air travel options to Bonaire

[caldiver23]

okay, I'm baffled. Trying to use United miles to get there, they partner with Continental, but there are intricacies there, due to the pending merger. Kayak, Orbitz, etc. don't show any other carrier as going to Bonaire, but I know that can't be true. We are coming from San Francisco – does anybody know of any other carriers or connections that would get us from San Francisco to Bonaire without it turning into a three-day epic journey? I would prefer not to go on some carrier the chronically cancels its flights in both directions, but I understand, this is island time. Thanks!

 

[ApEkS82]

Take a look at US Airways. They are part of the same aliance as United(Continental) so you should be abe to use your miles with them. I've looked at ticket to Bonaire once and leaving from Jersey, the only option i could find was US airways from Newark to Charlotte and switch to Insel Airlines (a partner of US) and on to bonaire. Hopefully you can find something similar but on your side of the country. Good luck

 

[Beowulf]

There is a carib carrier, I forget the name flying out of charlotte and miami with reasonable fares. Charlotte is USAir's hub, btw.

nm, apek beat me to it.

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk

 

[DeputyDan]

The only US carriers that fly to Bonaire are Delta on Saturday's during certain parts of the year
and Continental on the weekends on an over nighter from Newark or Houston during certain parts of the year.

When we go - we usually fly AA to Curacao and then take the DIVI DIVI to Bonaire

Your best bet may be to fly to Aruba (lot's of carriers fly there) and then take a local carrier to Bonaire.

 

[DeputyDan]

There is a carib carrier, I forget the name flying out of charlotte and miami with reasonable fares. Charlotte is USAir's hub, btw.

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk

Insel

 

[diversteve]

What DD ^ said: InselAir

If you can get to MIA for their 3PM departure thru Curacao, you'll be on Bonaire around 8PM that night.

All the options to get to Bonaire: Info Bonaire - Airline Information and Connections

This should give you carriers/flights you can msatch against your FF needs:
http://matrix.itasoftware.com/search.htm

 

[sammy631000]

Insel Air is a bargain now since it has an introductory fare on Miami to Bonaire flights (via Curacao); book direct via their website (think Wed and Sat only). Your US Air miles should be usable getting SF over to Miami.


Aruba has largest number of carriers, however, that means an Island-hopper. A tale of warning: I booked a flight back in June for next Saturday from Buffalo to Aruba (via Charlotte) then with Tiara Air to Bonaire (via Curacao). Yesterday I get an email that cancelled my Tiara inbound flight; so I was scrambling to figure out alternates on US carriers ($150 admin charges plus difference in ticket prices) to arrive earlier or was expected to stay overnight in Aruba. They finally managed to schedule me on a late Dutch Air flight that same night (still waiting for confirmation 24 hours later). Tiara was also not willing to give me a full refund since only the inbound flight portion was being cancelled. Also some island hoppers don't fly Sundays or at night so a willy-nilly cancellation can burn several days of a vacation on the wrong ABC.

 

[midas6t6]

Delta is direct to Bonaire on Saturdays from Atlanta, leaves Atlanta at 9:45 AM, arrives Bonaire at 1:57 PM. Return leaves Bonaire on Saturday at 2:59 PM, arrives in Atlanta at 7:20 PM. Maybe you could find flights direct to Atlanta that would work with these flights.

 

[scubadada]

The Delta flight is very attracive but we are wedded to US Airways from Philadelphia. We fly to Aruba and then take an island hopper, usually Dutch Antilles Express, form Aruba to Bonaire.

Best, Craig

 

[PhilC]

When we were on Bonaire a couple of weeks ago there were KLM flights on the ground at least 5 days a week. I thought I had read that they were originating in Charlotte but KLM.com won't give me that option. At any rate I don't remember seeing nearly that many KLM flights on our previous trips.