Based on what I have read here on this board, I can't tell whether or not I'm crazy for considering using DAE to connect to Bonaire from Aruba in March.

In your opinions', what are the odds that I will get stuck in Aruba for a night when I come down and/or miss my flight departing Aruba back to the states when leaving Bonaire?

My consideration for this route is that I want to stay on Bonaire for 10 days instead of the more common 7 days, which I can easily get a direct flight for.

Thanks in advance!

Welcome to BT, Jon. I am not a fan of DAE but they have delivered us on schedule the four times we have used them.

Jon, to be sure just stay 2weeks! ;-)

Hi Jon,and welcome to BT!

Every time I've used DAE there has been some kind of delay or lack of communications.

Have you thought about Tiara Air, as they have a direct flight from Aruba to Bonaire and I haven't heard anything negative about them, except one person thought their baggage fees were high.

Bill,

It seems that Tiara Air has only one flight a day each way and only on certain days. It was almost impossible to arrange a flight that would allow the connections.

Ron,

I'd be happy to stay for two weeks, if you don't mind paying for, like four days of my stay!!

Jon
For me, I'd rather switch my vacation days around and use Tiara then chance DAE--

Booking on DAE doesn't mean the plane will show up, either on time or that day so you can make your connection!

I'm planning a trip in July and will spend the night before my return on Aruba--just in case.

I have used DAE once and no problems for me whatsoever....guess I was lucky,/ I read all the stories on this site about DAE, but non of that (thankfully) bad stuff cropped up on my flight to Curacao to meet my AA flight home.

Jon, OK I'll pay for your extra day's! I will, yep I will! Yep, yep, I will............. ;-)

Jon, we'll be using DAE next week, Aruba-Bon return. No choice, since Tiara was booked on our dates. They've already changed the return flight twice. It may be because we're flying out Xmas day and there's not much demand, who knows? But after spending a lot of time researching, I've learn to leave a lot of time between connections.

I've flown DAE, ALM (now know as Insel), Air Jamaica, AA, Delta, Continental, Divi Divi, and maybe others I've forgotten. Zero problems yet with Continental, Delta, Divi Divi, only a few problems with AA (except for Miami, awful place to fly through). Have had several unscheduled overnights in Montego Bay; thanks, AJ. AJ has also taken us to Philadelphia, Newark, and JFK instead of BWI, and then bused us to BWI in the middle of the night. Ugh. ALM was truly terrible, glad they are/were gone; got to stop at what seemed like every island in the Caribbean one trip. But my favorite was DAE: they moved a scheduled flight my group was on (20-some people) from a 1000 departure from BON to an 0800 departure, AND DID NOT TELL US! Well, they *thought* they told us but they sent the message to the wrong hotel. So when we got to the airport at 0815 we missed the flight! I had to charter Divi Divi to get some of the group to Curacao to catch an AA flight, the rest of us stayed another night in BON and AA very nicely took us to San Juan the next day, and from there we found flights at various times to get back to DC. Even funnier, the group that got to Curacao could not leave from there on AA because there was no AA mechanic on island to sign-out the plane...they had to wait for a guy to come from Aruba, so they didn't get home until a day late anyway; their overnight was in Miami.

So, DAE reliability? You decide.

We flew DAE in September with no problems. In fact, we'll likely book the same route next time.

With DAE from Aruba, we got to Bon early enough to get groceries at Cultimara . Previous flights of Orlando > SJU > Bon via AA/AE got us to Bon around 9-10pm.

Our total route to use DAE was Orlando > Miami > Aruba > Cur > Bon. Even though we had to leave earlier and change more flights, we still got to Bon considerably earlier...early enough to drink some Brights and watch the sun go down.

Think I'll probably stick with the major carriers...!

I've done Aruba-BON three times. Always on time. We didn't get our luggage home for 3 days, but that waas not a juge problem for me. I like that little flight.

Deborah-- who was the carrier?

Have had no problems on DAE, back and forth BON-CUR twice in the last 14 months. And now you can even book and pay for your flight online. No guarantees of course, cause there's a lot of bad stories posted, but if nothing goes wrong, most people don't post. I think they may be getting better, but just my 2 cents

You would be better off finding another way to get there. DAE is the worst.

http://www.oldbonairetalk.com/newsgroup/messages/29/358384.html?1206973670