I can use FF mileage to get to Aruba. How, then, to get to Bonaire?
Thanks

You need to fly Bonaire Excel airlines from Aruba. It is my understanding there is one flight daily to and from Bonaire. I am making this trip next month, so I will have better details after that.

You can access the BonairExel website through www.infobonaire.com and find the flight times and costs. At some time in the (hopefully) near future you will be able to make reservations through Continental airlines. In the meantime you can send BE an email and they will make your reservation which you pay for once in Aruba. You do need to collect your luggage from your first airline and then check in with BE. There have also been several discussions under this thread that will give you some information.

Ticket purchase is available now Continental sez, if one buys a Continental ticket to begin with. Not available otherwise. I guess it's a codeshare deal.

I too used ff miles to get to Aruba, did the email w/BonairExel(there are 3-4 flights a day). Make sure to get your ticket endorsed for 10 kilos extra baggage allowance for scuba divers. Otherwise the limit is 10 kilos carryon, 20 kilos checked. I go July 8th.

http://www.bonairexel.com/?lang=en

Here's a link to the english language version of their site. It seemed to work a little better just now than the link from infobonaire.

If you are making that connection, you have to HURRY! I missed my flight from Aruba to Bonaire. I was on Delta, and had to claim my baggage go through customs and immigration, go to Bonaire Exel counter for ticketing, then on to the counter where they take your baggage, I missed it by about 5 min., so had to wait four hours for next flight. My advice is hurry hurry hurry and don't be shy about asking if you can get in front of someone if they are staying in Aruba... most people are very friendly about that sort of thing... of course I learned that little too late.....lol... but I made it here so all is well..

With BonaireExcel code sharing with Continental, is there any hope that one day your luggage will go straight through if you come into Aruba on a Continental flight? Also, does anyone know if you can use Continental miles through to Bonaire?

I was lucky, I guess. No lines, I made it to the 3:30 BE flight to Bonaire from Aruba with 40 minutes to spare. My trip was July 8-19. I too arrived on Delta, about 10-15 minutes late on the 8th.

There was no line for ticket purchase and a very short one to check in. Short lines at customs/immigration, etc as well.

On taxiout leaving Bonaire on BonairExel, the plane had a slight problem apparently with an incorrectly reading warning device. They stopped on the ramp and a maintenance guy came literally jogging to us and fixed the problem in a few minutes. All of the BonairExel employees were friendly and helpful.

Kelly Jo, was the problem area customs and immigration in Aruba or were there long lines everywhere?

BE ran about two thirds full on both of my flights on a Thursday and a Monday.

Jim, there were lines everywhere. Then of course my luggage was one of the last ones out of the chute.. so that added some serious time to it, too.

Coming back through Aruba was even worse. I won't fly that route again. I had to go through two immigrations, two customs, and countless security checkpoints. Had to claim my bags, recheck them at Delta, then RECLAIM them and go through customs again, they put it on a conveyor belt that goes god-knows-where, and I can say that because I'm home now, sans luggage. It is a very very convoluted airport.

Using Divi Divi or BonairExel to get to Curacao and use the AA flight to Miami isn't necessarily better. One has to clear immigration and customs and recheck bags there too. It's not a convoluted airport, just a bunch of walking. It would have helped if the cart machines had actually been functioning, but they were broken and so the carts stayed locked up.

Then there was the fiasco in Miami on the way back as AA didn't bother bringing in the luggage from our flight for almost an hour. I had to yell at one of the AA employees to get her to stop saying our bags would be up momentarily, and go find out when they really WOULD arrive. When they finally arrived, the line to get into the customs inspection area added a 20 minute delay.

I spoke with Wally and Eva (to whom I handed over the house-sitting torch) and they flew from Curacao on Divi Divi and loved it, said everything went great for them... so may next time I"ll try that. ???