American Airlines cancels flights to Bonaire

[morecowbells]

Last week I was looking at AA into Bonaire. AA had regular service from the US to Bonaire. Today I tried looking up airfares and no schedule came up on that route. I called AA and was told that now in order to get to Bonaire you have to fly out of Puerto Rico and return on a different airline. They said that they are cancellling all flights out of the continental US. Did anyone else know about this? I know there are other airlines but my frequent flyer miles are with AA. I sure hope this is only temporary. So far their flights to Curacao are still scheduled.

 

[reefdiva]

Just got off the phone with AA because my flights to/from Bonaire disappeared. Last night they made major changes which are not yet available on the website. They have dropped daily service from San Juan and will now fly at 7:30 pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Return from Bonaire to SJU will be at 7:50am on Wednesdays. Fridays and Sundays. This is similar to their schedule several years ago.

 

[dvrliz1]

more....

Check with American about the return flight. I'm not exactly sure, but I am almost positive if you ask, they are required to put you on another flight on another airline if you have a paid AA RT Ticket. I am currently working to see what the timetable will be from SJU-BON....

Another alternative is Spirit air to SJU...

Liz

 

[reefdiva]

I don't think that AA is required to put you on another airline. If they cancel your flights, they will offer to do other dates using your original airports at no extra charge or refund your money. A few hours ago they took care of rebooking me to/from Bonaire and even put it on a hold until I could check to make sure the new dates would work.

 

[Bonairetrip]

AA/AE appears to have made two major changes impacting flying from the US mainland to BON. The first is reducing the days of service on the SJU to BON leg. ReefDiva above notes the new SJU to BON schedule.

The next thing they seem to have done is to eliminate the route from certain US mainland cities to SJU. This means that travel from certain US cities to SJU that were previously a non-stop will now require a stop in another city. Finally, it appears they have reduced the frequency of some mainland US to SJU flights leaving fewer options.

My advice (having been through this before) is simple: check your tickets on-line frequently. During schedule changes years ago, I had parts of tickets go poof one year, another year they gave me a long layover (36 hours) somewhere. A simple phone call to AA fixed it both times.

A great resource is to download the AA timetable. That will confirm what flights are when. You can then call AA knowing what you would like to do. Also, call sooner rather than later. Finally, another options is to do the early flight from MIA to CUR on AA then use Divi. On the return, you would do do Divi and then the afternoon flight to MIA. (Note: This requires an overnight to some west coast destinations).

 

[stu_in_fl]

i always tried to avoid SJU anyhow, going with AA from MIA-CUR and then on DAE to BON. Connections are normally fine on arrival, but on return you'd need to sit in CUR for a few hours for the AA connection. I avoided Divi as they have the really small planes and so would be more likely to be issues with heavy dive gear....
(but then again I'm coming from FL so it is easy to fly from MIA)

 

[DiveMaven]

All of this AA turmoil is making me sooooo glad we're booked on Continental!

 

[reefdiva]

All of this AA turmoil is making me sooooo glad we're booked on Continental!

We are booked for Continental this summer as we had good luck last year. However, in the winter we have more than a week but less than 2 so AA has always been better since we are not limited to weekends. After many years of travel to Bonaire we know that getting there is always an adventure.

 

[Bonairetrip]

Stu --

I would pick Divi over DAE. Yes their planes are smaller but they are super reliable and always on schedule. Small planes also means quicker trips through immigration, getting the bags at the plane and a very quick trip through customs.

I have never had an issue with my luggage at Divi. It has always been on the same plane as me -- and the planes were typically full. That was with two 70 pound bags plus a heavy carry-on plus a personal item.

Worst case: You get what is on your lap plus one bag and they fly the extra bag over on the next plane (90 minutes later). On your return leg, you drop the bags early and they fly it to Curacao as they have room (and not later than the flight you are on).

 

[Rhone Man]

It is big news down in this part of the world. American is slashing flights from US to the Caribbean from 40 a day to 18. Pretty devastating for the Caribbean tourism industry.