Maybe this will help drive airfares down
- Thread starter Kharon
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darook
Contributor
Ricardo V.
Contributor
We visited last month, but this time we opted to give Aruba Airlines a try. It wasn’t a direct flight, but it got us to Bonaire much faster than it would have been with any other airline. The tickets ran for $700 per person - round trip. We left Miami at 8:00 a.m., and we’re standing at the curb at Flamingo International waiting for the rental car folks to pick us up at 12:30 p.m. That’s 4-1/2 hours. Not bad.
Our actual route was Miami Aruba, Aruba Curaçao, Curaçao Bonaire. When we purchased the tickets, it was Miami to Aruba and then to Bonaire. No mention of Curaçao anywhere.
While everything worked out in the end, it was almost the most stressful flight experience I can recall. I say almost because back in the early 80’s we barely made it onboard an Antillean Airlines flight from Curaçao to Aruba, and that one flight takes the cake.
All legs of the flight were fully booked. To the brim. The planes are beat up, but functionally speaking, they did the job.
I want to keep this positive. I want to share this experience so that if the option of flying with Delta, American or Continental opens up, that fellow divers know that Aruba Airlines is likely to submit you to a stress test that no one expects to be forced into.
Every conversation with staff was unpleasant, every exchange of luggage custody felt like a gamble. Luggage was supposed to arrive without us having to re-check it. Fortunately, on the return flight while waiting in Curaçao, my wife and I noticed 2 lonely bags that seemed awfully familiar. We went to inspect and guess what, they were ours!!! Staff assured us that the bags would make it without our intervention. Of course, this was not true.
It seemed to us that we were going to loose our connecting flight between Aruba and Curaçao because the Airline kept paging us over the airport PA system, but we where simply moving as fast as humanly possible.
The Airline did O.K. We got our luggage all in one piece, and in the end.... everything turned out fine. There are very few fans of Aruba Airlines on social media. I think I understand why. Aruba Airline was very disjointed. Every leg of our trip seemed like a roll of the dice.
We love Bonaire, we plan on returning soon; however, will gladly fly from Miami to Atlanta if needed, pay more if needed, and just cope with the known challenges of getting to and from Bonaire than to chance it with Aruba Airlines.
Hope this helps.
Ricardo
Our actual route was Miami Aruba, Aruba Curaçao, Curaçao Bonaire. When we purchased the tickets, it was Miami to Aruba and then to Bonaire. No mention of Curaçao anywhere.
While everything worked out in the end, it was almost the most stressful flight experience I can recall. I say almost because back in the early 80’s we barely made it onboard an Antillean Airlines flight from Curaçao to Aruba, and that one flight takes the cake.
All legs of the flight were fully booked. To the brim. The planes are beat up, but functionally speaking, they did the job.
I want to keep this positive. I want to share this experience so that if the option of flying with Delta, American or Continental opens up, that fellow divers know that Aruba Airlines is likely to submit you to a stress test that no one expects to be forced into.
Every conversation with staff was unpleasant, every exchange of luggage custody felt like a gamble. Luggage was supposed to arrive without us having to re-check it. Fortunately, on the return flight while waiting in Curaçao, my wife and I noticed 2 lonely bags that seemed awfully familiar. We went to inspect and guess what, they were ours!!! Staff assured us that the bags would make it without our intervention. Of course, this was not true.
It seemed to us that we were going to loose our connecting flight between Aruba and Curaçao because the Airline kept paging us over the airport PA system, but we where simply moving as fast as humanly possible.
The Airline did O.K. We got our luggage all in one piece, and in the end.... everything turned out fine. There are very few fans of Aruba Airlines on social media. I think I understand why. Aruba Airline was very disjointed. Every leg of our trip seemed like a roll of the dice.
We love Bonaire, we plan on returning soon; however, will gladly fly from Miami to Atlanta if needed, pay more if needed, and just cope with the known challenges of getting to and from Bonaire than to chance it with Aruba Airlines.
Hope this helps.
Ricardo
darook
Contributor
jimw
Contributor
On Jet Blue's website--there is a place to request new routes. I have done so several times. Ft Lauderdale--Bonaire would be ideal--Ft Lauderdale--Curacao would help a lot. I'm going to make a request right now! Go Jet Blue-TO Bonaire!
Thanks for your Aruba Air report Ricardo.
Thanks for your Aruba Air report Ricardo.
AdivingBel
Diver
I'm planning on trying Aruba Airlines for a puddle jumper between Bonaire & Curacao late September. Hopefully that will be more in their "shoebox" than what @Ricardo V. had to deal with. I'm choosing to try them because they have flight times that work for us and based on their website they have "normal" baggage requirements as opposed to Divi Divi's "it might have to fly on a later flight." I understand Divi Divi has a good reputation, but we're staying in Westpunt and I don't want to have to drive back to Willemstad the next day to pick up our gear. I would be interested to hear others experiences getting from Bonaire to Curacao (or vice versa) with dive gear. Sorry about the hijack. Maybe I should start a different thread. 
jimw
Contributor
To request a new route on Jet Blue's website--find the route map and scroll down......btw JB begins new service Ft Lauderdale--Grand Cayman on October 25th--price is $209. plus bags a little while ago.
Jet Blue would be great, so long as they did it from FLL. I saw that they were flying into UVF when we visited St Lucia. When I looked into flights out of ATL, I found out they only fly to UVF out of JFK. Connecting flights don't work without an overnight stay, and JetBlue doesn't like scheduling with overnight stays.
darook
Contributor
While I dream about better air service I think I am going to go big. How about an Emirates 777 non-stop from Minneapolis to Bonaire? It doesn't need to be daily service, twice a week would be fine. A nice civil 9:00 am departure from Minny would be great too.
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