I have a chance to fly to Bonaire from Las Vegas, without staying up all night AND without long delays. If the American flight lands on time I will have one Hour and 5 minutes to change gates in San Juan-----so the question is ' IS THIS ENOUGH TIME?

Probably -- but with two big caveats.

First, there really is not much of a safety net if you miss the SJU to BON flight (it is once a day, most days of the week). Second, I have no idea if that is enough time for luggage.

If the flight to SJU was on time, that is enough time to get from gate to gate with about 15 minutes to spare (assuming you walk very fast).

Would I do it? No.

anything not to be up all night, I guess I'm getting old--lol
I've planned to take my regs, 3S bag and one days clothes in my carry-on---by the way how's the night life in S J--lol

If American shows it on their schedule as a "legal connection" then you should be okay, but it is cutting things close. Airlines lately have been scheduling longer flight times than they really need so they can show a better on-time arrival record. That may help too, assuming American has done it and your flight really does depart Vegas on time.

Anyone out there care to post the odds to William making his connection. I'll start with 3:2 he makes it, but he will sweat a little.

I would check the American website to see when the LasVegas to SJU flight has actually arrived the past few days and look to see what the one-time performance of that flight is. Is everything looks good, go ahead, otherwise I would try something different. Why not change in Houston & use Continental?

Oh Doctor
I'll be in my glory--being able to live on the edge--it could be exciting--lol

from Las Vegas, the continental flight is longer and is a red eye!AND much more expensive!

Billy, when are you going?????? Nightlife in SJ (particularly Isla Verde) is HOT HOT HOT...email me and I'll give ya all the right places to go. I say go for it! Live on the EDGE...push the envelope buddy!

William, I would not chance a one hour and 5 minute connect time in San Juan.

The potential problem is, if your flight from Las Vegas puts you into SJU even a little late and if AE to Bonaire leaves on time (certainly not a given!), you stand a very real chance of missing the flight and being stranded in Puerto Rico for a day or two until another seat opens up on the AE-to-Bonaire flight (which often flies at 100%+ capacity). Don't count on the AE staff to bust their buns to help you out, either (speaking from unhappy personal experience). It would be a crap shoot, which may appeal to Vegas folk, but I wouldn't do it.

I wouldn't!

On paper a legal connection is ok, but our listees have thousands of trips collectively. I would listen to them.

As the other listees have noted, you may make it, but if you don't, you are really in deep ****. There is just no good backup; certainly nothing that night. You're stuck in SJU overnight. There's a SJU to Cur flight on Eagle the next morning which they may put you on but they will not reserve or pay for the Cur-Bon segment as others have noted. There is also SJU to AUA and then BonaireExel one stop AUA-CUR-BON. Big headache.

Finally, the ATR-72 aircraft that Eagle uses are at the outer limit of their range with all our dive gear that we bring; they bump (involuntarily deny boarding) on that flight quite frequently even if the flight is just 90% full. They also move people around in the cabin to trim the aircraft! Further, there are no FAA certified mechanics in Bon or Cur so if there's a problem in Bon, you lose another day.

Try to go MIA-CUR on AA, then Divi Air Cur-Bon. You can get to MIA via DFW and there are two MIA to Cur flights a day. Remember Divi Air (Cur to Bon) stops flying at dark; their last flight is 1700 hrs. So you need to be on the 11:05 out of MIA to make it work and get to Bonaire on Divi that same day. But you can really luck out if the MIA-CUR flight is just a little early. You can be in Curacao at 2:45 and out on the 3:30 to Bonaire. Doesn't happen 100% of the time, but when it does, it's great.

Good luck. It's worth it!

tm

The only leg of the flight that concerns me is the Mia to SJ, I can be late out of Vegas with a 2 plus hour layover in Mia.

How do you check the on time record of a flight??

It's not so much the money, its the senario of working all day leaving at midnight and not getting in to Bonaire until late the next night!

We had one of our female divers get DCS last year after an emergency surfacing event---her boy friend, now husband ran out of air, she spent the day at the chamber!

If the scuba diving gods are good to me and my buddies, C E O [wife] approves I'll be on "Paradise" late April.

Check with odds makers there in Vegas. Understand they will give odds on anything and be accurate .

Bill...

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quote:

It's not so much the money, its the senario of working all day leaving at midnight and not getting in to Bonaire until late the next night!

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Cynde, the Saturdays don't have to be a week apart, they can be two weeks, three weeks or four.

William, I feel so bad for the man that "made" his now wife take a hit. Wanna bet on how many times he is going to hear about that in the years to come? "Why won't (or) didn't you (fill in the blank)? I got bent because of you - remember?"

I hope your gods are good to you and your CEO approves. To quote Red Green "I'm pulling for you. We're all in this together."

But coming from the Left Coast, and with vacation days, I like to get there on Saturday, and then leave on Sunday...I hate leaving a day early (Saturday) wasting a weekend day when I could get one more dive in and have my no dive day be a Saturday...lol! I swear, that extra day throws me over the edge! Plus, it will never happen on Continental for us, as again, Michael refused to go the redeye

I would be in shock if the Americal Eagle flight to Bonaire left on time...my bet is you will have hours (and several beer) to change planes

Cam...you are right about the shock...lol! I have been on that flight ONCE when it's been on time...It's always "we are checking the emergency gear, we are checking the flotation gear, we are blah blah blah"...I think it's because it's one of the last flights out of SJ, and they just don't have the plane on the tarmac yet!

We once spent over an hour sitting on the plane because they couldn't "close the door"...we even had the pilot telling us to complain to AA

Cam, I would rather sit on the tarmac than overhear the repair techs say to each other "Disconnect the warning light, we know it (also a cabin's door) is locked."

Believe me, Pamela and I overheard the conversation I refer to in person, 15 - 20 years ago while on a "puddle jumper". I bet the crease I put in the fabric of my seat is still there. Yep, warning light was disconnected, our flight took off.

OMG Tom!!! I don't like flying at the best of times, but that would probably put me over the edge.

Hey Cynde

You could do a variation of the "red eye avoidance" Spend the night in Vegas then catch the 6:30 am flight out of here and be in Bon less than 12 hours later?----if all goes well!!

Am I hearing that the SJ to Bonaire generally runs late, that takes all the fun out of this deal--lol

what are the general dimensions of a "carry on bag"?

On the AE flights, a carry-on is a large purse or a small backpack. The roll-ons that are considered carry-ons on the big jets are put in a compartment in the front of the plane. They are taken from you by the plane and tossed in from the ground. Anything breakable should be in a sturdy box so that it arrives in one piece. You then retrieve the roll-ons when you deplane in Bonaire.

ps: An overnight or two in San Juan is a great way to decompress from life in the states. You have the advantage of not worrying about connections and time to see a bit of a facsinating little city. I stay several nights on the way down and at least one night on the way back.

I just noticed that our AA flight out of Miami gets us into SJ with only an hour and 10 minutes before the flight to Bonaire. Isn't that the way it usually is? It's been awhile since we've taken this flight but, I seem to remember we never had much time to do hit the Duty Free shops on the way TO Bonaire. On the way home there was always TOO much time to kill in the SJ airport.....

when we flew AA last year we were late getting to sju. i think we had about 25 minutes or less to get off our plane at gate 8, verify that the AE was going out of gate 1 (it was) and get there. we made it by rushing and got on the second shuttle bus to the plane. didn't have time to hit the duty free store which impacted the rest of the trip...the stores in bonaire sold more rum than usual during our stay. anyway, we got to bonaire on time and all our luggage made it...three checked bags and a bicycle. so, yes, an hour and 5 minutes is enough time to transfer and your luggage will probably make it but it is cutting it close if your plane is more than 20 minutes late.

a few years ago our plane was going out of jfk and was really late getting there. we never would have made our connection in sju. at that time if we missed the monday flight we'd have to wait till friday for another one. they rerouted us to miami where we spent the night and flew to curacao the next day and took dae (or whatever it was called at the time) on tuesday afternoon.

Pat, I'd like to hear more about taking a bike. What extra charges did you have to pay? Did you have to arrange it in advance with the airlines?

hi diane, i went to a bike shop and got one of their old boxes that a bike had been delivered in. i took the pedals, seat, and handlebars off the bike (leaving the cables connected and just turning the bars sideways). i didn't have to arrange anything in advance. the AA site said that i'd have to pay $80 but the guy at the ticket counter couldn't figure it out and only charged $60. that's a one-way charge. i left the bike there so i could use it again this year.

i was also able to pack other stuff in the bike box along with the bike so that helped. the box must be within the weight limits and counts as a piece of checked luggage.