Traveling to Latin America--cheaply

On average, depending upon what time of year you fly, tickets to Latin America will be costly, ranging from $400 to over $1,000.

But on occasion there are flights like $300 from Miami to Quito, or recently there was a deal of $469 from NYC to LIMA. Last-minute travel deals can get you a good deal too, especially when it comes to flying from Miami to Santiago, Chile or Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Major US carriers that fly to Latin America include Continental, American Airlines and Delta. However, Chilean Airline, LAN is fantastic in its customer service and overall comfort. Although Chile based, they operated several small subsidies of their company and fly all over South America. LAN shares a code share agreement with American Airlines. Continental shares a code share agreement with panama-based Copa Airlines, which is a big player in Central American market. Taca and Lasca are also big Latin airlines, and are affiliated with one another.

If you are headed to Latin America from the US, there are three major departure points: Houston, Miami, and Atlanta.

Sometimes (gotta watch the taxes) its cheaper to get a discount airline, like Southwest or Jetblue to one of the above departure points and get a ticket from Miami to your destination. Sometimes if can be a steal and other times not at all.