For the first time in six years we could not get a flight direct to Bonaire using AA Air Miles. We had flexible days and 30 days window of opportunity for a three week trip. Actually we were offered seats for 60,000 miles (each)instead of the usual 30,000. I had checked seat availability for several "ideal" flights and there were only a few seats TAKEN. So I felt pretty confident that seven months out was plenty of time. Wrong.....

Now we are going to add a little adventure to our Bonaire trip. We always try to turn a negative into a positive.

We will travel DEN-MIA-Curacao and stay a few nights in Curacao...since we're there. Any suggestions of MUST do dives/snorkels or places to see in Curacao will be appreciated. We do get to travel home, direct out of Bonaire BON-SJU-DFW-DEN.

Moral of the story.....Book Early !

Linda:
We booked in Feb/2006 for a Dec/2006-Jan/2007 15 day trip to Bonaire using FF/AA miles. Even booking that early-------we still had to use 60,000 FF miles/per person.

I got two tickets for April 2007 by booking last June. 30K ff miles each on AA. I believe this is just about when the seats were released.

Ron....I remember in a different thread that you had been able to use 30,000 miles. In the past, we have also been able to, but not this year. We have to wait until about now to acquire 60,000+ (total for two). We just didn't have the 120,000 for the trip directly to Bonaire.

Sandy, My guess is that you're traveling at prime season and you just didn't get that ONE seat they had available at the 30,000 rate. Sorry you had to spend so many miles...but it'll be worth it !!

Like I said...Curacao will be a new adventure. But our hearts will be in Bonaire....and the rest of us, after a few days!

In an earlier thread I mentioned that I thought the tickets for 30K ff miles was a good deal. I should have also mentioned that we fly out of Sacramento, a loooooong flight that leaves here at midnight and arrives at 9 the next night--if everything goes perfectly!

Linda:
You are right, in that, Christmas/New Years, 2006 is definitely the "high dollar prime time" for flights. However; in the past, we have been able to do the same time frame, getting FF/AA, with 30,000 miles each.
We do travel a long way ( from Arizona) to get to Bonaire.

Sandy and Ron,
We all travel a long way. It's a 3 1/2 hour drive to the Denver airport for us. The rates are currently so high out of Denver. We booked our daughter on Continental for $1000. I guess that translates to 60,000+ miles!?! Sounds like the airlines are tightening their Air Mile programs.

Friends from Summit County make the trip with us every year. You are correct in that there is no easy way to get to Bonaire/Paradise. That may be a good thing, eh?

We booked mid-March '06 for mid-October '06 using AA FF miles (30K per ticket). Guess we were lucky - plus October is the low season for Bonaire.

Our flight is similar to Ron's: leave Portland, OR at midnight, arrive 8-9PM the next day. Of course, the flight length could be worse - when we fly to Indonesia to dive, the time IN THE AIR is 24 hours .

- Barton

I got 25K tickets recently, but I had to leave on Wednesday in October. We find October-early Nov and late April-May are good times for FF tickets.