Last Spring we traveled with American Airlines leaving Denver at 6 am to Dallas, San Juan, Bonaire all in the same day. That doesn't appear to be an option Spring 2003. All flights require an overnight in Boston, Newark, Miami, etc. This isn't so bad for my husband and me, although a two day trip cuts into our Bonaire fun. But my 13 yr. old will travel down to Bonaire our 2nd week. She will be accompanied by her older sister but I still don't want them to have the hassle of an overnight in an unfamiliar city.
Any suggestions????

We are about to make our first trip to Bonaire. We live in COS but will fly out of Denver. A couple of thoughts.

First, in 25 more days we are leaving Denver at 7:00 am flying to St Louis, from St Louis to San Juan, then San Juan to Bonaire arriving at 8:45p.

The key to finding combinations like this is to use the multi-city feature on most travel sites and put in your own combinations. We got this ticket for $630 each. There are many other combinations that will get you there in one day on AA but they cost more (Atlanta, Miami, Wash DC).

Second is that from Denver, the AA flight does not arrive until 8:45p after leaving at 7:00a. What a long day. And then the flight home starts at 7:00a (arriving in COS at 8:15p). This early flight out means no diving at all the day before (OK - maybe a 6:00am morning dive but that's all).

Next time we go (yes I am already thinking about the next time and we have not even gone the first time yet) I think I will try to fly on Air Jamaica so I can get a flight that arrives earlier and leaves later. Although it may mean catching a late flight out the night before and staying somewhere in an inexpensive hotel to get an earlier flight there. And coming home may mean getting back after 10:00pm but I still think it will be worth it.

But it seems that the AJ flights only go on certain days so you would have to plan your trip around that.

If you want some more info on the AA flights we are taking or how to find other flights like that, let me know.

Thanks for the info. We live 3 1/2 hours from the Denver airport so it really is a long travel day for us. Last April our trip home from Bonaire took 19 hours - including the early check-in time required at Bonaire and various "lay-overs". But worth every hour. We love Bonaire and hope you to do. Are you traveling AA from DIA to St. Louis? Your connections sound great. Did you book on a travel site, with a Travel Agent or by calling the airline? Flying all the way back East (NY, Boston, etc.) then South just doesn't make sense to me. At least you're only going a couple of flight hours East before heading South. We experienced no problems with AA and since we're used to leaving the mountains before dawn to catch flights in Denver...it was just the normal inconvenience for us.

All our flight segments are on AA as follows:
DEN-STL flight 2958 6:25a-9:31a
STL-SJU flight 3054 10:40a-5:07p
SJU-BON flight 5134 6:40p-8:45p

BON-SJU flight 5135 7:00a-9:01a
SJU-STL flight 3127 2:20p-5:24p (long layover allowing for late flight and any customs delays based on prior experiences in SJU coming from an island)
STL-COS flight 3011 6:42p-8:15p

I checked several of the travel sites (Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity, Trip.com) and several of the airlines (AA, AJ, United, Delta, Continental) looking at all sorts of options.

Houston and Dallas do make a straighter line towards Bonaire. But Miami is not that far out of the direct line from Denver and there seem to be a lot of flight options from Miami.

Then you have to realize that it looks like AA flies one flight from SJU to Bonaire and that is the one that gets to Bonaire at 8:45p. So regardless of the route you go, once you get to SJU you end up on that flight. So look for what is cheapest that gets you to SJU in time for that flight.

Have fun on your trip. We are really looking forward to our first time there.

I suggest booking your trip thru WorldDive and ask for Larry. Larry does the air himself (he's the best)and will come up with options you hadn't even thought of....WorldDive is a large booking agent for Bonaire.

Gregg...will Larry book air only or do we need to book air/land? Thanks for info...Karen

Karen,

generally, these brokers like to couple the air with the land package. You can call and ask... or have them cut the dive package (without the room if you already have the room)...anything to let them make something.. I've used Worlddive for years and they have always given me great service

Linda, another approach to make the travel day more tolerable is to come on down to Denver the night before and stay at one of the hotels by DIA, so you are already there for your early start the next day. When we booked our Feb 03 trip, many months ago, AA didn't have as many options as are available now (i.e. via STL). So we are leaving DIA Friday night, overnighting in MIA at the hotel built right into the terminal building (so no hassles with shuttles, taxis, luggage), then continuing on the next day to BON via SJU. Other trips, we have spent one night in Denver to get to the airport for that early flight time. Also just this week we booked a trip to the BVI for next August, and we are going AA from DIA via STL, SJU to Tortola. That STL connection is one of the best additions to the AA schedule out of DIA.

Ginny, your next trip to Bonaire, you should overnight in Houston, and take AJ to Bonaire. It takes 6 hours from Houston.

If we don't have enough miles for free tickets for the 2 of us, we are going to us AJ - but it's hard to pass up AA when we have lots of miles!

Wow...Thanks for all the suggestions. St. Louis does sound like the connection to book when traveling AA. We also use miles with AA so would rather travel with them. The flight times for April 2003 have changed since April 2002 and I sure was finding it difficult to make the San Juan flight to Bonaire all in one day.

Mike & Debbie - Thanks for your flight schedule. This will help me immensely when booking. I'll be interested in knowing how the short layover (for International travel) in St. Louis works out. Last year in Dallas we were happy for the 2 hours since we had to go to the International terminal. Your San Juan time is perfect. Be sure to take snacks as food is limited in the American Eagle terminal. I'll look forward to your trip report. I think I recall reading that you'll be staying at Lion's. You'll enjoy this resort. We stayed at Capt. Don's but were found at Lion's and Buddy's quite often. It's like three resorts in one. We enjoyed the restaurant Lion's Den!!!

Ginny - We often stay at the Courtyard by Mariott at DIA as they offer a special Hospitality deal for Mountain Properties coming off our winter tourist season. It just depends on our Innsitters whether we can get out the evening before the flights. My grown daughter stayed at the Miami hotel (located in the concourse) last January on her way to Haiti. She was so intriqued with the 10 ft. X 10 ft. room for $140. that she took video to show us. HA! BUT she didn't have to leave the airport and have any hassles so all in all it was worth it to her.

Gregg - Thanks for the info. We already have "our" cottage reserved at Capt. Don's (pending exact dates our innsitters are available and our flights).
I really do appreciate these boards. Last year I was so full of valuable info before our first trip that I felt like I had already been to Bonaire. Thanks again for all your suggestions and if anyone has anything further to add...please do as I haven't booked yet!

We're booked and ready to travel. Unfortunately we have to wait until April! :-) Because of going off daylight savings time in April, we were unable to make one day travel plans through American. The flights out of Denver will be leaving too late in the morning to make the SJU-BON flight. So we'll overnight in Miami and leisurely wait around for our afternoon flight to San Juan. Being self-employed helps as we were able to tack on a couple of extra days so we can still spend 14 days in Bonaire. YEA!!

Linda,
We like to do lots of little 1 and 2 night getaways in Colorado. I think we will be out your way sometime in the spring and we'll plan to stay with you at your inn. It will give us a chance to meet in person. Although we'll have to avoid April so we don't miss you.

We'd love to meet you (in person)...so we'll look forward to your venture into the mountains next Spring. In the meantime...entertain us with your trip report when you return from Bonaire.
Now that we've booked, everything is about diving around my house. Last April I went down to Bonaire expecting to complete my OW certification. But it just didn't happen (Migraine, ear problem and a constantly leaking mask). I have since purchased a child's mask that seems to work for me and hope to complete my training this winter in Utah at "The Crater", a Hot Springs located about 3 hours away from us.