Flights

[Hintermann]

I finally managed to book and confirm a flight plan for my May 2015 trip from the UK to Socorro and Bonaire. It worked out well with all flights on American Airlines except the last leg from Curacao to Bonaire on Insel. I have allowed plenty of time for Insel flight delays.

My itinerary is London - DFW - Los Cabos - DFW - Miami - Curacao - Bonaire - Curacao - Miami - London. That gave the most convenient flight plan including overnight stops in DFW, San Jose del Cabo and Miami.

 

[drbill]

Hope you really mean plenty of time! When I was trying to get from Aruba to Bonaire via Insel (or as the locals call it, Insult) it took longer for me to get from one to the other than it took to get from Los Angeles to Aruba!

 

[Hintermann]

Hope you really mean plenty of time!

Well, I have done the best I could. First off, by going to and back from Curacao on AA, I have reduced Insel Air route to just the Curacao - Bonaire - Curacao leg. Outbound, an Insel delay will be no more than an inconvenience as the Curacao to Bonaire flight is the last leg of the trip. On the return journey, I have allowed 4 hours and 15 minutes in Curacao between the incoming Insel flight and the AA connection to Miami. There was nothing better that I could do; Divi Divi Air and the now defunct Tiara Air have worse reputations than Insel.

 

[Bas Harts]

Good luck

Let us know if you made it!

 

[deedeediver]

I remember seeing something that Insel was going to start flights from Aruba direct to bonaire, u may want to check that out, but what is available now may not be when it comes to actually flying.

 

[darook]

Due to weather reroutes and delays last year at the holidays instead of going Houston to Bonaire I went Houston to Amsterdam to Curacao to Bonaire. The KLM A330 flight from Curacao was in the air no more than 11 minutes and has to be the shortest scheduled flight for a plane that size in the world.

 

[uncfnp]

I have only flown Insel twice. May be just blind luck but we never had a significant delay in the Curaçao-Bonaire route and I think the earlier flights (assuming this is the case on your return) are more likely to be at least causally "on time" then later flights. I think you will be fine but "may the force be with you" anyway.

 

[Hintermann]

American Airlines was much better value than Delta. AA cost me £1201 for 6 international and 1 domestic flights up to Curacao and back. The only added cost was the Curacao to Bonaire & back on Insel.
Delta can only get me to Aruba and the 6 international flights with them would have come to £1450 and I had to take 2 Insel flights from Aruba to Bonaire (no direct flight was showing when I checked)

 

[wwguy]

I finally managed to book and confirm a flight plan for my May 2015 trip from the UK to Socorro and Bonaire. It worked out well with all flights on American Airlines except the last leg from Curacao to Bonaire on Insel. I have allowed plenty of time for Insel flight delays.

I guess that depends on your definition of "plenty of time". We had a young friend joining us for his first Bonaire dive trip 2 years ago who ended up spending almost 2 days trying to get Insel to honor his ticket and fly him the 50 miles from Curacao to Bonaire. First his flight was delayed, then delayed again, and then delayed overnight, and then eventually cancelled the next morning. Then he spent the next 18 hours waiting for space available on a subsequent flight. Meanwhile we were diving and having a grand time. In the end he only got 4 days of diving in.

Here are a few firsthand stories to ponder when you and others are considering the "value" of flying Insel. There appears to be an inordinate number of bad customer experiences for such a small airline.

Insel Airlines-Consistent Travel Nightmare - Kralendijk Forum - TripAdvisor (posted today)
Insel Air experiences? - Bonaire Forum - TripAdvisor (an ongoing TA thread of Insel misery)
Top 7 Complaints and Reviews about Insel Air
Insel Air Customer Reviews - SKYTRAX (Skytraxx refuses to give Insel a Star Ranking score)

You might not have any problems with Insel on your specific flight. But statistically speaking I'm pretty sure the odds of timely arrival are probably better with just about any other airline flying into Bonaire.

I'm curious why you picked Insel over Divi Divi?

 

[Hintermann]

I'm curious why you picked Insel over Divi Divi?

Because my enquiries elsewhere gave far more derogatory remarks about Divi Divi than Insel. Likewise, Tiara got very negative reviews. Not that Insel got sny kudos but it seemed the OK one out of a bad bunch. At least they responded promptly to e-mails and coherent when I phoned their office, which is more than what I got from Divi Divi. No replies to any e-mail and the person who answered the phone did not seem to know anything. It put me right off DD.

The other problem is time. As of now, the latest Divi Divi flight out of Curacao to Bonaire is at 17:00 hours - they may add more flights later but if so, they are not showing now. If I went with DD, I have a rushed chance of catching that 17:00 flight only. But with Insel I can get 2 later options - the 19:00 flight and the last flight at 20:25 (or close).