Airfare, ugh

[rhwestfall]

Westjet direct from Toronto (YYZ) to Curacao was around $430 R/T each for my trip last week (with that, I splurged a bit more to get exit seats).....

 

[wwguy]

It's ugly. We've been regularly visiting Bonaire from Boise ID for over 20+ years via a variety of airlines (including some no longer in business.)

We paid $688 for coach tickets in 1997 and $695 in 1999. In May 2013 that had only increased to $935 via Delta.

In 2016 we paid $1170 for First Class seats on Delta over the Christmas holiday, and then $1230 for the same seats during Christmas 2017. Delta SkyMiles tickets were 55,000 miles for coach off-season, 65,000 for coach at Christmas, and 120,000 for First Class at Christmas.

Now it seems that all hell has broken loose in the race to see which airline can charge the most for this destination. For this coming Christmas Delta coach tickets are $1700 for crappy connections with long layovers that eat up an extra day of travel. Itineraries with convenient connections start around $2000. A SkyMiles coach award ticket is 100,000 miles. At $1750 for coach, United isn't much better.

So for our upcoming 3 week Christmas 2018 trip we opted to purchase the Delta award tickets for the ridiculous price of 100K miles per ticket, mostly because I have the miles and wasn't willing to part with the cash. If we were only going for a week we wouldn't be going at this time of year, or perhaps at all.

We're seriously reexamining whether we can continue to afford to frequent Bonaire for our beloved winter vacations. At the moment the obstacle is lack of a favorable alternative destination with anything close to Bonaire's fantastic shore diving options.

 

[drrich2]

I think many divers will be priced out of those tickets, which suggests some other demographics are buying them and patronizing the ‘diver’s paradise’ island. I wonder if this will lead to a sea change (couldn’t resist) in Bonaire’s tourism focus?

Richard.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I think many divers will be priced out of those tickets, which suggests some other demographics are buying them and patronizing the ‘diver’s paradise’ island. I wonder if this will lead to a sea change (couldn’t resist) in Bonaire’s tourism focus?

Richard.

That's what I was thinking. Clearly, SOMEBODY is buying those higher-priced tickets or the laws of supply and demand would suggest that the airlines would be savvy enough to adjust the price to maximize their profit. Is Bonaire increasingly attracting well-heeled divers that it did not before? Or did the airlines simply realize that they could charge more and the same divers would still cough up the extra money? I sure am not in that category. I'll go to Cozumel before I spend $2000 for my wife and me to fly to a Caribbean destination. The Asia-Pacific region, which has better diving, and which foreign carriers offer reasonably priced tickets to, is starting to look competitive.

 

[scuba127]

We've been going to Bonaire for close to 20 years now....we are still willing to pay up....our tickets for September were approximately $1600...add $200 for a hotel room going down and coming back and its up to $1800 for my wife and I.....what can I say...seriously addicted I guess...

 

[morecowbells]

When we were looking at airfares to Bonaire for our vacation this past Feb. the Sat. to Sat. rates were outrageous. By booking Sun to Sun. tickets the price was almost half the price. It was a no brainer, we booked the latter of the airfares. The downside can be a rotten deal. If you miss your connection, you are screwed. There were no flights to the island for several days. There really is no Plan B. Perhaps that is why the Sun. route out of ATL was cheaper. Lesson learned, I will always make sure there is a viable back up plan. I simply refuse to pay the egregious rates currently offered. I am crossing my fingers that the competition from AA will drive prices down. While the flights to Roatan are also expensive, I think the prices have improved since AA now flies that route. If things don't improve, Bonaire will lose a lot of their American clientele.

 

[scubadada]

We have a flight to Bonaire from Philadelphia via Miami on AA in August. Coach fare is about $900.

 

[dmaziuk]

Or did the airlines simply realize that they could charge more and the same divers would still cough up the extra money?

They don't have to fill the planes, help Bonaire's tourism industry, nor fly us to where we want to go. They have to maximize the profit. Do you think 90% occupancy at $700/seat might be less profitable that 60% occupancy at $1500/seat?

My wife was flying united from rightpondia a couple of weeks back and the entire middle section of the plane was empty. Tail end was packed and for a mere $180 you could "upgrade" to their "economy regular". As distinct from "economy basic", and "economy plus" too. Swimming to Cuba and flying emirates from there will soon be a better option.

PS. wouldn't be surprised if Bonaire is doing just fine with tourists flying KLM from .eu and isn't caring all that much about a merrikins.

 

[scubadada]

Not to be critical, but, squeezing every extra dollar out of you dive vacation may not give you the trip you want. I understand how relatively difficult it is to get to Bonaire. Flight fares are only one of the expenses.

 

[flyboy08]

might be cheaper to go to Bonaire via Stockholm

I just purchased a one way ticket to Moscow for $298.00. Return from Helsinki was $325.00 ....

I need to go to Munich in July and RT coach NYC-MUN was $3000! Wtf! I bought NYC-IST-MUN RT for $2400....first class! One needs to play the game correctly