Travel

The cheapest airlines don't even show up in Travevolcity etc searchs, you have to go their website.

I booked AmericanAirlines to Medellin (MDE), Colombia outa Tampa for $471 on Travelvolcity my 1st time to Colombia.
2nd trip I did some research and checked out VivaColombia's and COPA and Spirit's websites and got roundtrip to Medellin from Miami for $230 on VivaColombia and could have got it for $180 if I had been able to fly out 2 days earlier on a Wed.
COPA does Orlando/MDE for $330 or so. And I booked a r/t Tampa/MDE on Spirit for $306.

All these cheap ticket prices were after luggage fees -small carry-on (laptop or purse) and 1 checked bag-up to 40lbs on Spirit, 44 on VivaColombia.

I think it'd be cheaper to fly to one of these airlines hubs from other US cities and then booking them for the S America leg. $180 RT from MIA is hard to beat to South America. Make sure you check flexible dates to see the cheapest fares.
(COPA also does Caribbean, Central America, Canada and Mex)

https://www.vivacolombia.co/en-co

https://www.copaair.com/en/web/us

https://www.spirit.com/Default.aspx