How I Scored 3 FREE Tickets To See A World Famous Glacier

The world-famous glacier, Petit Moreno in Patagonia, Argentina, is a spectacular site. It is one of the only glaciers in the world that is expanding rather than retracting. And tour companies have started allowing visitors to trek on the ice using crampons. Since we are going to be in Chile and Argentina next year, this seemed like a great add to the itinerary. 

But the determining factor for us is always can I get our family of 5 there without breaking the bank. 

This stop involved a few logistics. First, I had already booked award travel tickets for our family into Santiago, Chile and out of Buenos Aires, Argentina. I had not booked the flight between those two cities yet, but an American Airlines rep said I could book the flight for 10,000 miles for each ticket. 

Okay, not too bad, but I decided to play around a little bit with flights from Santiago to El Calafate, Argentina which is the closest airport to the glacier. 

Here's an interesting surprise. 

• Flights from Santiago to El Calafate run about $259 round trip. 
• Flights from Buenos Aires to El Calafate run about $250 round trip. 

Obviously, it would be a waste to use miles to get from Santiago to Buenos Aires and then pay for flights to El Calafate. I called American Airlines back and found out there are no award tickets from Buenos Aires to El Calafate. Bummer. 

Next option, If you have been following my blog, you know that I was approved for the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card recently. I had waited for years to get that card so I'm excited. Now, I reached the $4000 minimum spend and was awarded 50,000 Chase Ultimate Reward bonus points, woohoo! 

Those bonus points are worth about $750 if redeemed in the Chase Travel Portal and $500 if used for cash back. You can also transfer those points to airlines at a 1;1 ratio. 

So what if we look for flights from Santiago to El Calafate round trip in the portal. Look what we found, the flights run $259 if you pay cash, but just 17,266 points. The point value is less because a benefit of the Sapphire Reserve is that your points are worth 50% more when you redeem them in the portal.

Here's where it gets a bit tricky. You need to book all your tickets at the same time to make sure the entire family is on the same flight. Only some of the flights are offered on the travel portal. I can book 3 tickets using points through the Chase Travel Portal and buy two tickets through Aerolineas Argentinas. If I use my Capital One Venture card to pay for the flights, I may be able to erase them with points anyway. If I use my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card to buy the two tickets, I will earn 4x points for the purchase or use the $300 travel credit to erase one of the tickets. Remember to create a loyalty account for any flights you buy so you get credit for those miles. 

The bottom line is that you have to be flexible and look for alternatives when traveling as a family. We had a lot of flexibility in the this trip and were able to look for the cheapest dates to travel to the glacier as well. One other tip, when booking excursions or tours, use your Capital One Venture card, if it codes as travel, you can erase the purchase making it FREE. 

*Please use my link if you decide to apply for the Capital One Venture card, you will earn 50,000 bonus points when you spend $3,000. I will earn a referral which will helps keep this blog running. Thank you for your support.