I'm trying to figure out the best way to get to Bonaire from Boston and earn miles at the same time w/ either Delta or Continental. Would the easiest approach be to fly into Aruba and then take Bonaire Excel to Bonaire? If anyone has other suggestions, they'd be greatly appreciated!

I believe Air Jamaica is a codeshare with Delta, I think you could take AJ and claim Delta miles. AJ does travel from BOS to BON

If you take the AJ flight from BOS to BON, and you actually want credit for your miles on Delta, then book the flight via Delta reservations, and get tickets that show the Delta flight numbers. Then you MIGHT get credit.

Air Jamaica appears to be a completely incompetent "partner" of Delta, in that it appears they never report miles when given SkyMiles numbers.

Delta, for their part, is pathetic in the follow-up process, too. I FAXed copies of the full set of boarding passes from our trip over last New Years. A good 8 weeks later, I got a letter indicating I would need to send them copies of the boarding passes, and that since I hadn't done so (even though I had) they couldn't credit anything.

Combined with Air Jamaica's successful packing of more seats into an A320 than I'd ever seen any other airline accomplish, I don't think I'll be flying them any time soon.

Oh, and if you have miles on Delta, and want to use them on Air Jamaica, good luck. The usual response is "there are too many frequent fliers already on those flights."

The best path from Boston to Bonaire at this point, in my opinion is AA via Miami to Curacao. I say that EVEN with the fact that the AA flight you wind up taking continues to Santo Domingo, and the Boston AA checkin takes about 2 hours for that flight.

To be sure, the difficulty of getting to and from Bonaire has had some impact on how often we visit. Vacations that start and end with lots of stress are counterproductive. This is just one more thing for the Bonaire tourism folks to struggle with.

(OK, I'll get off my soapbox now)

we did'nt have any problem using our Delta miles on AJ last year....I think the key is to reserve early and be flexible, I know not everyone can do that...ff mile are always welcomed but area hassle to use...good luck

Dan, You can get back on your soapbox brother.

Read
http://www.oldbonairetalk.com/newsgroup/messages/29/184382.html?1097158391

I ended up booking AJ for this Saturday (10/9). Hopefully, there will be no problems.

Barbara, There shouldn't be as AJs' ticket counter is open. I wish you the best of luck.

If Smack was not working Friday night, we would have done that as well.

Have a great time. There is a great group of people heading down. You will be on the same plane I imagine as Susan, Geoffrey, and Denise.

Hope we get to meet you on Bonaire.