What airline is the best and cheapest for travel from the U.S. to south america?

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Seryan

For the past five years, I've been traveling in Central and South
America. I have used American Airlines, Delta, Continental, COPA, Spirit and TACA.

Without question COPA is the best airline of the lot.

American Airlines is expensive and has terrible service as far
as leaving and arriving on time and what they give you while
you are aboard the plane.

Delta is late and when you have a transfer, they will lose your
luggage.

Continental has very in personal, cold and rude service and the prices are high. Service is usually late.

COPA is on time. They gives you free wine or beer with your meals. They give you a nice meal. Not so with the others. Would you like another beer or glass of wine? No problem. Their fleet is new and their on time service is the best of the lot.

Delta is always late. If you have a connecting flight and you go
through Atlanta, bring "War and Peace" you'll finish it.

Spirit has limited service and they are cheap. Not inexpensive: CHEAP. They will charge you for a drink of water as well a checked
bags.

TACA has ground crew problems. This has happened to me each time I have flown TACA. We get to the gate and sit and wait until they find someone to drive the jet way. Or repair it of find it. It is not uncommon to sit on the ground for twenty-five minutes until they get the jet way to the front door. In the meantime, the air has been turned off, everybody is standing in the aisle and it is a misery.

If there isn't COPA service from your city, fly to the nearest
city served by COPA and you will love the service and the
professionalism.

not_so_old_55

Use Yahoo Travel to cheap the various flights. I am in Dallas/Fort Worth and most of the time American Airlines has the cheapest flights.
Time is always a consideration for me. You can reduce the cost for being willing to change planes in various locations or fly out of your way. Flying from Dallas to Newark to Miami to South America is cheaper, generally, than flying from Dallas to Miami to South America but is generally 4 or 5 hours longer. I have used Continental, which is my personal favorite, and Delta also.

Jonathan S

I find the service on LAN to be up to or superior to U.S. standards, and they often have specials to South America. The funny thing about LAN is that the prices they list on their website change for the same flight depending on the hour of the day and the day of the week. Check frequently before purchasing. Another funny thing LAN does is offer different prices for the same flights depending on the country's website you're using. You can access the websites from the LAN homepage in the upper right corner, but you can't purchase from a foreign LAN website with a U.S.-based credit card. They told me those prices are only for the market of that website (Peru, Argentina, etc.) and not for foreigners. They do accept phone sales though, if you call a foreign LAN office and pretend to be in that country. This is how I typically purchase my domestic Peruvian flights, saving about $100 per ticket over the U.S. website prices.

Another airline that has come up often in my searches is Avianca, which connects via Bogota. They seem cheaper than LAN a lot of times. I have never flown them, but my friends tell me the service is OK.

Copa airlines flies via Panama City, but their service is abysmal. Even though they are usually very cheap, I would avoid this airline. We've had nothing but problems with Copa. The ground service is rude and misinformed as to regulations, they have lost our luggage twice, their smaller aircraft have less luggage capacity (especially during the holiday season) so they will intentionally leave luggage behind, their luggage tracking system is disorganized, they frequently do not answer the phone in the Peru office, you get more than one answer when you ask the same question to different people. Oh, but you can get a free beer on the flight, so I guess that kind of makes up for it.

TACA sometimes has good deals connecting in Central America, but the flights often have more than one connection, or very long connections, and the aircraft seem older, with less leg room.

Aero Mexico is now flying to some South American destinations via Mexico City. The service is average, and the prices are not that low.

American Airlines is the best U.S. carrier flying to South America. They have the most destinations, but most of the time, you have to connect through Miami. The prices can sometimes be very low if you find a fare sale.

Of all the airlines, my preference is LAN because they fly from my hometown (LAX) to my primary destination of Lima nonstop, the only airline to do so. They also occasionally offer non-stops to Santiago.

Cali J

Don't worry about the cheapest airlines, b/c their prices vary all the time. Just focus on comparing all the major travel websites and you will find the best deal. Check out the link below. You can compare all of them from one location, while only entering your search criteria once. Good luck!

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