My wife and I are headed to Bonaire in just a few weeks. We are flying Seatac to Houston, 3 hr layover and then catching the redeye to Bonaire, arriving ~6:00 am or so, local time.

Is this once a week flight a reliable flight? Usually crowded? If there is a delay out of Seatac are we out of lunch? Or will we be put on a series of flights to get us to Bonaire?

One last question about the departure fee prior to leaving the island, does that have to be paid in cash, or do the authorities take plastic?

Biodiversity Guy, welcome to Bonaire Talk Can't answer the the Seatac question for you, however, the departure fee leaving the island needs to be paid in cash. You can buy your departure ticket once you are on island. We usually buy ours a few days before we leave. Stop by the airport during the day (when no flights are departing), get the ticket, stick it in our passports, stick the passports back in the room safe, and then it's one less thing you have to worry about.

Have a great trip!

Cynde, someone recently reported they took a credit card for the departure tax. I hadn't heard of that but maybe whomever that was will post here.

Still listed as cash on infobonaire...guess I'll email TCB and try to find out

http://www.infobonaire.com/travel.html

I'm pretty sure they took credit cards when I was there in August.

we'll be doing the same from SeaTac in about 6 weeks.
Will look forward to your trip report.
Are you taking gear as carry on(dive computer, BC, fins, masks?)
or checking it.? Having had our luggage lost in the past I am worried about getting to Bonaire without it!

Anyone had luggage problems on this flight?

thanks
Nell

We did the red eye in April from Chicago to Houston to Bonaire. It was great. The plane was full . A few empty seats. Had pretzels and pop, movie also. Continental turned down the lights, people slept. It was a nice flight. Arrived 15 minutes late. We left out of Houston at midnight instead of 11:30 .Arrived in Bonaire 15 minutes late. No luggage problems for us. We will use Continental from now on to get to Bonaire

Hi, we did the Houston-Bonaire flight a few weeks ago. Not full. My husband carried our snorkel gear, swimsuits, and a few clothes on board. That way if our suitcase was "left somewhere" we could survive, and most important, snorkel. No problem and arrived 15 minutes early.

That is great news. We too have the red eye from Houston to Bonaire booked for Feb. 09, 2007. We fly in direct from Detroit at 9:30pm then it's on to Bonaire on the 11:30pm flight. We even paid a very little bit extra to have access to our bungalow at 6:00am Saturday. I can't stand it. Been chatting on this site for about 7 months now. It has been a great source of information. We feel we're ready. Now come on Feb.

One point with the direct flight is that your luggage is less likely to go awol.

Re: Departure Tax and Plastic - that's news to me. I'll have to go take a peek next time I drive by. I've flown out of the airport several times since August, and hadn't noticed any different signage for departure tax...

Jake

Jake, I emailed TCB yesterday but haven't heard back yet about the plastic. If you find out before we do, please let us know. I did find a website that listed the departure tax as $25.00 cash...lol...

Hi
If I recall correctly, when when we were leaving on Oct. 14 I saw the credit card logos and asked if they now took cards. I believe she said yes.
Mick

And indeed, stopping by there today, they do take credit cards now (but sadly, not American Express).

Here's what the revised Travel Tips page on InfoBonaire now says:

"Departure tax for all international destinations is currently $20.00 per person, payable in cash or debit/credit card (MC, Visa, Discover, Maestro, Kompa Leon all accepted, but American Express is not) at the airport prior to check-in. Departure tax to Curacao and Aruba are lower."

Jake

one reason most places dont take amex is it takes too long to get paid from them.

Jake, thanks

Michael, that's an urban legend about AMEX. Bonaire Creations (our art business) takes AMEX, and it's all of 2-4 business days on average to clear. And the percentage rate is very close to MC/Visa - enough so that if a client wants to pay by AMEX, we'll happily accept his card :-) But that's a discussion for another topic.

Jake

Thanks "J", both for the info on the departure tax as well as the AMEX. Signed...a devoted AMEX user.

arriving Houston -IAH friday 7:30 pm from Boston
? any restaurants for dinner, while waiting for the 11:30 Bonaire departure

I had called the airport in Houston, He thought by 9 PM every business were closed. I will be on the same flight.

They have a Wendys in Houston.. We ate there after 9 pm . Maybe that place ?

When you arrive at IAH airport from within the US you will be at Terminal C which has all the fast food booths. If you don't like fried chicken or hamburger, you could eat dinner at the sole restaurant upstairs of terminal E where Continental's international flights depart from.
All food places will be closed at 9:00 pm I think.

One possibility for a late dinner at the Houston airport is to take the shuttle to the Marriott in the airport. Their restaurant may be open late on Friday night but I don't know that for a fact.

The "restaurants" in terminal C do close by 8 or 9. There is a barbecue place that is OK but my favorite is the grilled sandwich joint a couple of vendors over. As for Continental to Bonaire, we loved it and had no problems. Compared to AJ it is heaven on earth!

Well, that's just great. We arrive at 9:00pm Friday night for the 11:30 red eye. We too we hoping to get some grub before leaving. Can we purchase food on the red eye?

Marge, there is no meals served on the flight going down, but coming back there is a snack or brunch served.

Good information. We just booked our first continental flights for this summer! WhooHoo!

The flight coming home we had an omelet , cereal, banana , milk and a muffin for breakfast . It was actually good

Thanks everyone. We'll have to pack a lunch as hubby is hypoglycemic, needs his protein.

Sounds like the Marriott is the best bet for dinner. We arrive Houston at 8:30 pm and depart at 11:15 on Saturday 1/12. Any other close by suggestions?

Glad to hear that the Continental flights are working out. We're taking it from Boston to Houston to Bonaire in January for the first time. Has anybody had experience with this permutation? 2 weeks in Bonaire--can't wait!!
Donna

Continental is also flying from Newark to Bonaire starting in December of this year.