Guess Who's Back In Town

Flight #39 - United 912
Los Angeles (LAX) – New York (JFK)
Sunday, Mar 10, 2013
Depart: 10:45PM / Arrive: 6:59AM (+1 Day)
Duration: 5hr 14min
Aircraft: Boeing 757
Seat: 8C and 8D (Business)
Earned: 2,475 miles
Cost: 27,000 Citi Thank You Points + $65 / person
Lifetime Miles: 82,882 miles

By the time everyone reads this on Monday morning, my parents and I will have likely have landed at JFK after the 3rd red-eye flight on this return trip (BKK-ICN and ICN-LAX). After being away for such a long time (1 month in Baby time is like 4 years in Adult time), it's really nice to be home...

But we're only here for about a week.

You see back in November, my father (always on the lookout for a great deal) found a ridiculously low fare from NY to Buenos Aires (Argentina for those of you bad at geography) for only $400 / person on Brazil's TAM Airlines. Normally, a flight would cost at least $1,200.

NOTE:  For great airfare deals like this, sign up for The Flight Deal daily email. Or better yet, LIKE them on Facebook for real time updates, because the deals they find don't always last for more than a day (or sometimes a few hours).

Because TAM is a part of Star Alliance (until Q1 2014 when they merge with LAN and join the OneWorld Alliance), this Argentina trip will yield my parents 12,080 United Elite Qualifying Miles at a cost of just 3.3 cents per mile. Anything 5.0 CPM or below is a good mileage run, but 4.0 CPM or below is an amazing mileage run. So by early April 2013, my father will have already earned at least Silver status (25,000 miles) on United for 2014.

But of course, my parents are too cheap to fly JUST for the frequent flyer miles. They definitely take miles and points where they can but as long as it's a side benefit of their primary objective. In this case, we all get to visit Argentina (and Chile) for 2 weeks during their late Summer for a super low price. This will be the first time to Argentina for my mother and me, but my father was lucky enough to go there back in 2008 (as he loves to remind us).

Back then, it was free for an American passport holder to enter the country, but now, Argentina has followed the footsteps of its South American siblings (Brazil, Chile, Bolivia) and required a "Reciprocity Fee" of $160 USD to enter the country.

While technically it's not a visa fee (since Americans don't need a visa to enter Argentina), it's an entry fee that gives you 10 years of access. And it MUST be paid for in advance of your flight or they will likely not let you board the plane. Luckily, you can do everything online by clicking here (or going to https://virtual.provinciapagos.com.ar/ArgentineTaxes).

Luckily for me, I'm a dual citizen and can use my Israeli passport to avoid paying the fee. (But somehow, being legally required to join the Israeli IDF Military for 2 years when I turn 18 makes the Israeli Passport value proposition a bit less compelling.)

So anyway, for the next few days, look for some good general travel / miles & points / credit card sign up advice on Lapchild Diaries while we're in NY (since I'm sure you don't really want to read about my father running errands or my mother's dentist appointment). We'll get some good Argentina trip reports up on here shortly.