage miles can still beat the fare. ⁷

• Southwest Rapid Rewards: points track the fare, so a fare sale is a points sale. ⁵
• JetBlue TrueBlue: awards follow the current fare, there are no blackout dates, points don't expire, and cash plus points starts from 500 points. ⁴
• Delta SkyMiles: dynamic since 2015, with miles that don't expire. ^{6, 10}
• American AAdvantage: dynamic on American-operated flights, with fixed partner charts and off-peak deals still in place. ⁷
• United MileagePlus: united.com timed out or failed on every attempt on 28 September 2026, so nothing about its pricing is stated here.

Can you count on a LifeMiles award to Costa Rica?

Not from this page, and here is what to do instead. LifeMiles is Avianca's program and the one most often recommended for Costa Rica and Colombia. Every lifemiles.com and avianca.com address returned an access block on 28 September 2026. So there is no award price here, no minimum and no expiry rule.

The same wall went up at Copa's ConnectMiles, at LATAM Pass and at United MileagePlus. Five programs, every address tried. These sites were blocking reads days earlier too, so expect the same if you try from a browser - go straight to the app or a phone call. The ten minutes below get you further than this page can.

1. 01

   Open the program's own award search

   Put in your dates and both Costa Rica airports, SJO and LIR, or Bogota and Cartagena for Colombia. Read the miles number the search returns, and read the taxes sitting beside it.

2. 02

   Price the same flight in cash

   Same airline, same day, same cabin. American showed Miami to Bogota from $424 round trip on 28 September 2026; your dates will land somewhere else. ⁸

3. 03

   Subtract the award's own fees, then divide

   Cash fare minus award fees, divided by the miles, gives you cents a mile. One published example of a domestic Delta round trip worked out to about 1.1 cents a mile - a rough floor, not a Latin America benchmark. ⁶

4. 04

   Check the crediting rule before you book a partner

   American and LATAM announced a joint business in January 2016 covering the US, Canada and six South American countries including Colombia, and the two have codeshared since 1999. ¹³ LATAM then left oneworld in 2020, after that announcement, so open both programs' own pages the day you book. ¹¹

What loyalty buys if you keep flying the same airline

American publishes the clearest long game of the group. AAdvantage counts lifetime flown miles, and each threshold buys status that stays with you. One million miles brings lifetime Gold and 35,000 bonus miles. Two million brings lifetime Platinum plus four one-way systemwide upgrades, with four more for every further million flown. ¹⁴

JetBlue counts differently. Mosaic status arrives at 50 tiles of qualifying spend, the first set of Perks You Pick unlocks at 10 tiles, and Mosaic now runs four levels. ⁴ Both JetBlue and Delta let a balance sit untouched: TrueBlue points don't expire, and Delta says the same of SkyMiles. ^{4, 10} For the other programs on this page, that rule is one you have to read yourself.

How do I choose a program in ten minutes?

Start from your home airport and work down. The program that flies from your city on the dates you want beats the program with the better chart, because on these three countries almost nobody has a chart left.

• Costa Rica from a hub city: United from Houston, Newark or San Francisco, or American from Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth or Miami. Both serve San Jose and Liberia all year. ^{1, 2}
• Costa Rica on a budget: Southwest flies Houston-Hobby and Orlando, JetBlue flies Fort Lauderdale and New York-JFK, and both price the award off the fare, so watch for a fare sale. ^{1, 2, 5, 4}
• Colombia: JetBlue from the northeast and Florida, American from Miami, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, San Francisco or Boston. ^{3, 8}
• Mexico: American from Dallas/Fort Worth, Phoenix, Chicago, Philadelphia or Miami, and Southwest across the network it describes as the US, Mexico and the Caribbean. ^{9, 5}
• For the long run: the card that earns the miles usually matters more than the program that spends them. Compare transfer partners at MMT's credit card points hub, and the program cards at the airline loyalty hub.

Then do the one check that settles it. Open the award search on your exact dates, price the cash fare beside it, and let the arithmetic pick. A program that flies where you are going and prices the seat well against its own cash fare is worth more to you than any tier ladder.