I am planning a trip to Bonaire and am looking at going via CUR. I am considering flying DIVI to and from BON. How much time should I leave for the transfer from CUR to BON and from BON to CUR? I am looking at an AA flight from CUR to MIA that is 90 minutes after I leave BON, which should give me 75 minutes from landing in CUR to make my MIA flight. Is this sufficient time to transfer on CUR? Does DIVI have a good on-time record? On the way to BON, I am considering a flight that departs BON 90 minutes after my AA flight is scheduled to land on CUR. Does this make sense? Thanks.

Your CUR to BON flight should be fine. We have done the same thing a number of times. Your BON to CUR schedule may be a problem. AA totally shuts down the check in counter in advance of the flight leaving. I would verify with AA in CUR what their cut off time is for being at the ticket counter. Last trip they shut down 45 minutes prior to flight time which could be a problem for your schedule.

Divi is consistently on time but if I understand your time calculations you are only allowing 15 minutes from take off to being at the AA counter in the CUR airport. Remember you will have to go through customs and if they decide to check your bags you will loose more time. Also the time from take off in BON to getting inside the terminal to customs if more like 25 to 30 minutes.

Also, Hato Airport in Curacao has a brand-new terminal in that opened around August 1, 2006. The international flights arrive/depart from the new terminal - I'm not sure about Divi Divi. Has anyone made "in transit" connections with Divi Divi since the new terminal opened?

Divi Divi Air is on time but you have not allowed enough time in CUR. We flew this same route and times last January and getting from the Divi Divi plane, through customs, baggage claim and to the A/A counter took an hour at least. I suggest you check with A/A, however, they have not been very helpful in the past.

The advice I was given by an on island traveler who regularly takes Divi flights is to book the 2nd flight before or after you leave/arrive: so if you land at 2pm and there is a 3:30 and a 5... book the 5, if there is space on the 3:30 and you've made it through customs, they'll let you on that flight, but the 5 will most likely be booked already... so if you book the 3:30 and miss it... you might be overnighting in Curacao. Sorry if that's too wordy.

Becky, thanks!

The new Curacao airport terminal is also a challenge. They are scanning all bags that come through the terminal before exist, which adds greatly to the amount of time it takes to get from the arrival of one aircraft to the check-in for another one. And woe onto you if you arrive at the same time as one of the big Dutch flights (e.g. KLM and ArkeFly).

That said, we did a weekend in Miami two weeks ago, and were booked on the 3:30pm Divi flight home to Bonaire, arriving at 2pm on the AA flight. We made our connection just fine - with over a half hour to spare. If you miss your Divi connection, you can also try and get a ticket on DAE, incidentally. So going to Bonaire, I would suggest you actually book the 3:30pm flight and assume all will go well. The likelihood of finding a couple of seats free on the 3:30pm Divi flight the day of travel is slim to none in my experience, so the 5pm booking with a 3:30pm standby means you will in all probability be leaving at 5pm.

Note, however, that the new Curacao terminal is A LOT nicer to hang out in than the old crappy one was - and getting to the bathrooms no longer requires climbing up and down stairs.

And, if you're there for a bit, then for $20 a person (or as part of the Priority Pass airport club program) you can use the VIP lounge, where there are complimentary beverages, snacks and a quiet environment with Internet connections (worked one out of the two times I was there).

Heading over to Curacao to catch the American flight north, you definitely need 1.5 hours minimum between arrival and departure as American is a lot less tolerant of late check-ins than Divi Divi.

Oh, and one final note - be prepared to be physically frisked when going through security in Curacao. The guy who frisked me could find a great career as a massage therapist if he ever tires of security work :-)

Jake

Jake, thanks for the info. Made reservations with Divi yesterday, nice folks, very helpful. They echoed your assessment of the CUR airport.