Bonaire Airfare and flight schedule

[SusieQ]

Hi everybody,
My family is going to Bonaire in June! WHOOHOOO. It will be our first time there. I'm having some trouble finding decent airfare. My dad and stepmom are flying to Bonaire from Germany from 6/30/09 to 7/21/09. That was the cheapest for them and they're paying for the house. We need to fly in close to that day with 1 day of flexibility on each end. We need to either fly from Indianapolis, or possibly Chicago or Cincinatti. I cannot find anything reasonable. Delta said they only fly on Saturdays. I checked Northwest/KLM and they really only fly on the weekends. When i put in my dates, they quoted me 10,000 US Dollars each!
I've been reading through old posts and some of you suggested flying through San Juan, PR or Aruba.
Any suggestions on how to find a flight for under $1000 close the dates mentioned would be appreciated. I'd like to buy the flights soon, but I wonder if they'll schedule more flights in the next months.

 

[dvrliz1]

Try American via Miami to Curacao then a short hop over to Bonaire on Dutch Antille Express.

Airline Tickets and Airline Reservations from American Airlines | AA.com
DAE - Book your flight to Aruba, Bogota, Bonaire, Caracas, Curacao, Santo Domingo, St. Maarten, Valencia - Dutch Antilles Express - Book your flight to Aruba, Bogota, Bonaire, Caracas, Curacao, Santo Domingo, St. Maarten, Valencia - Dutch Antilles Ex

Liz

 

[SusieQ]

I checked several of the smaller airlines for flights last night. I think it may just be too early to book. I looked on Insel Air, DAE, and Tiera. None had flights for next June, just through March. I also went on American and looked for flights from Puerto Rico to Bonaire. They wanted me to fly via Amsterdam.....
I'll check via Curacao next. Thanks!

 

[SusieQ]

It looks like I can fly from Indianapolis to Puerto Rico for around 400 a person after tax. Are there daily flights from Puerto Rico to Bonaire? I'm a Spanish teacher and wouldn't mind spending an extra day in Puerto Rico.
Also, is it more expensive to fly to Bonaire from Puerto Rico, than Aruba or Curacao?

 

[reefdiva]

SusieQ, American flies to Bonaire three days a week from San Juan. It is a direct American Eagle flight that leaves San Juan in the evening. The time changes often but currently it departs around 8:30pm and arrives in Bonaire two hours later. The plane then "spends the night" in Bonaire and leaves early the next morning for San Juan. Currently they fly from San Juan to Bonaire on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. And yes, it is more expensive to fly from Puerto Rico than Aruba or Curacao.

 

[diveallthetime]

Hi everybody,
My family is going to Bonaire in June! WHOOHOOO. It will be our first time there. I'm having some trouble finding decent airfare. My dad and stepmom are flying to Bonaire from Germany from 6/30/09 to 7/21/09. That was the cheapest for them and they're paying for the house. We need to fly in close to that day with 1 day of flexibility on each end. We need to either fly from Indianapolis, or possibly Chicago or Cincinatti. I cannot find anything reasonable. Delta said they only fly on Saturdays. I checked Northwest/KLM and they really only fly on the weekends. When i put in my dates, they quoted me 10,000 US Dollars each!
I've been reading through old posts and some of you suggested flying through San Juan, PR or Aruba.
Any suggestions on how to find a flight for under $1000 close the dates mentioned would be appreciated. I'd like to buy the flights soon, but I wonder if they'll schedule more flights in the next months.

Continental

Friday July 3rd leave at 7:10 p.m. from Chicago through Houston
redeye arrives at Bonaire Saturday the 4th at 5:10 p.m.

Return

Saturday July 18th Leave Bonaire 7:30 a.m through Houston arrive Chicago 4:24 p.m.

Price $895.00

Just a choice if it is worth giving up some days with parents

 

[lawofgravity]

Susie, I had the same problems find cheap flights to Bonaire from Vancouver, but the cheapest flights will almost always be via Aruba or Curacao. Orbitz has flights on your dates to Aruba for $459+taxes. Then it's another $200 pp on Tiara, DAE or Insel to Bonaire, although as you mentioned, those airlines aren't booking yet. Jetblue also has cheap flights to Aruba out of JFK but bookings aren't available that far in advance.

 

[diversteve]

What dvrliz1 said...

I found $660 r/t from ORD to CUR on AA.com but you'll have to spend a nite on Curacao on the return as the flight from CUR leaves at 7:10AM. There's one cheap hotel by the airport or look for something in the Piscadera Bay area, that's probably the next closest (maybe 5+ miles away?) About a 10-15min. drive - we dove Curacao last year.

Or if you feel like taking a chance, there's a 6AM DAE flight from Bonaire that arrives at 6:30AM. (It's a really small airport...) But we waited in line at least 20-25 mins. to check in for the 7:10am flight. Lots of divers with big bags to check/inspect. And they're not the most efficient either. A friend who lives there said to get to the airport early.

Your arrival in CUR is 7:15PM. There's an 8:15 and 10:30 DAE flight to Bonaire after that. So that should be doable.

Understand that I'm assuming that the DAE schedule for March continues in June/July. I'm pretty sure a friend was on the 10:30 flight around Memorial Day last year. So I'm guessing at least that one will run this summer.

PM dvrliz1 also, she posted about a new Insel flight from Miami? starting soon. Maybe the days would work for your schedule. Also look at arrivals/departures from Ft. Lauderdale, they're a short ride apart. There used to be an inter-airport shuttle also. Some of the cruise lines book arrivals at one and departures from the other.

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that AA is cutting a lot of American Eagle flights soon so I'd check with them to ensure you can get to/from SJU if you decide to go that way next summer. As I don't think anyone else flies from there to Bonaire. I couldn't pull up any SJU-BON flights anywhere around your days.

flight details:

AMERICAN AIRLINES 294
ORD Chicago Jun 30, 2009 09:05 AM
MIA Miami Jun 30, 2009 01:10 PM 757

AMERICAN AIRLINES 939
MIA Miami Jun 30, 2009 04:20 PM
CUR Curacao Jun 30, 2009 07:15 PM 738

AMERICAN AIRLINES 934
CUR Curacao Jul 21, 2009 07:10 AM
MIA Miami Jul 21, 2009 10:05 AM 738

AMERICAN AIRLINES 1763
MIA Miami Jul 21, 2009 01:30 PM
ORD Chicago Jul 21, 2009 03:45 PM 757

2 Adult 565.00 USD + 95.80 USD tax

hth,

(yes, I had too much time on my hands tonite - doing laundry)

 

[DeputyDan]

We have done the AA route to Curacao but then used DIVI DIVI to go to Bonaire.

My suggestion is to determine availability on your Cuaraco - Bonaire flights first and then do your USA to Curacao flight choice.

Otherwise you may be looking at overnight on Curacao!

 

[phelana]

I love Yapta - Track Airline Flight Ticket Prices and Airfares, Save Money! for watching airfares. If you live in Delta's hub is Cinncinati so why not do the Sat. - Sat. Delta flight via Atlanta? It should not cost 10,000 USD. Call Delta direct or use Cheap Flights, Airline Tickets, Cheap Airfare & Discount Travel Deals - Kayak.com.

Ann Phelan
www.bonairecaribbean.com

P.S. this site creates all the blue underlined stuff, not me...I do not work for Yapta or Kayak.