The cool thing about American Airlines is the ability to use only 15,000 AAdvantage miles to travel in Economy class from North America to certain countries of South America such as Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. 15,000 American Airlines miles can only be used during the Off-peak season which is also called a MileSAAver Off-Peak Award. The off-peak seasonal dates are defined as “Jan. 16 – Jun. 14; Sep. 7 – Nov. 14”.
I know a lot of people already have plans booked for this fall, so I am only going to focus on next year’s dates which are Jan 16 – June 14. As of today, the award calendar only goes up to mid-May.
I have been to Peru five times and will be going to Colombia this coming August. I was looking for awards to Ecuador and Venezuela from my hometown Los Angeles. Ecuador and Venezuela are two countries of which are very intriguing to me. I love South America and it’s a great bargain with the ability to travel for only 15,000 miles.
So which countries in South America have the best award availability for only 15,000 AA miles?
LAX-BOG (Los Angeles – Bogota, Colombia) – Jan 21-23, 30, Feb 4-6, 10-13, 16-20, 24-26, March 2-3, 5, 10-12, 18-19, 24-26, April 8-9, 14-17, 21-24, 28-29, May 6-7, 14
LAX-UIO (Los Angeles – Quito, Ecuador) – Jan 19-28, March 12, 24-26, April 2, 6-9, 14, 16, 23-24, 30, May 1
LAX-GYE (Los Angeles – Guayaquil, Ecuador) – Jan 19-22, 25-28, Feb 8, 23-24, 26
LAX-LIM (Los Angeles – Lima, Peru) – April 14-15, 21-23, 28-29
LAX-CCS (Los Angeles – Caracas, Venezuela) – Feb 2, 4-5, 7-8, 12, 21-22, 24-26, 28, March 1, 4-5, 18, 24-26, April 4, 14-16, 18-19, 28, May 9-10, 13, 16
Bogota has the most availability from Los Angeles with 15,000 mileSAAver awards for every month. Caracas has the second most availability from Los Angeles followed by Quito, Guayaquil, and Lima.
I have compiled a list of return dates to Los Angeles so that you can mix and match and create an open-jaw itinerary if you want.
BOG-LAX (Bogota, Colombia – Los Angeles) – Jan 27-29, 31, Feb 3-6, 8, 10, 12-13, 16-19, 24-27, March 3-5, 10-12, 25-29, 31, April 1-3, 7-8 14-15, 21-23, 28, May 5-7, 13
UIO-LAX (Quito, Ecuador – Los Angeles) – April 14, 22-23, 27-29, May 1, 5-7, 13
GYE-LAX (Guayaquil, Ecuador – Los Angeles) – May 5
LIM-LAX (Lima, Peru – Los Angeles) – April 9, 16, 22, May 7, 13
CCS-LAX (Caracas, Venezuela – Los Angeles) – Jan 16-19, 21-22, 25-29, Feb 1-4, 10-11, 15-16, 18, 24, March 2-3, 28-31, April 1-3, 7-9, 21-22, May 3, 5-6, 10
Bogota has the most availability to Los Angeles with 15,000 mileSAAver awards for every month. Caracas has the second most availability to Los Angeles followed by Quito, Lima, and Guayaquil.