I am coming to Bonaire from Boston the beginning of February. It looks like there are a very limited number of flights to Bonaire from San Juan that connect to Boston. Does anyone have any idea when I will need to book my flight? The fares are still rather high, and I've been waiting for them to drop. I am thinking that October will be an adequate advance time, but I don't want to be shut out from the best flights.

Joe, I would check Air Jamaica from Boston.

Joe -

It seems that I recall winter charter flights were run in the past from Toronto and maybe Boston directly into Bonaire, Aruba or Curacao.

Perhaps some others who have more specific knowledge and experience with charters from your area will jump in and give us the current story.

Charles Poteet
Dallas

isn't AA/AE running under 500.00 from boston and new york thru dec 15th or something???

(might need to travel on a thursday or something)

guess it's about time to start looking though - thanksgiving time???

;)

good luck!

Well, I finally bit the bullet and booked for Dec. 29. After MUCH searching, I've determined the only real alternative for me, coming from Rochester, NY, is AA/AE. I was getting itchy, with only one AE flight a day, so I decided to JUST DO IT. Cost us almost $700. Could have saved a bunch by flying from Rochester into LaGuardia, then transferring to JFK, but didn't want to risk dealing with winter weather -- as we so often have delays in Rochester, let alone dealing with NYC if bad weather hits.

We can only use AJ with an overnight in each direction in a gateway city, and Alan just won't stand for that!

Bonaire is worth it...now I'm NOT going to check fares again. Five weeks of heaven --- and away from the snow to boot.

See you soon, Dushi Bonaire!

Joe
I booked in early July on AJ out of Boston for Feb 18 2004 at 642.00 pp round.
Why?
Last year I waited until Nov " for a lower price " and was shut out of a ticket. My wife and I had to drive from northern Vermont to Newark for the flight. 6+ hrs.
I use AJ because because of the schedule.
Arrival is around 3:30 in the afternoon after a "short" 7.5 hr flight time. I can go direct from Burlington VT. but it involves 3 transfers and 13 to 14 hrs of travel and an arrival around 9pm, plus the cost is 863.00 round pp on AA.
Hope this helps a little and have a great trip

The Countdown Begins. December 29th, some time to travel Josie. Sounds like a good deal for high season travel to me.
I take AA for the sake of my knees.
You'll have to gate check your carry on for AE unless it is pretty small, a standard largest rolling carryon will be gate checked, so plan accordingly.
Lots of coronetfish now.

Thank you all for the input. I guess it's time to start getting serious about selecting a flight. I can also fly out of Newark or JFK if necessary, but I hate dealing with the traffic near NYC.

Joe,
If you post your arrival/departure dates when you get your reservations made, I'll add you to the Feb/Mar BT'ers chart for 2004. Watch for "Feb/Mar BT'ers '04" postings under "Everything Else"; hopefully, I'll get the first posting of the 2004 chart this coming weekend. By the way, we (wife Jean & I) reserved our flights (AA/AE from ORD)in early June to be sure and get the dates we wanted.

Joe-
I also go to BON from BOS in Feb every year, and I tend to panic and buy my ticket by Nov, (I always fly AA, as it works for my original departure from Nantucket Island). BUT, it seems that buying in the fall is too soon, and it aleays goes down in price by about $200 if I had waited til Jan to book. But being quite anal myself, I understand booking early, and will probably do it again (against my better judgement). PS- Hi Chet and Jean! See you in Feb!

Kate,
I don't think I have the nerve to wait until January. I know I can get to San Juan, because I can leave from JFK or Newark if I have to. But Boston is a little easier (not much, however), and my son lives there so I could visit before or after my trip. But almost all the connecting cities seem to use the same 6:04 or whatever AE flight to Bonaire, and this is the flight I'm concerned about filling up.

Chet,
I will post my arrival date when I get my flight for the BT dinner. I'm looking forward to meeting the BTers.

We have already booked our Air Jamaica flights out of Boston for Feb 28 and in the past we have booked in late summer for Feb. and March.

All the connecting AA flights do use the one flight from SJU to Bonaire and you are correct that it is the one that fills up since it is a small plane. You are looking at dates in Feb that are prime vacation time for New England schools so I would not wait too much longer to book your flights!

Does anyone have any current info or experiences with DIVI DIVI airline vs. DCA airline on the round trip to and from CUR/BON? I have traveled to and from CUR/BON on each and have had the best experience with DIVI DIVI, but I have been away from this site for many months and things change. In the past the majority seemed to favor the new DIVI DIVI. I am returning to Bonaire in a few weeks and would appreciate updated info. Thanks for your help.