Getting to Bonaire

[Rig Magician]

I thought there was a direct flight from IAH to BON, but for the life of me I can't find it. Does it still exist or have they cancelled it????

There is, you have to pull it for leaving on a friday and return on saturday. That is the only way it will come up.

 

[ronbeau]

As mentioned previously, Divi Divi also flies out of Curacao in addition to DAE. The interisland flights usually have even more restrictive luggage rules than the majors so check on these before you go. I think DAE is around 44 pounds per bag and Divi may be about the same as they fly the really small planes.

Actually the limit is not 44 lbs per bag. The limit is 44 lbs (20 kilos) per person.

Other than the over weight fees DAE was excellent when my family and I flew from Aruba to Curacao last summer. Make sure you have CASH for the over weight fees. They DO NOT take credit cards or travelers checks.

 

[ParrotIsalandDivers-com]

You can fly on Air Jamaica from Atlanta for $475 round trip, if you go March 3 -10 with Parrot Island divers.
Find a cheap flight into Atlanta and go with the Dive Club.

marcos@scubanashville.com
www.ScubaMarcos.com

 

[Scubadonna]

We flew direct to Aruba and then used Dutch Antilles airlines to get to Bonaire. DAE was a good airline and we had no problem with all our scuba gear - the over weight fee was about $40 each way. and yes they only took cash.

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

I had some AMEX Gift Checks I had won in a charity raffle, and I used these for one direction of my excess baggage fees on DAE- they were accepted, but grudgingly. Expect change in NA Florin, so have a decent mix of cash in 20's, 10's, 5's, and 1's in US dollars if you don't want to deal with NA florin, especially on the return leg.

No complications with DAE, we flew CUR-BON, then BON-CUR-SXM on DAE last trip. No luggage delays or seat bumps off the flights we were on. Good solid service, for a price.

Only when we transferred to WinAir for SXM-EUX and EUX-SXM did we have luggage difficulties, but these were resolved by the next day by WinAir going to EUX and before our international flight left SXM for the return. One person was also bumped off our EUX-SXM flight by WinAir.

 

[scubakathie]

I really like the Curacao airport. They have my favorite Brie / Camembert cheeses in the tins that I can only find sometimes at the Warehouse Shopping Mart in Bonaire. While the Bonaire airport now has duty free shops, Curacao has a better selection of cigarrettes (for smokers out there) and other shops. If you MUST go inter-island, going through the hassel of getting off and on the plane is worth it for the shopping, in my opinion.

 

[dbosullivan]

For those of you who have gone through AUA on the way to Bonaire- anyone have a guestimate on how long it takes to clear customs? I think my Jetblue flight lands in Aruba at 12:50 pm or so, and there is a 1:15 DAE flight out (AUA->CUR). Any chance I can make it, or should I be more realistic and wait for the 6:30 flight?

Also, is there an alternative to DAE? It looks as if Divi only flies CUR->BON, w/o a departure from Aruba.

 

[reefdiva]

The one time we chose to use the Aruba route our flight into Aruba from the States was late, giving us only a 25 minute connection time. It was not enough! You have to claim luggage, go through Customs and Immigration and check in with DAE. And then you need to go through security again. I think that 12:50 arrival and a 1:15 departure is really tight! Also, on your return make sure you leave plenty of time. Our flight from Bonaire to Aruba was late and it took us a very long time to clear Customs and Immigration and we missed our flight out to Aruba.

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

For those of you who have gone through AUA on the way to Bonaire- anyone have a guestimate on how long it takes to clear customs? I think my Jetblue flight lands in Aruba at 12:50 pm or so, and there is a 1:15 DAE flight out (AUA->CUR). Any chance I can make it, or should I be more realistic and wait for the 6:30 flight?

Also, is there an alternative to DAE? It looks as if Divi only flies CUR->BON, w/o a departure from Aruba.

We arrive on Aruba at 2:54 PM on Continental, and we decided to wait until the 6:30 PM DAE flight.

I don't know about Aruba, but on Curacao last Thanksgiving, 25 minutes would not have been enough time to deplane from AA, collect baggage, clear immigration and customs, recheck baggage at DAE, have DAE write out the excess luggage ticket (which you can't pay at the counter where you recheck your luggage), take the excess baggage ticket over to the DAE Cashier station on the other side of the airport, pay the excess luggage fee (in cash - no credit cards, no travelers' checks), wait for the DAE cashier to slowly and methodically validate your excess luggage ticket, take the excess luggage ticket back to the DAE counter where you recheck your luggage, collect your boarding passes with validated excess luggage ticket, go back through Immigration to pay in-transit departure tax, back through the metal detector and x-ray station, to the DAE gate and board the DAE plane.

There is also Tiara Air on Aruba, but I think you can only get as far as Curacao on their flights - you would still have to change carriers again to either DAE or Divi Divi to get from Curacao to Bonaire.

I think Insel Air is now operating as well, we have no experience with that airline. You may be able to go from Aruba through Curacao to Bonaire on their route system.