Hello. I am new to the Bonaire Talk forum and this will our first time to Bonaire in February. I was wondering if anyone could give me information on air fare from Chicago. I have been looking at flights on Air Jamaica for $622.00 per person. Is this a fair amount? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Ada,
As of this morning on the AA site (ORD-SJU-BON route),including tax/fees:
24 Feb-15 Mar $759.20 (Fri-Wed)
25 Feb-16 Mar $1013.20 (Sat-Thu)
25 Feb-18 Mar $1349.20 (Sat-Sun)
26 Feb-16 Mar $953.20 (Sun-Thu)

Welcome to Bonaire Talk, Ada!!!
You might want to try using Sidestep.com when you are interested in comparing fares across airlines and possible routes and/or dates to a destination. You can obtain quite a bit information quickly on that site even if you decide not to use it to buy the tickets. But you can also get some good prices.

Ada,

you can spend hours searching the internet looking for the best deals....or you can call Larry at www.worlddive.com 1800-433-DIVE Larry knows all the fares and deals. He can do the land, air and car at the best prices

Hi Ada,

I live by Midway Airport. My two trips to Bonaire (2001 & 2002) I REALLY enjoyed the AJ experience. The afternoon arrival and departure on Bonaire is GREAT!

I booked my last trip with Bonaire Pros and woudl gladly recommend them to anyone. Very often the travel agents can get a better fare/more seat availablity than folks can find on their own.

Thanks to everyone who has responded. I have booked air on Air Jamaica for the week of February 4-11, 2006. We are VERY excited to be travelling to Bonaire, since it will be our first trip. Thanks again.

This time we are using Continental . To many problems with our past experiences on AJ . We are doing the red-eye in April . ORD- Houston - Bonaire. Have a great time on Bonaire .

Continental hasn't had any trouble going to Bonaire because they have never been there!! Ron
Good Luck

(Message edited by ronindiana on December 9, 2005)

Any recent reports on AJ's Saturday flights into Bonaire of late?? Is the plane getting into Bonaire without hassles? I would like to continue to fly AJ if possible. Just curious if anyone knows the recent past weeks track records getting into Bonaire on AJ. Thanks! Carole

\PS Hi, Ron.

Randy...that was a tragic incident near you at Midway the other night...just horrible. cb

Hi Carole,

I am at that same intersection almost every day. I live about 2-1/2 miles east of there. My "neighborhood" Jewel store is just down 55th St. a little further west.

A horrible event for the motorists involved. It is perhaps no consolation but no one aboard the 737 was injured. I believe they will finally be getting the plane out of the intersection today. The surrounding atreets have been closed off since Thursday evening.

Ada,

We have also booked AJ for Feb 4-11th out of O'Hare. This will be our 9th trip on AJ and 10th to Bonaire.

The Departure is at 6:40am. The gate attendants usually arrive at about 4am for check-in. We usually show up at about 3:30am to be as close to the front of the line as possible. Why? Because I'm anal about getting checked-in to feel confident that my bags make it to the plane.....

On thing to verify: when they tag your checked baggage, be sure they put a green tag on it. This tells the folks in Montego Bay that the bag needs to transfer to another plane (the one going to Bonaire).

Also, it looks as though the layover times are extremely tight now - less than an hour both ways. They use to be longer than that. Montego Bay Airport is not that large, but parts of it can be rather crowded making a hurried "walk" to the next gate uncomfortable. I've never missed a connection at MoBay, but the layovers have never been this tight. I guess Margaritaville Cafe is not an option for this trip.....

Have a good time on Bonaire. Also, have a pleasent flight (that is rather selfish on my part. Since we are on the same flight, wishing you a pleasent flight indirectly wishes the same for myself. Ha!).

I'll be the one in shorts and a hat. Yes, it may be February in Chicago, but I'll still start the trip in shorts :-)

Dave.

If you don't mind what did you pay for tickets Dave? I did save $200 in July on AJ using priceline. Otherwise it looks pretty $$$ going to Bonaire so the $622 seems about right.

Jerry,

I think we paid something like $299 round trip - JUST KIDDING!!

We paid $631 round trip including taxes. If we had gotten off our duffs and made the reservations a little earlier, we could've gotten $521 through BonairePros! We had the quote, but we procrastinated just a wee bit too long :-(

Enjoy your trip!

Dave.

Hello Dave,

See you in Febr, 2006

How many trips does this make to Bonaire Dave???

jiminiŽ

Jim,

This will be the big number 10 for me and my wife, Leslie.

Our friends Frank and Marsha are going - it will be their third trip.

My brother Geoff is going along for his first trip. He is a Cozumel addict, so we'll see how he enjoys Bonaire. God I hope he has a good time, or else I'll never hear the end of it!!

Still not too late to make reservations to go along, Jim!!

Dave.

Dave~
Joanne, my girlfriend, and I are going to Puerto Rico in Sept 06 for some diving and also to visit her mom's relatives. I was informed that SJU is a connection point to Bonaire but money and time won't let us make an extra long trip this time. We're spending ten days in PR and staying at the Fajardo Inn in Fajardo, PR. Never been there but I'm up to any kind of diving in warm water!

jiminiŽ

Jim,
We stayed at the Fajardo Inn three years ago. Very nice gardens and the staff was very helpful, esp. if you attempted to speak spanish even a little. If you have the time take the ferry to Culebra and dive the Carlos Rosario reef. Very nice reef system. Lots of good snorkel spots on Culebra also.

Lorrie~
Is there a diveshop on Culebra? We are diving Sea Ventures out of Fajardo for four days (boat dives)... Did you fly into Fajardo from San Juan or drive there by car, taxi? bus? My travel agent doesn't know much about the east side of Puerto Rico as most of their packages deal with the west side of PR.