American Airlines AAdvantage members can now book JetSMART flights inside South America for 7,500 to 12,500 miles one-way, against cash fares that typically run $60 to $150 on the same routes. That redemption math, live through aa.com as of mid-2026, is the headline of the JetSMART partnership and the reason it deserves a closer look from anyone heading to Chile, Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, or Brazil. The earning side and the comparison to the other intra-South-America points options take a little more unpacking. This guide walks through what the partnership delivers in May 2026, how to use it without getting tripped up by JetSMART's ultra-low-cost-carrier rules, and where it sits next to LATAM Pass, Avianca Lifemiles, and Aeroplan for travelers heading south.

What JetSMART is, briefly

JetSMART is a Chilean ultra-low-cost carrier founded in 2017, owned by Indigo Partners, the same Phoenix-based investment firm behind Frontier Airlines, Volaris in Mexico, and Wizz Air in Europe. The fleet is all-Airbus A320 family, the model is point-to-point at low base fares with paid extras for everything else, and the network covers Chile, Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Brazil, plus a thin layer of US and Mexico cross-border flying. The largest hubs by daily departures are Santiago, Lima, and Buenos Aires, with secondary operations out of Cusco, Iquique, Mendoza, Bogota, and a growing Brazilian footprint.

The carrier built the South American intra-region ULCC category that didn't really exist before it scaled. Where intra-South-America economy used to mean LATAM, Avianca, Aerolineas Argentinas, or GOL at $200-to-$500 fares for short hops between capitals, JetSMART introduced sub-$100 base fares on the same city pairs. The trade-offs are the standard ULCC ones: tight pitch, no included carry-on on the cheapest fares, paid seat assignments, paid boarding pass printing, and a baggage policy strictly enforced at the gate. That's normal for the category, and it changes the math against legacy options.

The American Airlines partnership, as of May 2026

The partnership with American Airlines started in 2021 with a commercial agreement and codeshare flying, and deepened in 2024 when JetSMART transitioned to AAdvantage as its frequent-flyer program. The practical change for travelers in 2025 and 2026 has been threefold: AAdvantage members earn miles and Loyalty Points on JetSMART flights, AAdvantage miles can be redeemed for JetSMART award seats through aa.com, and elite-credit accrual now flows through the AAdvantage status ladder rather than a separate JetSMART program.

This matters in context because American spent four years rebuilding its South American footprint after LATAM left Oneworld in 2020 to pursue a deeper partnership with Delta. The LATAM Pass relationship is now structurally a Delta-side story, with SkyMiles earning and redemption on LATAM metal. American's response, after some volatility, has been the JetSMART partnership for ULCC short-haul, plus the existing GOL relationship in Brazil, and continued codeshare access to Aerolineas Argentinas on select routes. The JetSMART piece is the most flexible of the three for points-and-miles travelers because it covers the most countries and routes the most flights through aa.com search.

The official partnership page on aa.com documents the codeshare flying, the earning structure, and the award redemption availability. That page is the source of truth for current routes and current earning tables, and it does update.

Earning AAdvantage miles on JetSMART

The earning structure is fare-class-dependent, with paid JetSMART flights crediting AAdvantage miles based on a percentage of distance flown rather than the spend-based model some other ULCC programs use. The percentage runs from roughly 25 percent of distance on the deepest discount buckets up to 100 percent of distance on the highest paid economy fare classes. The same multipliers determine Loyalty Points credit toward AAdvantage status, at lower rates than direct American mainline flying but enough to be meaningful for travelers who fly intra-South-America consistently.

The booking flow that produces the credit is straightforward and worth getting right.

  • Enter your AAdvantage number in the JetSMART booking flow at the time of purchase, or add it during check-in within the 72-hour window.
  • Confirm the AAdvantage number appears on the boarding pass before the flight. Missing-mile claims after the fact are possible through aa.com but take weeks to resolve.
  • Codeshare flights marketed by American with a JetSMART operating carrier work the same way and credit normally.
  • Award flights booked with AAdvantage miles do not earn redeemable miles or Loyalty Points, which is consistent with American's broader award-flight policy.

Two adjacent details to know. Premium fare classes on JetSMART, where they exist, earn at the higher end of the percentage range. The cheapest base fares earn at the bottom of the range, which means the cheapest JetSMART tickets are great for the redemption side of the equation but underwhelming for earning. If the goal is Loyalty Points accumulation, paying up a fare bucket or two on JetSMART changes the credit meaningfully.

Redeeming AAdvantage miles for JetSMART flights

This is the part of the partnership worth memorizing. AAdvantage award redemptions on JetSMART metal price out at 7,500 to 12,500 miles one-way for most intra-South-America hops, depending on distance and demand. Examples that consistently surface in aa.com search through 2026: Santiago to Lima at 7,500 miles, Lima to Cusco at 7,500 miles, Santiago to Buenos Aires at 7,500 to 10,000 miles, Buenos Aires to Bogota at around 12,500 miles, and Lima to Quito at 7,500 miles. The same routes in cash typically run $60 to $150 on JetSMART, which means the redemption value lands between 0.6 and 2.0 cents per mile depending on the day. That's a respectable range for a domestic-style short-haul redemption category that historically had nothing in it for AAdvantage members.

The booking workflow goes through American, not JetSMART. Searches on aa.com surface JetSMART award seats as American partner awards. Bookings can be completed on aa.com, or by phone with AAdvantage if the search returns the route but the online booking flow stalls, which happens occasionally on new partner integrations. The JetSMART website itself does not redeem AAdvantage miles. Attempting to apply miles through the JetSMART booking flow won't work, regardless of what the carrier homepage suggests at any given moment.

Two practical notes on the redemption side. Award inventory on JetSMART is dynamic and route-by-route. In peak Patagonian summer or high-season Cusco travel, the cheapest award buckets disappear. Off-peak inventory in May, June, August, September, and November is consistently better. The other note is that codeshare itineraries combining American mainline metal from the US with a JetSMART connection inside South America can sometimes be priced as a single AAdvantage award. Whether the connection prices cleanly or has to be booked as two separate awards depends on the routing, the date, and the inventory at search time.

Where JetSMART plus AAdvantage beats the alternatives

The intra-South-America points market has four serious options for travelers based in North America. JetSMART through AAdvantage is one of them. The other three are LATAM Pass, Avianca Lifemiles, and Aeroplan. The decision among them depends on what's in your wallet and where you're going.

LATAM Pass remains the largest intra-South-America program, with the deepest route map across Chile, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador. The program is no longer in Oneworld, which closed the AAdvantage routing on LATAM metal, but LATAM Pass is now a transfer partner of several US bank programs, including Capital One Miles. That makes LATAM Pass approachable for travelers earning transferable points, with the caveat that LATAM's dynamic award pricing has trended upward and the sweet-spot redemptions are narrower than they were five years ago.

Avianca Lifemiles is the long-standing intra-South-America value play. Lifemiles routes on Avianca and Star Alliance partners often produce the lowest one-way award costs in the region, especially out of Bogota. The program is a Capital One and Citi ThankYou transfer partner, with frequent transfer bonuses that push the effective acquisition cost down further. For travelers concentrated in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, Lifemiles is often the most efficient currency.

Aeroplan has coverage of South America through Star Alliance partners including Avianca and Copa, plus codeshare access on a few other carriers. The redemption math through Aeroplan is sometimes competitive, sometimes not, with the strongest case for travelers connecting through Bogota or Panama City on long-haul itineraries that start in Canada or the US.

The AAdvantage-plus-JetSMART case is the budget-conscious intra-South-America case. For a traveler hopping Santiago to Lima to Cusco to Buenos Aires to Bogota on a multi-stop trip, the JetSMART awards at 7,500 to 12,500 miles per leg beat almost every alternative on raw mile cost, and the AAdvantage balance is the easiest of these currencies to build for a North-America-based earner already running a Citi AAdvantage cobrand or an Amex Membership Rewards account that transfers to AAdvantage-adjacent partners. The trade-off is the JetSMART experience itself, which is the experience of flying an ultra-low-cost carrier with all the strictness that implies.

The card-and-portal angle for paid JetSMART flying

For travelers who would rather pay cash for JetSMART than burn miles, the card travel-portals offer a parallel path that's worth knowing. Paid JetSMART flights book through Capital One Travel and Chase Travel at the standard portal redemption value of 1.0 cent per point, which is rarely the best use of either currency but works for travelers who need to clear a balance. The Chase Sapphire Reserve's $300 annual travel credit applies to portal-booked JetSMART, and the card's travel insurance benefits cover JetSMART trips when the flight is charged to the card. The same broad benefits apply to other premium travel cards with portal-booked trip-delay and trip-cancellation coverage, with the specific terms varying by issuer.

The cleanest combined approach for an AAdvantage-focused traveler is to keep the miles for the JetSMART award leg, pay cash for the LATAM or Avianca segments that don't have a clean AAdvantage redemption, and use the premium-card travel insurance on the paid segments. That separates the points strategy from the cash strategy without crossing the wires, and it leverages each currency where it pays off best.

JetSMART experience details to plan around

The partnership is the points story. The carrier is still an ultra-low-cost carrier, and that's the part travelers can underestimate. Three things to plan for.

Bag policy. JetSMART's cheapest fares include only a small personal item that fits under the seat. A carry-on bag is a paid extra, a checked bag is a paid extra, and the gate fees are substantially higher than the online fees if the bag isn't pre-purchased. The published baggage policy on JetSMART's website is the source for current pricing by route, and it does change. Travelers who normally fly with a roller bag should plan to pay for it at booking, not at the gate.

Seat selection and onboard amenities. Seats are paid extras outside of automatic assignment, recline is minimal, pitch is 28 inches on most aircraft, and there is no included meal or beverage service. Onboard purchases on JetSMART are sometimes cash-only depending on the route, which is unusual for the industry in 2026 and catches first-time JetSMART passengers off guard. Bringing local currency for any in-flight purchase is the safest play.

Codeshare confusion. American Airlines markets some JetSMART-operated flights under an AA flight number, and JetSMART sometimes markets American-operated codeshare segments under a JA prefix. The operating carrier is what determines the in-flight experience, the baggage policy, and the elite recognition. Always confirm the operating carrier before booking, because a JA-prefix AAdvantage award that's operated by JetSMART will be the JetSMART experience, not the American mainline experience, regardless of how the ticket is sold.

Status and elite recognition

Paid JetSMART flights earn Loyalty Points toward AAdvantage status at the same percentage-of-distance rates that determine redeemable mile credit. The Loyalty Points contribution is meaningful for travelers who concentrate intra-South-America flying, but it is not equivalent to mainline AAdvantage flying. A traveler who flies JetSMART four times a month at a moderate fare class will see Loyalty Points credit, but the same dollar spend on American mainline flights would produce more Loyalty Points in most cases.

Elite recognition on the JetSMART side is limited. AAdvantage elite status does not confer JetSMART seat assignments, premium boarding on JetSMART metal, or lounge access during JetSMART connections. The status benefits travelers should expect are the AAdvantage-side benefits: better award seat availability through aa.com, the elite mile bonus on credited flights, and access to American Admirals Club lounges on American-operated codeshare flights when the lounge access rule otherwise qualifies. Nothing changes about the gate-to-gate JetSMART experience on the basis of an AAdvantage status tier.

Practical workflow for travelers heading south in 2026

A clean workflow for a points-and-miles traveler using this partnership looks roughly like this. Build the long-haul leg with American Airlines or a Oneworld partner from the US into a South American gateway like Santiago, Lima, or Buenos Aires, using an AAdvantage award or a paid fare on a card with travel-insurance coverage. Search aa.com for the JetSMART intra-region legs and lock in the 7,500-to-12,500-mile awards when inventory shows. Book any non-JetSMART intra-region legs separately through whichever currency works best for that route, whether LATAM Pass, Lifemiles, Aeroplan, or cash through a portal. Pre-purchase JetSMART baggage at booking, and carry local currency for in-flight purchases.

The result is a multi-stop South America itinerary that uses the AAdvantage balance where it pays off best, accepts the ULCC trade-offs where the mile cost justifies it, and keeps the long-haul segments at the comfort level the traveler expects. That's the practical version of "this partnership opens up South America for AAdvantage members," and it's the version worth planning around in 2026.

This article contains affiliate links. If you apply through our links, we may earn a commission at no cost to you, which helps us continue sharing points and miles strategies with the community.

Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. We may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you apply through these links. This helps us keep the site running and continue creating free content.